Yesterday evening I headed down to Shorn Cliff with a friend of mine, Terry. I haven't climbed at all of the Wye Valley crags, there are a lot of them tucked away deep in the Forest of Dean, but of the ones that I have climbed at this is my favourite.
The climbing tends to be technical in nature with the rock being a slab rather than the usual brutish steep climbing you get on Limestone. The rock is also not as polished as in many places and the 30 minute walk in means that it is normally quiet.
All of the routes are single pitch but are about 25m long. This one is HVS 5a but I decided to do the direct alternative which puts a direct finish up thin cracks over a bulge to a grade of E1 5c. The way I climbed it the last move involved pulling up on one finger with my right hand into a dyno for a hold for the left. I didn't catch the hold and took a whipper which was a bit of a nuisance. My last piece of gear was only a meter or so below me and held (it was a micro wire!). So there we go, no onsight for me! Terry then climbed One For All, a lovely Hard Severe before we headed home.
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