Cornwall - August 2022
After the long drive down to Sennen, the first groups were rewarded with the smell of the fresh sea air and the flashing lights of the Lands End fireworks display. Unfortunately for Piers and Paula, this was slightly dampened by their discovery that they’d brought an awning instead of a tent and were forced to seek alternative accommodation (courtesy of their very kind neighbours).
Friday morning: three teams headed to the jagged cliffs of Bosigran. From the abandoned tin mine at the car park, you can see the imposing main cliffs on the right and the dragon's back ridge on the left, divided by an inaccessible blue-green sandy bay. After a long descent to sea level (including two abseils), we made it to the base of our objective: Commando Ridge. A belay was set up to protect the first traverse around an arête with waves crashing below. Eight unique pitches followed, including steep juggy walls, delicate traverses, awkward down-climbs and even a cosy “à cheval” belay, making the 6 pm lunch at the end of the day all the more tasty.
Back at the campsite, stories were shared over the fire where we discovered Graham had successfully completed his fourth ascent of the classic Doorpost in as many decades and somehow Piers had managed to get lost on a ridge climb.
Saturday started off to a shaky start with my dodgy route finding taking Marcus, Hannah and Imogen on an interesting (first ascent no doubt) warm-up whilst the rest chose the more direct abseil in. Once finally down, first-timers to the area were impressed by their surroundings. The square-cut granite cliffs of Sennen make for photogenic, obvious and steep lines - the South West’s answer to Stanage does not disappoint.
Not intimidated by the atmospheric setting, the club soon dispersed over the crag, with JC and Kat warming up on the classic Demo Route while others sought gentler angled slopes. The day progressed well seeing many impressive ascents including Marcus's first trad lead on Staircase, which I’m sure felt like anything but. Others succumbed to the steepness of the cliffs, however, I was swiftly swatted off the start of Africa Route and was forced instead to climb out up the brutish Overhanging Corner - much to the dismay of my second.
The day was wrapped up with a well-deserved fish and chips on the sea wall before walking back to the campsite for an evening of star gazing under crystal clear skies.
On Sunday we woke up to a shift in conditions with a marked increase in wind. We wrapped up prepared for a breezy day on the crag and headed back to Bosigran Main Cliff in an attempt to stay sheltered. After the walk in it was clear the plan had worked as we were all sweltering and tearing off layers enjoying the stillness of the bay. With lots of classic multi-pitches for us to enjoy the group made light work of Little Brown Jug, Zig Zag and Alison Rib to name a few. A good day all round.
Monday saw half the group making their way home ahead of the traffic while a few others went back to Bosigran for some unfinished business. Graham and Ian took on Commando ridge with ease and after some practice at anchor building, Brad polished off the weekend with his first multi-pitch trad tread on Ledge Route.
Having having had a glimpse at what Cornwall has to offer I know I’m not the only one who cannot wait to get back to the granite cliffs and fish and chip shops of Sennen.