THE ANGLESEY SEA CLIFFS
The slate boom was matched by an equally intense period of new routing on the North Wales sea cliffs, most notably on the Left-Hand Red Wall of South Stack (above, top left) and in Wen Zawn of Craig Gogarth (above, right).
South Stack’s Red Walls had been comprehensively developed, except for the blankest headwall in the Left-Hand Zawn. Here Pritchard’s leads of Enchanted Broccoli Garden E7 6b (first ascent photo – left, below) and the very serious The Super Calebrese E8 6b, (above, top left – a repeat showing the author leading the critical second pitch with Andy Popp belaying) marked a distinct rise in wall standards in the area. Photos: Ben Winteringham (above, left), Tony Kay – Pritchard Collection (below, left).
On the overhanging back wall of Wen Zawn the Dawes/Smith creation Conan the Librarian E6 6b, captured the headlines in 1986. Paul Pritchard and Nick Dixon then added The Unrideable Donkey E7 6b, to the left of Conan (above, right – with Pritchard on pitch 1). Later Pritchard nearly died here when he fell to the zawn bed from Games Climbers Play. Photo: Tony Kay – Pritchard Collection.
SRON ULLADALE
The 200-metre overhanging end wall of Sron Ulladale on the Isle of Harris was first breached by Doug Scott’s three aid climbs in 1969, 1971 and 1972. Paul Pritchard and Johnny Dawes forced the first free climb up the face in 1987 (E7 6b – based on the original line of The Scoop) and later added Knuckle Sandwich E7 6c and, with Ben Moon, Moskill Grooves E6 6b.
These climbs triggered a full scale assault on the cliff with over fourteen major new routes pioneered in the period up the late nineties (many found by Crispin Waddy and his friends), leaving Sron Ulladale, at the time, as one of the main venues for very hard on-sight traditional climbing in Europe. Sron Ulladale was most recently in the climbing news when Dave MacLeod and Tim Emmett climbed a new five pitch route – The Usual Suspects E9 7a – live on TV in August 2010.
Scenes during the 1987 first free ascent of The Scoop – the original route (1969) on the face. Johnny Dawes and Paul Pritchard enjoy a midge-free moment below the cliff (below, right). The overhanging Scoop section is on the left. Pritchard leading the first pitch (6b) (above, left), Dawes hanging out (below, left) and Dawes on the final Flying Groove (6th) pitch (above, right). Photos: Alun Hughes.
CENTRAL TOWER OF PAINE
Paul Pritchard, Noel Craine, Sean Smith and Simon Yates added a fifth climb on the East/North-East flank (above, top right) in 1991/92. These cliffs were first climbed in 1974 by the obvious diedre-line in the sunlit area. Three lines were then added to the face to the left (see topo p81). The British team took a line up the right of the shadowy face, based on an impending diedre (the Great Scoop), followed by a chimney (the Coffin). Above these, at the 29th pitch, deteriorating conditions, plus food and fuel shortages forced a retreat from the face. Five days later, Smith and Pritchard, after a night of jumaring, pushed the route to the summit block. The pair managed to remove the bulk of the fixed equipment during their descent. The slab apron below the face was pointlessly equipped with over sixty bolts by Spanish climbers during an earlier attempt.]
The Great Scoop proved the hardest part of the Paine climb. It had two long pitches, the first led by Pritchard, with a major fall, the second (opposite, far left) by Craine. “It had a stack of loose filing cabinets slotted into the top of it. I was belayed directly below, in the path of any keyed blocks he chose to unlock. To pass the blocks Noel first had to expand them with a pin, a delicate manoeuvre, and then aid up on micronuts. I had nowhere to run. He would say to himself, ‘I’m weightless. I have no mass.’ Using that meditation, even the most dreadful RURP placement could be forced into offering some support.”
Opposite, below right: Simon Yates climbing up to the foot of the Coffin pitch using a crack in the wall of the approach groove (5.6, A2+). Photos: Sean Smith.
Above, top left: At the Portaledge Camp at Christmas – Yates abseiling. The climbing involved exploiting the short spells of good weather between the regular Patagonian storms, all from this rugged but serviceable hanging campsite. Photo: Sean Smith.
