Page 34 - AMA Summer 2024

OUT AND ABOUT ›
WYE VALLEY MEET 2023
BPeter Goodfellow
efore the meet could start it began with a little more excitement than others. Set in a beautiful location the Wye Valley Youth Hostel, which you may recognise from the TV series Sex Education, is at
the end of a long, narrow driveway with imposing drops and little in the way of safety barriers! With one car unable to drive, and 2 vans abandoned halfway down the drive, the participants eventually met from breakfast on Saturday morning.
Well fuelled from a hearty fry-up the group divided into climbing teams and started to come up with plans. Unfortunately, Symonds Yat was still out of bounds following the rock fall earlier in the year. For those not aware, 20 tonnes of rock fell in August 2023 and was stopped by the rick fence. Forestry England have been surveying the rock and commenced fence repair works in February 2024. Currently the right of way remains closed, and climbers have been asked not to climb at the location.
Saturday saw all teams head to Wintours Leap, a great location in the Wye Valley that offers a good concentration of accessible climbs for both single and multi-pitch climbing. We were lucky to be joined by Andy Brown for the weekend, a Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor (MCI) based in North Wales. Andy and Chris Dowd took out some of the novice members and gave them an introduction to multi-pitch climbing whilst the remainder climbed as pairs, until Dave, who joined us later, took on one of Chris’s team allowing them to climb more quickly. Making the most of the years’ good weather all teams managed to bag multiple routes, finishing late.
Back at the hostel, the in-house bar was made the most of. A large order of pizzas allowed everyone to refuel. Once the pizza was finished, a little bit of friendly peer pressure was applied to the other guests and the TV was changed to watch England beat Fiji in the Rugby World Cup.
Sunday had a forecast of showers late afternoon. After another fry-up, the group recovered a couple of vehicles that had got bogged in overnight in the hostel car park and headed out. Heading back to Bristol in the evening, myself and Andy returned to a damp Wintours Leap and spent the morning going through top rope and abseil set ups ready for
Once the rock had dried, we squeezed inafew good climbs before the sun started to dip
Abbing back to the bottom of Shorn Cliff
Andy’s up-coming RCS course. Once the rock had dried, we squeezed in a few good climbs before the sun started to dip, when it was time to go home. The remainder of the team went to Shorn Cliff for “some of the best single pitch climbing in the South of the UK!” The quick drying crag allowed the teams to make the most of the day putting up a consider- able number of routes before retiring to the gift shop to reclaim their parking costs and spend it on gin and chocolate!
Topping out at Wintours Leap
Dave, pleased to be out!
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