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Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Author

“Rockclimbers in action in Snowdonia” photo book

mikllaw

26/11/2012
4:42:03 PM

I found a cheap copy of the old classic “Rockclimbers in action in Snowdonia” the first time I ever saw glamorous photographs of rock. It’s all as I remember; black and white is so good sometimes. It looks a bit primitive these days but it was a huge step forward at the time.

Rusty Baillie starting up Cenotaph Corner

Old belays suck, hanging stance off waist-tie , one arm in an etrier for comfort, and a shoulder belay. Pincushion, Tremadoc

"I had this dream see, and I was falling upwards in a shaft of light" Pellagra, Tremadoc

kuu

Online Now
26/11/2012
5:04:31 PM

On 26/11/2012 mikllaw wrote:
>I found a cheap copy of the old classic “Rockclimbers in action in Snowdonia”
>the first time I ever saw glamorous photographs of rock. It’s all as I
>remember; black and white is so good sometimes. It looks a bit primitive
>these days but it was a huge step forward at the time.
>
Thanks Mikl, the Rusty Baillie image revived memories of climbing Cenotaph Corner in 1988 to mark my fiftieth year. It looks bigger and more serious in that photo than I remember but I did take an hour to lead that single pitch (Time-stamped photos taken by Denis Kemp showed this, somewhat to my subsequent surprise) although at the time it didn't seem that long.
Time flies when you're having fun ;-)

Damo666

26/11/2012
5:37:34 PM

On 26/11/2012 kuu wrote:
>... It looks bigger and more serious
>in that photo than I remember

Yeh, that's what I thought - it looks huge here. I only stood underneath, in a queue and checked it out, in 1993, before climbing the classic HVS buttress nearby. It looked quite straightforward to me at the time, couldn't see the fuss, other than the obvious architecture.

I've had some contact since with John Cleare, he's still alive and well.

Great pics, thanks mikl.

Jim Titt

4/12/2012
12:27:57 AM

Not as alive and kicking as Rustie Baillie though, I was climbing with him last week in Nevada and Arizona!

Here´s a pic of him following the second pitch of a 1000ft back country granite dome near Kingman, Arizona last week.

(This photo is my copyright,unlike the ones posted above which are John Cleare´s, he might be in touch as he is thinking of re-publishing the book!)

kieranl

4/12/2012
8:56:19 AM

On 26/11/2012 Damo666 wrote:
>On 26/11/2012 kuu wrote:
>>... It looks bigger and more serious
>>in that photo than I remember
>
>Yeh, that's what I thought - it looks huge here. I only stood underneath,
>in a queue and checked it out, in 1993, before climbing the classic HVS
>buttress nearby. It looked quite straightforward to me at the time, couldn't
>see the fuss, other than the obvious architecture.
>
I managed to be first in line one fine summer's morning way back when. Camping at the Cromlech boulders was a help (wonder if you can still do that?). Really nice sustained pitch mostly about 15-16 with a short harder section (?19) right at the top. By the time I finished there were 2 or 3 parties queued up below.

maxdacat

Online Now
4/12/2012
10:31:58 AM

On 4/12/2012 kieranl wrote:
>>Yeh, that's what I thought - it looks huge here. I only stood underneath,
>>in a queue and checked it out, in 1993, before climbing the classic HVS
>>buttress nearby. It looked quite straightforward to me at the time, couldn't
>>see the fuss, other than the obvious architecture.
>>
>I managed to be first in line one fine summer's morning way back when.
>Camping at the Cromlech boulders was a help (wonder if you can still do
>that?). Really nice sustained pitch mostly about 15-16 with a short harder
>section (?19) right at the top. By the time I finished there were 2 or
>3 parties queued up below.

The Corner is rightly a mega classic....it never seemed easy from the first time i did it in 2003 to several other leads or seconds over the following years, despite climbing several grades harder.

Yes people still pitch a tent in the boulders but it's nicer to stay down the road in Nant Peris for 4 quid a night....the pub there is awesome.

trayracer

7/12/2012
3:09:26 PM

Cracking route. And to think in 1953 Joe Brown did the first ascent in his socks and in the wet.

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