Vaynor

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Vaynor
Rock Type Quarried Carboniferous Limestone
Climbing Style Sport
Approach Time 10 minutes
Area Inland Limestone
Geodata
WGS-84 Location 51.781806, -3.4038332
OS Grid Ref. SO 032 101
WGS-84 Parking Location 51.772690, -3.3971465
GR Parking Location SO 036 091
Parking Postcode CF48 2NR
Base Elevation 372 metres (SRTM Estimation)
General Info
Faces Direction
Aspect Sunny
Wind Sheltered Mostly
Climbing Type Serious
Midge Problem Never
Seepage Needs a short dry spell
Crags Within 10.0 km

Baltic Quarry, Bridge Cliff, Cefn Coed - East, Cefn Coed - West, Cefnpennar, Dan-y-Darren Quarry, Darren Fach, Darren Fawr, Dyffryn Crawnon, Morlais Quarries, Taf Fechan, Trefil, Troedyrhiw, Twynau Gwynion Quarries, Upper Mountain Ash, Vaynor



Vaynor
Sport Grades
<= 6a+ 4
6b - 6c+ 10
7a - 7b 3
>= 7b+ 1

GR: SO 03254 10171

Latitude : 51.781806 Longitude : -3.4038332

Postcode (nearest) : CF48 2LE

PREAMBLE

A huge, rambling quarry, adjacent to the new Sweetwater residential estate, Trefechan.

Its soooo... big, there has to be some good climbing there, innit?

ACCESS

Get to Merthyr Tydfil. At the roundabout on the A465/A470 intersection, head towards Abergavenny on the A465. Take the first left, signposted Cefn Coed. Cross the staggered T-junction and continue about a mile. Enter Trefechan village and park on the main road, just past the Sweetwater Park turning on the left (you just missed it if you leave the village and see the gated quarry entrance) where there is a wide footway.

Park at SO 03696 09148 or Lat 51.772690, Long -3.3971465.

Loading map...

Follow the road and jump over the quarry fence where the footway ends. Descend through the conifer hedge. Much quicker for Entrance Walls, but try to avoid being seen.

For Sweetwater Wall, park on the Sweetwater Park junction, follow it uphill to the sign-posted footpath on the left. This path passes between and around the back of the houses for a few hundred metres before meeting a gateway onto the moor. Go through the gate and follow the path to the right, leading to the top of the quarry. Keep walking for 5 mins, skirting the quarry's wire fenceline on the right, until you see the golf course up to the left. Soon, a perpendicular fenceline interrupts the path, pass through the fallen gateway and a boulder soon becomes visible on the right, over the quarry fence (abseil into Sweet Water Wall). It is possible to continue walking until the northern end of the quarry is reached and numerous disused roadways can be used to access the various tiers.

DESCENTS

All sports routes have bolted lower offs.

ROUTES

ENTRANCE WALLS

The entrance walls are situated around and above the abandoned quarry buildings and are the earlier (Pre-WW2) workings. Shady and gets midgy.

Southern Walls

These climbs are in the bottom corner of the quarry, directly below the main road.

  1. Save a Bit of Light - Fr. 6b+
    Left side of the flat wall. Lower off in groove to right, shared with the next route. 2 Staples. 8 m.

  2. Robots of Tokyo - Fr. 6a+
    Flake/arête on the right side of the flat wall. 3 bolts. 8 m

  3. Mr 10% - Fr. 6a
    The boss of rock, coming in from ledges on the right. 2 bolts. 8 m.

    The next few routes are on an obvious short, wide, vertical white wall with spaced pockets.

  4. Blast Tyrant - Fr. 6b *
    Left side of the near vertical wall via pocket. Steep block and left side of finishing slab. 4 bolts. 8 m.

  5. Earth Rocker - Fr. 6b+
    Second bolt line. Thin lower wall (font 6a/+) then over the roof onto a finishing slab. Shared L.O. 4 bolts. 8 m.

  6. Mek-Quake - Fr. 6a
    Centre of the near vertical face and crackline (font 5). Get stood in two mega-pockets to finish. 3 bolts. 7 m.

  7. Seismic Shock - Fr. 6b
    The thin crackline (font 5+/6a). 2 bolts. 6 m.

  8. Dave - The Warm Up Sessions - Fr. 6b+
    Left hand side of the long horizontal pockets (font 6a+). 2 bolts. 6 m

  9. Earth Mover - Fr.6a+
    Right hand side of the long horizontal pockets. 5 m.

  10. Traverse Of The Cads-Fr .?
    leftward hand traverse of wall.

North-West Walls

The high vegetated plateau (ballast reserves) accesses the north-west walls. Sunny only in the morning. This area gets very midgy by midday.

Fine Flowstone Climbs up to 18 m.


  1. Bubblegum Crack - Fr. 6a+ *
    Pink flowstone crack splitting the front of the white buttress. 5 bolts, 10 m.

  2. Work in Progress
    The white overhanging wall.

  3. Xenomorph - Fr. 6b **
    Left side of the arête up white flowstone, shared bolts with Even Flow, to a tricky step back left above the overlap. Finish up the exposed arête. 8 bolts, 18 m.

  4. Even Flow - Fr. 6b **
    Long flowstone covered wall, starting just right of the arête of the buttress. 7 bolts, 18 m.

