Velvet Silence | E6/7A Trad climb at Black Rocks

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First ascent.

Climbed onsight solo in spring 1986.

I was on my [way] back to London with some of the NLMC we stopped off at Black Rock, because they wanted to do Demon Rib. I wandered around the corner and noticed the runnel. Couldn’t resist trying to get on it. Once on it I noticed what I thought were old brush marks, so started padding up them. When I was about half way up the other lads appeared and asked what it was. I said I had no idea and wasn't sure if there were actually any holds higher up. Mark Lynden ran to the top with a rope just in case. Well there were enough luckily. A week or so later I made a note in the book at Stoney to say I’d done it but didn't know if it was new or not. A while later John Allen told me I'd done the first ascent of Velvet Silence, he'd probably had his eye on it. I had no idea what he was talking about, so he explained what he knew about it. I never claimed it, graded or named it but I did at least actually climb it.[1]

Prior to Regan’s ascent Jonny Woodward had apparently told John Allen he had done it, perhaps as a wind-up. The claim was later retracted. [2]

References

[1] Correspondence, October 2025

[2] 'Peak Rock', Vertebrate 2013.