James MacHaffie has climbed a classic highball crack line on Bryn Hel, the craggy hill on the opposite side of the river to Craig Ddu.

There is a prominent wall with three immaculate parallel cracks running up it. The left-hand crack is Heinous Hone, an E5 6c first climbed by Martin Crook in 1994. James and Pete Robins repeated this and reckoned it was best described as highball V6/7/7a/+. The central crack is much easier – perhaps highball V2/5+/6a? The unclimbed right-hand crack became Spikeful highball V6/7a. Pete nipped in for a quick repeat.

There are also two other perfect problems on the tier just above. The right-hand line on the slabby wall, which is quite high and has a sloping landing, was first climbed by Adam Wainwright, again in 1994. Some Routes Are Smaller Than Others was originally graded E2 6a, but can be considered a V4/6b boulder problem as the crux is only 4m off the deck, and the upper section is steady. The left-hand line on the wall is an excellent V7/7a+ with a perfect landing. This was first done by Mark Katz back in 1999.

To reach this area, bear rightwards from the Disobedience block. (OS ref 616 572)

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