Marcus Rushworth has made the second ascent of Sam Cattell’s Batman (8A) on Cave Wall on the Little Orme. Sam Cattell did the first ascent in 2010 giving it the unlikely grade of 7C+ and it has seen off all potential suitors since. The moves came together quickly for Marcus who utilised a toe hook on the crux first move.
Sam Cattell originally finished directly up and right to the finishing break but Marcus found it more logical to climb straight up into the end of Breezeblock then moving across to the break. Sam’s direct independent finish is a little harder but the direct finish holds are so close it seemed logical to use them.
Climbing into Batman from the Caveman Low start at the back is an obvious hard project (at least 8B?). Chris Doyle worked out a way of getting into Batman by following Caveman Low then joining Batman at the hold that is shared by both problems. Batshit went at 7C from the original Caveman crouched start and 8A from the back. One for bored locals perhaps but good moves nonetheless.
Chris also did a sit start to Patch’s Problem, starting down and left with a diagonal crimp for left hand and choice of holds for the right. An insecure toe hook in the roof was used to reach the jug pocket on Patch’s. Patch’s Bottom goes at 7B.
Caveman, the crag classic, has lost a hold making it slightly harder but it doesn’t change the grade of the crouch or the low start.
Phil Targett has also been busy in the area adding a 6A+ sit start left of Floppy’s Reach and a 6C and 6A+ right of the right hand cave.
Phil has also done 3 new additions on the short and compact wall opposite Cave Wall. Finger Frenzy (7A) sit starts on the right by the first blocks sticking out of the ground at a crimp and pocket. Pull up right to good holds then traverse left on undercut flakes to two good edges below the break line. From a small hold out left drop down and follow pockets and side pulls to flat jugs. An easy romp along the low break leads to a step off at the very end onto the boulder.. He also did a 6A traverse of the higher break, linked into a reverse of this after the meat of the 7A traverse (at 7A+) and after reversing the 7A traverse.
It’s worth noting that Cave Wall is a good bet after wet weather as it takes very little seepage compared to most of the limestone crags.
