Penblwydd Hapus (i Fi) F6c, Slate

1 CommentTuesday • May 4, 2010 • by simon

Si Panton making the first ascent of Penblwydd Hapus (i Fi) F6c, Never Never Land Photo: Jon Ratcliffe

New routes in the slate quarries continue to dominate North Wales news in the lead up to the release of the new Llanberis Slate guide. On Saturday, guide editor, Si Panton added a neat new line to the Monkey Bar Area (i.e. the hidden quarry just below the path at Never Never Land).

Penblwydd Hapus (i Fi) F6c takes the hanging groove above the lip of the tunnel just right of Si Beal’s E2, Dyke Rider, before trending left into the same bold finish.

Si explains how the route came into being:

“I spotted the line while checking Dyke Rider for the guide and had a quick play on a rope. It seemed to climb well so I returned a few days later on my birthday with a team of mates and a drill. The banter was good but the weather wasn’t playing game – upon arrival there was a shower, so I set up an abseil, put the bolts in and cleaned off any loose holds I could find.”

“The rain stopped, and this being slate, the rock dried out almost straight away. After a warm up on the rather good Dyke Rider and a quick check of the moves I was ready. The weather held and both myself and Andy Scott were able to lead the route. Just as Andy lowered back to the ground the skies opened again and Streaky was forced to make a very damp and rather comical ascent to strip the gear.”

“I’m not sure about the grade as style wise it is a bit of a hybrid. The final run out is not hard compared with what you do in the groove, but it is does feel quite airy! The first bolt is also missing at the moment as the drill battery ran out, but you could stick clip the second, or just solo up as Andy did. I’ll be back soon to sort this out.”

The previous week Streaky Desroy and Si climbed a trad line up the wall and cracks left of Dyke Rider. Sleazy Rider E1 5a starts with a bold lower wall leading to good nuts and a step left to the upper crack. This is followed with judicious use of the ledges to the right. At the top a sling on a good block protects the traverse to the Dyke Rider lower off.

Elsewhere in the quarries Mark Reeves, found more new and worthwhile ground on the Looning the Tube slab. Mark had set out to check Pruning the Tube, but found it to be in dire need of a clean, so he continued traversing rightwards to reach the last bolt on Gerboa Racer and finished up this. Mark rated Exhuming the Tube as a great E2 outing.

On the same day Mark Dicken gave Pruning the Tube a clean up. After checking it on a top rope, he reckoned it might be worth E3.

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