Stallion Cove
| Stallion Cove | |
| ( Paviland Wild West ) | |
| Rock Type | Natural Carboniferous Limestone |
|---|---|
| Climbing Style | Trad |
| Approach Time | 30 minutes |
| Area | Gower |
| Sub Area | Thurba to Overton |
| Local Area | Paviland and Juniper Wall |
| Geodata | |
| WGS-84 Location | 51.551088, -4.258683 |
| OS Grid Ref. | SS 434 859 |
| WGS-84 Parking Location | 51.561586, -4.242797 |
| GR Parking Location | SS 446871 |
| Parking Postcode | SA3 1PE |
| Base Elevation | 5 metres (Other) |
| General Info | |
| Faces Direction | Various |
| Aspect | Partially Sunny |
| Wind Sheltered | Seldomly |
| Climbing Type | Serious |
| Seepage | Needs a short dry spell |
| Tidal | |
| Before/After Low Tide | 1.0 hours (See Note) |
| Crags Within 600m | |
|
Above Freelunchers Zawn, Below East Gully Groove, Deborah's Overhang, Deborah's Zawn, Eos Zawn, Fetlock Zawn, First Sister, Hollow Top, Horses Cliff, Juniper Wall, Liberty Zawn, Paviland Far Far Far West, Paviland Far Far West, Paviland Far West, Paviland Main Cliff, Paviland Way Out West, Seaspit Small Cove, Second Sister, Sister 2 and Half, Stalking Horse Zawn, Stallion Cove, TV Zawn, The Hole, The Knave, Third Sister, Tooth Fairy | |
Contents
TIDAL STATUS
Routes on the west side can be approached 1 hour either side of low water. Machine Gun Kelly and Devolution 2 hours either side of low water, other routes on the east side are non-tidal.
BOLTING POLICY
No bolting except on the back wall of the cove (i.e. the steeply overhanging wall left of Machine Gun Kelly).
DESCENTS
Descent on the west side is best done by reversing Ron The Common Man. Descent on the east side is either by abseiling off slings or by walking off to the right (east).
The Routes
West Wall
There are two routes somewhere on the seaward face west of the main section of this wall, Outside Leg (VD) and Last Over Before Tea (VD), soloed by C.Evans. Descriptions were unavailable at the time of writing, but they are probably quite pleasant.
- Chill Air 80m S
A long route with good positions but some alarmingly loose rock. Climb the bounding ridge of the west wall of Stallion Cove with a short detour right at 60m.
The most obvious feature of the west wall is the huge chimney of Ron The Common Man. To the seaward side of this is a 20m high wall. The first route is on the left side of this wall. There is a spike belay at the base. - Meg's Route 24m VS,4b
At the seaward end of the west wall are two slanting grooves. Climb the left-hand groove to a rightward-trending diagonal crack. Continue left of this, to finish up the leaning wall past a matchbox-shaped hold. - Rachel's Route 24m VS,4b
The right-hand groove, finishing a metre or so to the right of Meg's Route. - Line Of Totality 24m E3,5c *
To the right of Rachel's Route is a third route running up to a steep crack. - Unnamed I 24m E3,5c
A line up the wall to the right of Line Of Totality - Parenting Orders And Bribery 24m VD
The grooves left of Ron The Common Man, linked by a slab. - Ron The Common Man 24m VD **
The huge chimney dominating the west wall. - Unnamed II 24m E1,5b
As for Ron The Common Man to two-thirds height. Pull out onto the right wall and climb a groove to finish. - Machine Gun Kelly 31m E5,6b,5b *
P1 takes the vicious leaning crack above the base of the rift, P2 takes the centre of the headwall.- 6m From the base of the rift reach and follow jugs left to the arête at the foot of the crack (a sling flicked onto a spike protects the start). Power up the crack to massive holds over the lip. Scramble 6m to belay at the base of the inset headwall. Almost as hard as Undercut Crack at Bamford.
- 15m Climb totally direct up the fawn coloured leaning wall to a ledge at 5m. Continue straight up, keeping about 2-3m right of a broken black crackline to easier ground and a belay in the niche. Traverse right and climb down the ledge to the usual descent.
