Stonemasonry

One of the best bits of this summer was climbing a recent new addition at Gogarth, called Stonemasonry. James McHaffie and Oli Grounsel first climbed the pitch earlier this year and were raving about it. Safe, non-tidal, fun knee bars, French 8a… sounded good. I first went to check it out with Charlie Woodburn and Ben Brasby in pretty damp conditions and got shut down. I didn’t even manage to dog my way to the top! It seemed very hard indeed, for E7?!

Muskett getting psyched

Pete Robbins on Stonemasonry

I headed back some months later with Pete Robbins and Calum Muskett who were keen to try it, Caff even turned up to heckle. With better conditions, knee pads and prior knowledge I managed to scrape my way up it, by the skin of my teeth. It’s a totally class route with about 20 knee bars on it and a lot of hanging upside down. It’s really steep and feels like roof climbing. Ludicrous at E7 though – in my opinion – more like E8. It’s tucked away in a sea cave on the headland south of Porth Dafarch.

It's steep

Very steep