One of the reasons we booked on to our second CC Lundy trip (other than the obviously superb sea-cliff rock climbing, the unique atmosphere of Lundy itself, and the brilliant people we get to meet on trips like these) was the fact that the CC had booked the Landmark Trust’s Millcombe House property as our accommodation. Millcombe House is a significantly more luxurious option than the normal CC booking, the Barn. π
However, despite the excitement that a trip to Lundy promises the weather forecast for the coming week wasn’t great… Therefore perhaps the shot of Laetitia on the neat little HS Hurricane below seems like the appropriate picture to start the report with as the whole week’s climbing was disrupted by the aftermath of Hurricane Irene. Incredible wind, very frequent squalls, persistent rain, fog, and even a thunder storm were the dominant features! That said, despite the weather we had an utterly fantastic time on our second CC Lundy meet.
A massive thank-you to Richard for organising the trip – again – his thirteenth trip to the island!
Beaufort Buttress
Our first day started sunny but very windy. However, the forecast was for late afternoon rain, so with that forecast we headed over to the non-tidal easy approach and retreat option of Beaufort Buttress…
We climbed four great little routes from HS to E1 on this lovely sea cliff before the sun said good-bye and the rain arrived.
The Constable & Gannet Rock
The next day was windy and plagued by frequent squalls. We ended up joining forces with Richard, Simon, Jo, and Dave to hunt for dry rock that hadn’t been drenched by one of the squalls… Eventually we found The Constable.
Jo and Dave watch while wondering when the next squall will blow in!
Laetitia and I went on to Gannet Rock, on the sheltered east side of the island, to try Gannet Front but were rained off from the second pitch. The rain here, out of the wind, fell normally i.e. vertically and so we got very wet! But, we were rewarded with a few very inquisitive seal (“bottling”, apparently, is when they sit vertically in the water to look around) and the sight of several bottle nose porpoises only a couple of hundred metres off-shore.
American Beauty
One of our best climbing days – due to a lack of rain – was spent on the wonderful American Beauty. Although it was still a massively adventurous day out at the grade due to the force 8 (gale force!) wind that we had to contend with. Getting the 100m abseil rope down the route to gain access to the starting ledges just above sea level was extremely difficult to say the least. Luckily the base of the buttress was sheltered from the wind by the buttress to its right, so the waves breaking below us were not an issue. In fact the base was quite sheltered offering a brief respite from the ever present gale.
Tyrolean
The next day was calmer and largely without rain, but in its place was a thick fog that enveloped the whole island and made everything very damp – not good for climbing… However, Steve and Chris came up with a brilliant adventure plan to keep us all amused, a tyrolean traverse to Gannet Rock!
The cliff top on the Lundy side was incredibly loose and here Jo brings some of the cliff down in to the sea!
Plus, here are a few of the spectators…
The Battery
Our final day on the island started dry – hooray! So we rushed off to the Battery to tick Diamond Solitaire and hopefully Double Diamond. But the days of rain meant the start of Diamond Solitaire was dripping. So given the guidebook says it can feel hard if at all damp we knew it wouldn’t be easy! However, whatever state of wetness the rock is in the climbing is brilliant.
As I ascended the first pitch I could hear deep rumbles in the earth! I thought it was simply boulders being moved about by the incoming tide – the seas were still pretty rough. Next I thought Laetitia was taking a few flash-photographs as I climbed. Then, as I reached the shoulder belay at the top of the first pitch and could see out to sea, I could see there was a massive thunder and lighting storm heading straight for us!!! π―
Needless to say we beat a rapid retreat – but not before being utterly soaked by the largest raindrops ever!
Sounds like a fab time was had by all. The traverse looks great; did you use climbing rope? and did you move along the rope by arm power alone or did you use jammers?
Well, we were a bit distressed when we saw Chris pull an old dynamic climbing rope out of his sack for the tyrolean traverse. There were loads of static ropes on the meet for abseiling to the bases of the sea cliffs for climbing, so it would have been better to have used one of those.
Hey ho.
As you may be able to tell the Lundy side was slightly higher than the Gannet Rock side, so on the way over despite significant stretch it was possible to get across with ‘arm power’ alone. After all we are climbers! π However, with the additional stretch from being left in the damp air for a few hours, having been used by four people, and its dynamic nature the way back to Lundy was very ‘up hill’ and we all had to use a hand-jammer (which had to be ferried back to the sea-stack after each traverse).
Just found this pic on my camera, thought it was worth uploading…
What was the joke? π
I can’t remember what I said to get everyone laughing, but I think it was rude! π