Climbing History

A defining route of the Ron Fawcett era, and one of the most prized onsights in the UK. The route tackles a tasty crackline, followed by a fruity runout up the Vector headwall.

Fawcett initially tried the route in 1978; despite remaining unclimbed, Chris Griffiths' photo of the route was the cream of the crop, earning the cover of the 1978 Tremadog and the Moelwyns Climbers Club guidebook. [2][3]

The project lay unchallenged for 18 months until John Redhead was spotted making attempts. Fawcett got wind of this and returned, finding the route to be just as hard-going as before. On day one, he climbed ground-up, but ran out of juice. On day two, feeling the pressure to get the project done, he abseiled down to pre-place and pre-clip the gear he'd established the day before. Seeing red, a desperate fight ensued:

Here I flagged my left foot behind my right and moved my left hand up again to a better hold. Time to fight in another runner. I was, as always on Strawberries, on the verge of falling off, completely consumed by the climbing but needing to remember where I was, conscious that I couldn't get too high without finding another piece of protection. Small wires in those days weren't as positive as they are now and I had to bear in mind that some of the gear might fail. From the left-hand crack I reached powerfully up to a shallow pocket, pumped out of my mind and now desperate to finish. I couldn't bear the thought of failing again so close to the top. I hauled myself up, and made one last thin move to reach good holds before a small groove just below the top. Here I hung off a jug, levering out almost horizontally against my braced feet, while I pulled myself together sufficiently to finish the route. [4]

Fawcett graded the route E5 7a. Today the route is graded E7, with climbing around the 7b+/7c mark. He named it Strawberries, as an accompaniment to the neighbouring route on the headwall, Cream (E4). As a project, it had been known as Peaches. Other fruity dessert-themed names proved irresistible (Dream Topping (E7), Bananas (E5)).

Stefan Glowacz made the historic first onsight of the route in 1987, running it out with no gear above the crack. Glowacz' extraordinary onsight effort would not be matched until Jorg Verhoeven succeeded in 2011. Steve McClure was the first British climber to onsight the route in 2014. Nearly five decades on, Strawberries remains as fresh as ever.

References

[1] Jack Geldard on the history of the route https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/strawberries_-_a_british_on_sight-1117

[2] https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=411731

[3] https://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/dbpage.php?id=411732

[4]Ed Douglas, Ron Fawcett: Rock Athlete, Vertebrate Publishing, 2010