South Wales Climbing - Stories of Esoterica II

A few summers ago (as a skint student), I found myself in a job on the local miniature railway. It used to drive me absolutely mad - there's few things more irritating than transporting screaming kids around in circles all day long! On dry days, I'd race home from work, grab my gear and head to Troedyrhiw crag. 

Troedyrhiw crag: natural sandstone towers bursting out of the hillside, in the shadow of which lies the remains of the old lido. Very juxtapose; it makes for quite an atmosphere.

Now, there's a classic slab on the lower tier of the crag, called Solo Para Tos Zapados. I unlocked the sequence quite quickly, working the moves with a shunt, but the thought of going for the big solo was a scary prospect.

It starts out with some casual balancey moves, which lead you further and further from the deck to a good rest, where you can have a word with yourself before it all kicks off. 

There's no gear. You could place some skyhooks and weight them down, but they would almost certainly rip the rock off the wall if you buggered it and took and lob.

Cheek to the wall, toes rolled in and heart in mouth - navigating the crux sequence ~9m off the deck.

I plucked up the courage to go for it one crisp morning. With routes like this, you have to really want it - having second thoughts when you are commited is a recipie for ending up half way down the mountain.

From the half height rest you launch out left and flow through a short sequence of tenuous moves on marginal holds. There's then scope for a rest on a decent foothold, but I climbed past it because I knew I'd lose my cool if I had too much time to think. 

The crux looms over you: a complex series of foot moves allows you to rock up from a thumb sprag to a tiny two finger dimple. After you fight through this section, all that remains is a couple of basic crimp moves and the top out. Quality.

I'm not a good enough writer to convey exactly how it felt to pull it off. It's almost like being on another planet, engrossed in the moment. I get a lot out of those moments, where you are maximally focused and everything else dissapears - it's almost like meditation. No thoughts, just perfect flow; executing the sequence. For a few weeks afterwards, you get a deep sense of satisfaction; colours seem brighter, beer tastes better, you get the idea!

Until next time,

Peace from South Wales