- Devolution 18m E6,6b **
The thin diagonal crack running through the roof right of Machine Gun Kelly to join the top of Colt 45 P1, 2PRs. - Colt 45 40m E2,5c,4c *
- 25m From 2m further up the rift, transfer onto an obvious rightward sloping ramp. Follow the ramp over a bulge to reach a rounded grey jug. Move right and pull up to easier ground. Climb easily leftwards to belay on a good brown spike below a wide crack right of the headwall.
- 15m Climb the wide crack for 4m then swing left onto a flake on the headwall. Continue up on pockets and sharp rock to a ledge. Fix gear, then traverse right to a belay on a large rock spike at a slightly lower level. Finishing direct from the headwall is Room 101 (4b, C.Evans, J.Williams 1999).
- Marco Golo 25m E2,5b *
Start halfway up the rift, at a low TR. Step across the rift into sharp cracks and follow these, stepping right at 5m to thinner cracks leading to the left-slanting break. Hand-traverse the break rightwards for 2m then climb straight up the bulge to a serrated sloping ledge and old golo. Continue directly up slabby grey rock to a belay ledge. - Marco Golo Direct 23m E3,6b
Gain the rightmost cracks of Marco Golo just below the break, from directly below, avoiding holds in the start of the parent route. Contrived, but nice climbing on razors. - Moacs Are Extinct 18m HVS,5a *
Start at the top of the rift. From a good flake on the wall climb to the base of a right-facing groove rising from a deep right-slanting break. Ascend the groove past an old in-situ Moac, to a ledge at the top of the wall. - Dinosaurs Don't Clip 18m HS,4b
The wall and groove to the right of Moacs Are Extinct.
Two climbs are recorded in Talbot (1973), pp.17-18. as follows:-
24d Faith 75ft., II/III/IV-. depending on variation.
From Yellow Top follow the upper cliff edge W for a short distance to an obvious grassy depression falling to a gully. Take a track on the W side of the gully and up to a smell saddle. Descend directly on the other side by a narrow grassy groove running down to reach the top at the first slab. Either abseil or climb down by its side.
Climb the lower section of the slab, keeping somewhat to the R, and exit to a sloping ledge. Take the upper section either R or L, or direct which is hard.
24e Hope 75m., II/III-
The slab Just R(SSE) of Faith. The lower slab is a superb piece oi rook affording three interesting if short problems.
Start from a terrace just above the sea and climb the lower slab -
- ) keeping to its R side (II).
- ) climb it directly by the centre (III-).
- ) climb it on its L side (III-) to a sloping ledge.
climb the following two short slabs direct to the top (II).
Note that these two climb's numbers suggest that they should be found around Yellow Buttress. The description, starting from "Yellow Top", clearly describes access to Stallion Cove. An error by Talbot?
Additional Photos
Scramble descent into the cove.
FIRST ASCENTS
- Chill Air - R.High, J.Harwood 06.03.1999
- Meg's Route - C.Evans, J.Williams 00.00.1999
- Rachel's Route - C.Evans, D.Morris 00.00.1999
- Line Of Totality - M.Richards, T.Milner 00.07.1999
- Unnamed I - J.Williams 00.07.1999
- Parenting Orders And Bribery - C.Evans, J.Williams 00.00.1999
- Ron The Common Man - A.Sharp, P.Lewis 00.05.1999
- Unnamed II - A.Sharp, P.Lewis 00.05.1999
- Machine Gun Kelly - M.Crocker - Pitch 2 10.10.1998, M.Crocker - Pitch 1 07.02.1999
- 'Devolution - A.Sharp, M.Richards 00.00.1999
- Colt 45 - M.Crocker - Pitch 1 18.10.1998, M.Crocker, J.Harwood - Pitch 2 07.02.1998
- Marco Golo - M.Crocker 18.10.1998
- Marco Golo Direct - A.Sharp, P.Lewis 00.05.1999
- Moacs Are Extinct - M.Crocker 18.10.1998
- Dinosaurs Don't Clip - M.Richards, T.Milner 00.05.1999