  5. Cherub Rock - Fr. 6b+ *
    The cracks right of Even Flow. Needs brushing after winter but this is easy from shared lower off. 7 bolts, 18 m.

NEW VAYNOR QUARRIES

Following the internal road ever upwards, there are two quarries. The western quarry is undeveloped and you may not even notice it, as it is separate, and only accessed by a right turn off the internal road. The eastern quarry is the vast wasteland you are confronted with as you crest the steep taracadam road, this is where the current routes lie.

TIER 1

The pit. Usually has a shallow pond filling its northern end.

TIER 2

Hard routes. Never midgy.

After the steepest incline on the old taracadam road, take the track left through some boulders blocking the way.

East Side

As the track widens out and the drop to the right of the path ends, look up on the right. This wall is the slightly overhanging crystal sheet. Quality stuff, definitely worth a look. No shade after midday. Never midgy.

Overhanging limestone for 18 m.


  1. Smash It Up - Fr. 6b
    Start at a pile of boulders on the quarry floor (20 m right of the arête). Head up to the obvious long layaway, which permits passage through the roof and a lower off in the niche. 3 bolts, 8 m.

  2. Nitro (Youth Energy) - Fr. 7b *
    Leftwards extension to Smash. Step left from the niche and launch up the center of the over vertical head wall. 8 bolts, 18 m.

  3. What the Thunder Said - Fr. 7b+ **
    The rightwards extension to Smash hosts big moves, pockets and crystals. Massive move to finish. 8 bolts, 18 m.

  4. Peripheral Thinking - Fr. 7a+ **
    Simply link Thunder into Nitro via the obvious ledge. Avoids the crux of either route and is nicely sustained. Extended quick-draws very useful. 20 m.

North Side

This is the obvious blank sheet at the back of the quarry. Can be wet after rain. Looks a bit scary as the routes start properly after some blocky low angle stuff.

  1. Proj - Fr. 8a ?
    Woah! Needs super flake removing.

  2. Proj - Fr. 7b+ ?
    Staples, directly above the bolted access pitch.

  3. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - Fr. 7a+/7b *
    Starts on the half height ledge and twin staples. Force your way up the intricate lower wall and, with some difficulty, transfer into the faint sharp groove line above. 4 Staples. 10 m.

TIER 3

Nowt yet, but the west wall is continuous.

TIER 4 - Sweetwater Wall

High up and hard to spot due to the scale of the place. It is best to abseil in as there is a big scree slope beneath it, which would be foolhardy to cross.

  1. Project - Fr. 7a ? *
    The left hand line. A steep and reachy start leads to pumpy finish on good holds. 12 m.

  2. Lactic Crack - Fr. 6c *
    The central line starts up staples. After stepping on the wall, make a short rightwards traverse and head up the crack line splitting the tube. Super sustained British 5b climbing. 6 bolts, 12 m.

  3. Project - Fr. ?
    The right hand line. 12 m.

  4. Project - Fr. 7b+ ?
    The far right hand, super steep line. 12 m.

FIRST ASCENTS

ENTRANCE WALLS

Southern Walls

  1. Save a Bit of Light - W.Calvert, A.Rosier - 21/07/2017
  2. Robots of Tokyo - A.Rosier, R.Thomas - 06/07/2017
  3. Mr 10 % - A.Rosier, W.Calvert - 16/07/2017
  4. Blast Tyrant - A.Rosier, R.McAllister - 03/07/2017
  5. Earth Rocker - A.Rosier, R.McAllister - 03/07/2017
  6. Mek-Quake - A.Rosier, R.McAllister - 03/07/2017
  7. Seismic Shock - A.Rosier, W.Calvert - 06/07/2017
  8. Dave - The Warm Up Sessions - W.Calvert, A.Rosier - 06/07/2017
  9. Earth Mover - - R.Thomas - 24/08/2019
  10. Reserved - R.Thomas, - //201

North West Walls

  1. Bubblegum Crack - A.Rosier, R.McAllister - 11/06/2017
  2. Work in Progress
  3. Xenomorph - R.McAllister, A.Rosier - 13/08/2017
  4. Even Flow - R.McAllister, A.Rosier - 11/06/2017
  5. Cherub Rock - R.McAllister, A.Rosier - 13/08/2017

TIER 1 (The Pit)

TIER 2 (Lower Tier)

East Side

  1. Smash It Up - A.Rosier, W.Calvert - 18/06/2017
  2. Nitro (Youth Energy) - A.Rosier, W.Calvert - 22/06/2017
  3. What the Thunder Said - A.Rosier. D.Howard - 27/09/2018
  4. Peripheral Thinking - D.Howard. A.Rosier - 27/09/2018

North Side

  1. PROJECT - W.Calvert - //2017
  2. PROJECT - W.Calvert - //201
  3. The Unbearable Lightness of Being - W.Calvert, A.Rosier - 06/07/2017

TIER 3 (Middle Tier)

TIER 4 (Sweetwater Wall)

  1. PROJECT - W.Calvert - //2017
  2. Lactic Crack - A.Rosier, W.Calvert - 02/06/2017
  3. PROJECT - - //2017
  4. PROJECT - - //2017

First ascents on sweetwater wall.
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