Climber September/October 2017

Around the bloc
There is, however, so much more
than the Ship’s Prow. Further up the
hillside to the right is perhaps the best
collection of easier problems I have ever
seen. The Angel Walls are riddled with
corners and juggy flake lines and even
without the guide you would be hard
pushed to not have an action-packed
afternoon as you let your imagination
run wild on the varied architecture.
The Celtic Boulder with its unmistakable
carvings is a brilliantly shaped
feature and well worth a visit for the
multitude of easy problems it has on its
arêtes, one of which is Layback Arête
(Font 5). Slot Wall to the right has two
class reachy problems that I remember
being so good I had to repeat them over
and over again. The positive Slot Crack
(Font 6a+) is fairly straightforward as the
name suggests but the incredibly
highball and eye-catching arête line of
Vapour Trail (Font 6c) is worth at least E4
of anyone’s money and not one to fluff
near the top as you pull on the elusive
snappy crimp. Jen Randall’s video reveals
all but maybe that would spoil the fun.
In reality you would be pushed not to
have a good time at the Celtic Jumble. Ian
Taylor and Richie Betts’s guidebook is a
real class act and serves to point you in the
right direction whether it is towards the
classics or finding unclimbed lines on the
far upper slopes. The unique kind of
humour that has been injected into the
text makes it a real breath of fresh air when
compared to so many of the other bouldering
guidebooks you see on the market.
In an environment
like this my only
advice would be to
run wild and escape
from the restrictions
of any guidebook
The Betts 6b, Taylor 6c and Mike Lee 7a
grading system is excellent and may
catch you off your guard which is no bad
thing in today’s world of conformism.
As I relaxed in my surrounding with a
bunch of enthusiastic locals on this
beautiful winter’s day I could appreciate
why a select few individuals had left
their crowded birthplaces and relocated
to this wonderful wilderness. These
people were here for the same reason.
They craved peace and quiet and an
escape from the high levels of organisation
that are so prevalent in the modern
world some of us choose to live in.
In an environment like this my only
advice would be to run wild and escape
from the restrictions of any guidebook.
Let your imagination take over, if
something grabs your attention run up
the hill and let the rock do the talking.
Later that evening some of the clan
returned from a session on the hillside
above the Celtic Jumble. Rumours of more
great problems needed to be confirmed
and it wasn’t long before the beast was
unleashed and I too was legging it up the
hillside towards the Egg-shaped boulder The
unmistakable and eye-catching Egg Crack
(Font 5) and the airy Highball Arête (Font 5+)
are just a few of the many great problems.
The more I scoped the more I realised the
potential was never ending; there are
literally so many undiscovered treasures.
Venture back up the glen to 7-mile boulder
and check out the delights on yet another
solitary gem high on the hillside. Nothing
is super hard here and it’s a real peace of
paradise. Take in the views and relish
just being in this special environment. 6
Bryony Weathers on a brilliant
unknown problem above Angel
Walls. When the rock is this
great who cares what the
grade is just climb it.
www.climber.co.uk Sep–Oct 2017 47