With arctic conditions in the mountains the best place to boulder at this time of year is Porth Ysgo – a sunny winter day down here is hard to beat. And there are still new problems and extensions to be done (Note to all the wads out there: the Fred Nicole roof project is still waiting an ascent.).

On Monday 28th December Jon Ratcliffe added a sitting start to the steep back arête of the Made in Heaven block (mentioned as problem 10 on page 251 0f the NWB guide). This excellent, but neglected line had been done many years ago by Neil – Ding Dong – Dyer from a ‘low start’ at V8/7Bish, but the true sitting start was left undone.

Jon started with his left hand in an undercut, and his right hand low in the crack which runs parallel to the arete. This adds one hard move to the original line and bumps the overall grade to V8/7B/+ - Jon reckoned it was much harder than the Truth sds which he also did on the same day.

“It was a long problem from the sitting start, but with some trickery I was able to keep both hands mainly on the arête. The finish is quite high and I rocked over on an obvious good hold on the arete onto the slab, finishing up this just left of the arete; the top was pretty dirty (for Porth Ysgo) with lichen etc. Awesome problem, quite sustained and not over until you're on the slab. Wads with massive balls could continue up the right side of the arete at about E6! Conditions were good, some of the best I've had down there, cold.”

Explained Jon after the ascent.

On the same day Rich Betts climbed the other back (i.e. seaward) arete of the Made in Heaven block at around V5/6C - start standing and head left up the arete. NB. this may have been climbed before, although it was previously undocumented.

Relevant links: