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Crymlyn Quarries: Out-takes and Extras
I first stumbled upon this area in November 2007, when working on the demolition of the cantilever section of the Crumlin Road viaduct, north of Viaduct Quarry. At this time, Monks Quarry and Tunnel Quarry were overgrown, and being a wet Winter, the Main Wall was a waterfall. It didn't look promising. However, I returned the following Summer with Paul Rogers, Ralph Giles and Peter Wardman in tow, to re-assess its potential. Later, in the pub in Hafodyrynys (an experience not to be repeated) the lads opinions of the place tended toward a general disapproval; it still looked quite wet and was very, very overgrown.
A couple of year later, undaunted and with renewed vigour (due to my working hours being cut temporarily at the start of the financial recession) I returned, with Robin McAllister, to do battle with the monster!
Below are a few photographs of the condition of the quarries prior to or during it's development.
This is where we started, tackling the biggest challenge head on. After we had mopped up all the lines we wanted, Chris Wyatt entered the fray to bolt the rising traverse over the big roof prow (and ended up with a bit of a head-ache for his troubles).
There is still an open line in the centre of the wall which looks the longest and hardest, any takers? (No chippers!)
This wall was initially cleaned up by Rob whilst I gardened and scrubbed the Viaduct Quarry (we both agreed that it was our civic duty to put up easy sports routes for beginners).
The name of Rob's route 'Werewolves of Crymlyn' alludes to the pack of dogs which roamed the woods that day and chased us up the cliff! Gary Lewis also added some fillers in on this wall and somewhat to Rob's (albiet limited) annoyance, 'nicked one he had his eye on.
I got my head split open by a falling rock whilst abseiling to quickly replace some staples on Alys (the glue didn't mix quite right in the tube first time around). My blood was sprayed all over the route, but has now washed off. I learned a couple of lessons that day, which Chris Wyatt also had to learn (the hard way) himself.
Rob and I bolted up the big roof crack last year but having aided through it (and having my fixed rope stolen by a climber or someone very brave) we decided that the climbing techniques required for success on this route were beyond our limited repertoire. We left this for a year, almost forgotten. Then the subject came up during a chat with Simon Rawlinson whilst we were on holiday in Kalymnos (a million miles away in every respect!) and he showed a real interest in 'The Clart Mountain Project'. With our blessing, Simon bagged it in record time and at an amenable grade - but still the hardest in the quarry. Simon invited Stephan Doerr to the quarry a few days later, whereupon Stephan proceeded to on-sight the thing! Given the grade and the ease of Stephan's repeat, Rob and I discussed whether we should have persevered at it, but our deliberations were relatively brief.
The Sunny Slabs were developed by Roy Thomas, Dave Emanuelle and Steve Delaney after we had finished with our new routing activities. Unfortunately it's been left a little unfinished. Fair play, Del has been back (even though he lives in Brum now) to try and replace the staples on his detached tower, but the work goes on...
I trundled and gardened these big lines over a few weeks of 2 hour, smash and grab, raids, and was very pleased with the results. The local kids enjoyed it too, having a whale of a time swinging back and forth through the tunnel on my fixed rope. Between visits, I sneakily hid a bag of bolts, spanners, sockets, bars, brushes, glue gun, krabs, hammers, etc. in a rusty old oil drum to save me hoiking it to the crag every visit. One day, I arrived at the crag ready to go, and found the drum overturned and the bag missing! Over £100.00 worth of assorted and not easily replaceable kit was gone. Disheartened I left an A4 note pinned at the foot of the crag to show my displeasure at the theft. I returned a week later and miraculously everything was returned, and the note gone. Many thanks, whoever you are.
We also spent an inordinate amount of time clearing the Terrace Wall. It was worth it though. The routes on the right are the most sustained and on the best compact and rough sandstone in the quarry. When they are dry they really do deserve attention. I expected the in-situ rope used for easy access to the terrace to have dissapeared by now, but true to the continued good behaviour of the local youth, it has remained in place.
I had walked past the Viaduct Quarry a couple of times in 2007 and given it no thought (seen the photos?). Later on, Bill Gregory got a bit lost on his way to Monks Quarry and stumbled upon it. 'Amazed' by it's potential, he talked me into having another look. I got through a few wire brushes on this wall before it was finished.
Roy Thomas took pity on the minor wall, left of the arete, and has produced some esoteric tit-bits. He has yet to return to bag his project, marked by a deflated bi-cycle inner tube, because he got too 'tyre(d)' to climb it after all the cleaning.
Hope you enjoyed this taster of the trials of new routing on S E Wales Sandstone.
Happy Climbing, Al
