Ponyo & Beast of Burden SDS

Written by Greg Chapman Tuesday, 08 May 2012 12:22

Myself and Dan Varian have added a couple more decent harder additions to the Lakes roster.

First up, Dan has climbed the obvious steep prow to the rear of Fruits de Mer and Floating Points, at the Fisherman's Steps sector of St. Bees Head, North. Dan had to sort out the landing a bit, but reckons it now makes for a really good addition to the circuit. The nature of the softer rock on this block does mean it's probably one to avoid shortly after wet weather or a storm, however Dan assures me that when dry and brushed up Ponyo (hard 7C/V9), as it has been named, offers fine climbing similar, but slightly easier, to that on the excellent Iron Hide, over on the South Head. There is a low-res video of Dan's ascent on the LakesBloc Vimeo page available to view here.

Image: Beast of Burden SDS (8A/V11).

Over on Long Crag, above Wrynose Pass, I managed to climb the sit down start to the crag classic Beast of Burden. This fine problem provides brilliant climbing and deceptively burly moves up a 20 degree overhanging face. The line starts matched on a large, low undercut/side pull and tackles a direct line into the standing start. This weighs in at around the 8A/V11 mark.