Cornwall Summer Trip

by Matt Everett

The last official trip of the SUMC calendar was to the beautiful coastline of Cornwall. Known for its sunny weather and ice-cream, this year’s club trip to Cornwall went well. Mostly. The seagulls had other ideas.

We arrived at the campsite in good time and pitched up. It was blisteringly hot which meant that getting out of the tent the following morning was pretty easy at 8:00am. The first day was to Sennen, the classic hotspot. The team were met by Surrey University who had started faffing. In true veteran style, Joe and I rigged an abseil and started a train of people going down. Meanwhile, me, Leah and Joe walked round, avoiding last years incident.

At the bottom and dry, we started climbing the classic V diffs and Severe routes. As the crag got busier, we headed around the corner where Jack lead Church Window (S) and I lead Vertical Crack (HS 4b). I also attempted Dolphin Cracks (HVS 5a) but I remembered I was terrible at offwidthing so I retreated.

After completing Lands End Long Climb (VDiff) with Neil, Adam pushed the boat out with an impressive (annoying) lead of Demo Route (HS 4a) making it look easy. Henry also cruised up the bouldery Africa Route (VS 5a) with the exception of the top where much faffing was done.

The second day we headed to Bosigran and did the usual split - Half to climb multi-pitch on the right, the other half heading to do commando ridge. The sun was out again and Surrey university were there too. I took Leah and Jess across commando ridge which lots of shenanigans along the way. We saw a seal and Leah had a conversation with it. Henry, Zara and Jack followed us across. We finished at about 3:00pm and had some lunch. Some members of Surrey had walked across at this point and decided to try and start command ridge (now high tide). We left them to it.

The third day was to a new crag, Chair Ladder. A beautiful coastal cliff packed with adventurous routes that craft ways through varying terrain. After the descent to the base, civilisation feels worlds away and the tranquility is only disturbed by our own present (and Surrey’s, again).

I started up Pegasus (HS 4a) with Leah, which tackles an initial steep corner and then a juggy roof before easing up slabs. Neil and Adam were following us up quickly while Joe was off with Jack and Jess doing Pendulum Chimney (S) and Chris and Hannah were following Surrey up Rakes Progress (VDiff). Just as I exited a corner climb on pitch 3 or 4, I was met with a very loud SQUAWK! SQUAWK! Hmmm this was not good. I quickly scrambled away from the seagull who was protecting a nest of chicks and warned Leah of its presence. After a slight deviation onto a precarious slabby belay we finished the route and sat on the top in the baking sun.

We were met by Joe who said he was attacked by a seagull halfway up his route, who persistently continued to dive bomb him despite Joe apologising. This lead to Joe retreating off the route and scrambling back up and out - an adventure nonetheless!

Chris and Hannah were cruising up Surrey who had managed to go completely off route through a slabby patch of ivy. Pulling on vegetation, Chris sweated his way through the garden and reached safety. I bet that was very fun for Hannah to follow up through too…

Our fourth day, back to Bosigran (Yes, Surrey were here again) where we swapped over. Joe and Leah pulled up through the bosigran classic Little Brown Jug (VS 5a), while Jonny and I climbed Doorpost (HS 4b). Chris and Hannah spent the day in the Allison rib area ascending various VDiffs and Diffs while Jonny and I found a silly VS 5a to do called Ochre Slab Route I. After contorting and swearing I gave up and asked Jonny to finish it off.

It wasn’t too long before we gave up again as the sun was really scorching us. Jonny and I found a way into the sea, but the waves were quite strong and neither of us fancied drowning.

The final day was a re-visit to Sennen to tick those final few routes. It also saw a second excursion to Lands End Long Climb (VDiff) for Leah, Jess, myself, Chris and Hannah. Many jams were made, and chimneys bridged. Many gaps were jumped in true Lands End Long Climb Style - despite the rockfax description! This saw fit a great and satisfying end to the trip and one that shall hopefully be repeated next year!