Dawes of Perception | E7 Trad climb at Vivian Quarry

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First ascent.

Paul is credited with the second ascent in Dawes's autobiography.

References

[1] https://dmmwales.com/blogs/ambassadors/paul-pritchard

Second ascent.

“I got a brief low-down about the gear from Johnny and in particular the off-set nuts that protected the moves to the bolt at 60ft. It seemed ok. Dave Towse was belaying and decided not to tie in. My boots were a little on the worn side but I felt confident. All went fine, gear placed and just as I went to clip the bolt, my foot shot off! I cartwheeled down the wall as the offsets pulled out. I didn’t know it at the time but Dave had jumped back immediately as the first nuts ripped. He’d jumped into the pool taking in 20ft of slack! All the nuts ripped and a friend snapped leaving a sling over a loose spike that starts the moves up the slab. The sling held! I was held upside down, my head 2ft from the jagged belay boulders. Dave had saved my life! I broke my little finger. I mentioned this episode in Pete’s and apparently what Johnny hadn’t told me is that he had hammered the off-set nuts into the crack on the first ascent! Thanks! I came back another day and hammered them in! I think Johnny was likewise pissed off with me over the rurp and sling by the first bolt at 80ft on Raped by Affection. This made no difference to me on the first ascent as I could reach the bolt, but merely acted as marginal back-up!”(1)

References

[1] https://www.muskettmountaineering.co.uk/writing/slate-of-the-art/