First off this month is for me to report the demise of the loose flake just above the half height break of the classic 7b+ Chullia at Brean Down in Somerset. The remains are on view at the base of the cliff and it was a good job that it did not come off when anyone was belaying someone on Storm Warning or Brean Topping. Chullia and Storm Warning have been reclimbed and are still the same grade but Brean Topping could well prove to be harder now. The weather has been pretty kind with hardly any rain and has allowed me to get up another of Brean Down’s great sport routes El Chocco 7c.

I also cleaned up and lead another ’should go and do’ Crimson Dynamo at another of Somerset’s little gems Split Rock Quarry. Whilst there I have also given the other routes a good pruning and the face is now in excellent nick.

I have helped organise a clean up at Chudleigh rocks which went very well and has really made difference, with vast amounts of ivy now consigned to the base of the crag! Phase two is planned for the winter which will see the removal of a number of big trees at the base of the crag and some more work on the faces.

I was also pleased to get the good news about Mike Robertson’s Deep Water guide which won best Exposition at the Banff Book Festival in Canada. Working on the book with Mike was a lot of hard work but also entailed a lot of laughs as well as a memorable rush from the computer to undertake a bit of salvage on my local beach when the container ship the Napolli went aground.

So I now leave for a few weeks in El Chorro with my old Lakes mates and a good dose of warm weather, fingers crossed.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 17th, 2007 at 9:42 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.