First Corner
| First Corner | |
 | |
| Rock Type | Natural Carboniferous Limestone |
|---|---|
| Climbing Style | Trad |
| Approach Time | 20 minutes |
| Area | Gower |
| Sub Area | Tor Bay and Great Tor |
| Local Area | Great Tor East |
| Geodata | |
| WGS-84 Location | 51.570235, -4.119228 |
| OS Grid Ref. | SS 532 878 |
| WGS-84 Parking Location | 51.575583, -4.127859 |
| GR Parking Location | SS 526 884 |
| Parking Postcode | SA3 2HJ |
| Base Elevation | 0 metres (Other) |
| General Info | |
| Faces Direction | South |
| Aspect | |
| Wind Sheltered | Mostly |
| Climbing Type | Family |
| Seepage | Quick drying |
| Tidal | |
| Before/After Low Tide | 2.5 hours (See Note) |
| Crags Within 400m | |
|
First Corner, Great Tor Proper, High Slab, Monty's Slab, Odin's Cave, Odin's Wall, Ramp Zawn, Second Corner | |
Contents
Tidal Status
Bolting Policy
No bolting.
Preamble
Access
From the parking at Penmaen, pass through the gate and follow the rough track. After 200 metres pass an old barn on your right. Here the track makes a sharp right and then a sharp left turn and becomes a narrow concrete path between high hedges. After 300 metres you come to a gate.
Pass through the gate and then follow the path for 200m from where the path's surface turns to sand. Follow the (now) wide path for 100 metres until you see a steep sandy path branching off on your left.
Follow this narrow path downwards for 120m to arrive at the back of Three Cliffs Bay.
Follow the cliff line passing between the rocky island and the main cliff. First Corner is the area of leaning walls caves.
Descents
The Routes
The gently leaning east wall contains a number of routes. Cherry Grove is the corner on the left end of this wall.
Here's a bit of a story : The next two climbs waited 50 years for a first ascent . When it finally did come two totally independent parties bagged them on the same day. Steve and Will climbed them at 2pm whereas Chris and Cherry climbed them at 4pm. Chris and Cherry were understandably gutted!
- Shoulda Brought a Beer Towel 9m HVS, 5b *
The crack in the left of cherry grove with a tricky start . Turn the overhang to the left. Sustained - Steve Get Naked 9m S, 4a *
The corner. Move right towartds the top - The Road to Azerbajan 9m E1, 5b *
The crack in the left of the wall with a tricky start and a fierce lay-back to finish. Sustained - Onion Cocaine 7m E2, 5b
The crack between The Road to Azerbaijan and Onion Crack. - Onion Crack (Weeping Crack) 9m VS,5a *
The last crack on the right end of the wall is the most obvious.
Block Corner D (J.Talbot 1959) bounds the right end of the leaning wall. Right of this is a pillar and a cave entrance. - Left Corner Block Wall 12m D
Ascend the groove on the left of the cave. At half-height, move right around a flake, then step back up left to a narrow corner and a conglomerate top out.
A cave at its left-hand end is followed rightwards by a series of pillars of varying height, to another through cave and a holed slab. - Block Wall 12m S,4a
Bridge the cave just right of Left Corner Block Wall. Pull up into the crack above. From the crack an obvious foothold is used to cross the wall leftwards to a crack. Follow this to a small conglomerate overhang, then move right and up to the top. - Central Pillar 13m HS,4b
A corner just right of the cave leads to a ledge beneath an arête. Swing left onto the face along a horizontal crack, to join Block Wall.
The corner right of Central Pillar is Stalactite HD (J.Talbot 1959), whose right arête is Commitment 4b (J.Talbot 1959).
Stepping down and right is a through cave with a slab to its right. - Cave and Balcony Blow-Hole 9m VD
Climb damp cracks into the back of the cave and a balcony ledge, step across and make an exposed exit through the blow-hole. - Seaweed Slalom - HVS,5a
- Hole Slab 8m D
Begin at a shallow corner at the right side of the slab (the corner itself is Right Corner M (J.Talbot 1959). Step left as soon as possible onto the slab. Move up to the distinct hole, exiting up the slab above. - Proud Slab 7m D
The proud slab right of Right Corner.
First Ascents
- Shoulda Brought a Beer Towel - Steve Grigg 01.10.2015
- Steve Get Naked - Will Nicholson 01.10.2015
- The Road to Azerbajan - Chris Wyatt 01.07.2014
- Onion Cocaine - Steve Grigg 02.10.2016
- Onion Crack (Weeping Crack) - J.Talbot 00.00.1962
- Left Corner Block Wall - J.Talbot 00.00.1959
- Block Wall - J.Talbot 00.00.1959
- Central Pillar - J.Talbot 00.00.1959
- Cave and Balcony Blow-Hole - Nick Taylor o/s solo 23.05.2009
- Hole Slab - J.Talbot 00.00.1959
- Proud Slab - Unknown Pre-1978
Additional Photos
Chris Wyatt on the FA of Road to Azerbaijan
