Owen Hayward has spent the last month in a frenzy of development on the Gwynant Roadblock. This impressive boulder has been climbed on by generations of climbers, but few have made the effort to really engage with the steep left hand section, and more fool them (and us) as it really is superb.

A few years back Pat Littlejohn climbed a few of the easier stand up lines here and Glenn Jones added a couple of harder lines, including the excellent Seadog Arete sds 7A+ (NB. This was previously reported as Roadkill ).

Earlier this year Owen got involved and found himself drawn ever-deeper into an interconnecting web of brilliant problems ranging from 7A/+ to 7B+. His most outstanding effort was Roadhog sds 7B+!, an intense sitter leading into an eye-popping highball finish with hard climbing all the way.

The real shock for anybody who has casually glanced at this boulder from road is just how much quality climbing it has yielded. There are now 13 separate grade seven problems and associated sitters to go at.

With development reaching saturation point Owen is now free to cast his eye to other undeveloped blocks, and knowing him it won’t be long before he finds something else equally good.

To download Owen’s topo go to the topo download page.

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