High on the face a pendulum gained a crack system which led to less steep terrain a few pitches below the summit. At this critical point (above, bottom) a major thaw soon had the rocks streaming with meltwater, forcing a return to the valley. After a morale-boosting session in the fleshpots of Puerto Natales Pritchard and Smith felt ‘rejuvenated’ enough to return (top, centre) to the mountain, jumar 1,000m to the high point, and tackle the final difficulties (opposite, top right). After ten hours of climbing (including a fall) they finally gained the summit area but, with time pressing, did not climb the final icy seven-metre obelisk. Photos: Noel Craine (bottom) and Sean Smith.
MT ASGARD (Baffin Island)
Mt Asgard is a magnet to big-wall climbers, particularly the imposing western flank (opposite, top left). In 1994 Simon Yates, Paul Pritchard, Noel Craine (above, left top, L–R), Steve Quinlan and Keith Jones set up a boulder/snowhole camp on the glacier below North Peak’s West Face.
The plan was to tackle the West Face without the use of bolts. But whereas the Paine Towers are riven with vertical cracks, the Baffin walls are ice-eroded and blanker. Americans who had attempted the Asgard walls believed that any future route would require bolting, or at least riveting, to link features and make progress.
Bad weather extended the schedule and Jones and Yates were compelled to leave for home. Luckily the Spaniard Jordi Tosas was able to team up with big-wall expert Quinlan to make up the foursome.
The line chosen had the most linking features, starting with an obvious series of flakes which led towards a corner system in the centre of the face. A long free pitch, then a section of aid, was followed by a pendulum to gain the Great Flake which Craine climbed free at 5.10 (opposite, top right). On the wall above vague seams and incipient features (blank sections turned by pendulums or riveted), led to the central corner where a Portaledge camp was sited (above, centre).
In the corner the aid difficulties unexpectedly increased (above, right – Quinlan leading) with brittle rock and shallow seams, climbed with copperheads and birdbeaks, giving two A4 pitches. A pendulum gave access to Pitch 10 – A2/A3 cracks (opposite, below), which led to a skyhook and rivet traverse to gain access to the diorite vein.
After eleven days – climbing in the Arctic light, non-stop, day and night – the final seven pitches (5.8 – 5.10) brought all four climbers to the summit. (above, left bottom, L–R: Tosas, Craine, Pritchard, Quinlan). They had kept the drilling (all by hand) to 36 rivets and 10 bolts. There followed a 16-abseil descent de-equipping the route of the fixed ropes and camping gear. Photos: Pritchard Collection.
TRANGO TOWER
Craine and Pritchard (part of an 8-person group) targeted a new route on the North Face in 1995 but, early on, Craine was injured in a crevasse fall. Pritchard teamed up with Adam Wainwright (on his first Himalayan season) to try the Slovene Route (5.10, A2 or 5.12b). After one attempt (to five pitches above the Shoulder) bad weather forced a retreat.
Above right: The upper tower from the Shoulder – the route takes the central apron to overhanging corners. Photo: Bill Hatcher. Left, top The team, L– R (back) Geraldine Westrup, Noel Craine, Kate Phillips, Adam Wainwright, Andy Cave, Capt. Jamal Mohammed; (front) Celia Bull, Donna Claridge, Ali Hussein Abadi, Paul Pritchard and Ismael Bondo.
A week of storms left the peaks encrusted with snow and ice. At the earliest moment they left the shoulder for a rapid lightweight summit push, only to find that every crack was choked with ice (Left, centre – Wainwright powering up one of the upper corners). The lightweight tactics gave problems with just one pair of rock shoes, one pair of boots, one axe and no crampons – between two. On the third day, in deteriorating conditions, with Pritchard having been hit by an ice block and showing signs of altitude sickness, Wainwright took over all leading and at 6.30 the pair reached the summit (Left, below) during a fierce wind. With all stances ‘equipped’ it took just two h
ours of urgent abseiling to regain the Shoulder! Photos: Pritchard Collection.
Copyright
Deep Play
Paul Pritchard
This digital edition first published in 2012 by Vertebrate Digital, an imprint of Vertebrate Publishing.
VERTEBRATE PUBLISHING
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First published in Britain and America in 1997 by Bâton Wicks Publications, London and The Mountaineers, Seattle.
Copyright © Paul Pritchard 1997.
Preface copyright © Paul Pritchard 2012.
Foreword copyright © John Middendorf 1997.
Paul Pritchard has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as author of this work.
This book is a work of non-fiction based on the life, experiences and recollections of Paul Pritchard. In some limited cases the names of people, places, dates and sequences or the detail of events have been changed solely to protect the privacy of others.
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