Carbon Slab

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Carbon Slab
Shane D. and Stuart T. on Carboniferous.
Shane D. and Stuart T. on Carboniferous.
Rock Type Quarried Carboniferous Limestone
Climbing Style Sport
Approach Time 25 minutes
Area Gower
Sub Area Rhossili
Local Area Rhossili Upper Crags
Geodata
WGS-84 Location 51.563995, -4.305359
OS Grid Ref. SS 403 875
WGS-84 Parking Location 51.569301, -4.28840
GR Parking Location SS 415 880
Parking Postcode SA3 1PP
Base Elevation 30 metres (Other)
General Info
Faces Direction North West
Aspect Partially Sunny
Wind Sheltered Never
Climbing Type Normal
Seepage Quick drying
Crags Within 600m

Black Buttress, Calcite Bay, Carbon Slab, Evening Wall, Fat Lady Wall, Keel Buttress, Kitchen Corner, Lifebuoy Buttress, Mermaid Wall, Platform Area, Poser Buttress, Retribution Wall, Sheepbone Wall, Silent Fright Buttress, Silent Walls, Sinister Sister Zawn, Sinners Walls, Trial Wall, Wedge Wall, Windy Buttress


Carbon Slab
Sport Grades
<= 6a+ 4
6b - 6c+ 4
7a - 7b 0
>= 7b+ 0

Tidal Status

Non-tidal.

Preamble

Overlooks the small bay at Kitchen Corner.

A beautiful spot for a late evening's climbing. Watch the sun go down behind Worms Head.

The first two routes are on rock that can be somewhat "crunchy". Time and traffic will hopefully sort this.

Loose Rock! You should note that this is Gower and these are new routes. Whilst there has clearly been efforts made to clean the routes, there is bound to be loose rock for some time yet. Loose rock, when dislodged from either the crag face or from the foot of the crag, may fall and injure others. Climbers are asked to be considerate of other groups and individuals in the vicinity, e.g. coasteerers, fisherman, beachgoers, etc., and be exceedingly careful when climbing above others. Please Take Care!

Access

From the car park take the track heading out to Worm's Head for 800 metres to a point where the cliff edge comes close to the track and the track curves around to the left.

Continue along the track to a point where the it joins a wide grassy exspanse leading to the the Coastguard lookout.

Walk 300 metres along the grassy exspanse to the coastguard lookout.

At a point on the cliff-edge perpendicular to the north-west wall of the Coastguard lookout, is a notch in the cliff. Scramble down the notch and work your way around to the left a short way to the foot of Carbon Slab.

Descents

Lower-offs

The Routes

See the topo on Fat Lady Wall for the first two routes here.

The start of the climbs on the slab itself are on a sloping grassy ledge over a substantial drop. It is advisable to anchor your belayer. There are some newly installed (23/May/2024) anchors which may serve for this purpose.

  1. Waiting for the Fat Lady's Thong - Fr. 5
    From the corner, climb left of the arête.

  2. Carbonate - Fr. 6a
    Arête just up from the slab. Good looking line.

  3. Carboniferous - Fr. 4+
  4. Carbon Copy - Fr. 6b *
  5. Carbon Dating - Fr. 6b+ *
  6. Carbon Era - Fr. 6b *
  7. Carbon Times - Fr. 6b
  8. Carbon Light - Fr. 4

First Ascents

  1. Waiting for the Fat Lady's Thong - R.Thomas Eugene Jones G.Ashmore 00.08.2017
  2. Carbonate - R.Thomas G.Gibson, 5thJuly 2017
  3. Carboniferous - G.Gibson R.Thomas, 5th July 2017
  4. Carbon Copy - G.Gibson R.Thomas, 5th July 2017
  5. Carbon Dating - G.Gibson R.Thomas, 5th July 2017
  6. Carbon Era - G.Gibson R.Thomas, 5th July 2017
  7. Carbon Times - G.Gibson R.Thomas, 5th July 2017
  8. Carbon Light - G.Gibson July 2017

Additional Photos

Notes