Nightmayer | E8 Trad climb at Dinas Cromlech

Second ascent?

An unsuccessful onsight attempt that ended with a memorable whipper.

Talking about E8 on-sights - you took a whipper down Nightmare on Dinas Cromlech…

Yes, it was my first day climbing in the UK. I was still virgin to this type of climbing so still a bit ignorant! The famous old school local climber Pat Littlejohn was climbing next to us and had seen me looking easy on climbs. Nightmare E8 6c was a good looking line so I decided to try it. I mentioned to Sean [Villanueva O’Driscoll] that I would first try it on toprope but Pat said to Sean: "If there is somebody here who is able to give a good try ground up it's him." When Sean told me this I thought it would be good to follow this wise local climber's suggestion. The route was completely dirty so Sean first went up to clean the route a bit and look at the gear. The climbing was really nice with a style of climbing that I like particularly, crimpy and dead vertical. But the climb was still very dirty with poor gear on the first part of the climb. After a few good pieces of pro midway up the wall the crux arrived at the upper section. While searching for other pro I got too pumped to keep on climbing and so I fell. The piece I thought would hold didn't, it ripped out and so I unexpectedly fell a long way down the wall. 3 pieces ripped and I was stopped upside down about 20 meters below by a good wire. Afterwards people talked about this fall a lot, even though for me it was just an unsuccessful try. [2]

References

[1] https://vimeo.com/21869523

[2] https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/nicolas-favresse-trad-climbing-in-wales-and-england.html

https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2018/07/nightmayer_e8_6c_by_emma_twyford-71648

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guVZd4_huSQ

Journey of the cromlech complete :( what an experience, from the first time I tried it i couldn’t stop smiling. It’s everything I love about the cromlech. The most psyched for a route I have ever been on trad. I sort of didn’t want to lead it because I didn’t want it to end, but then the weather is so good now that I feel I’m missing out on the mountain crags. 6 sessions, touch and go but went down on the first lead. Hottest day of the year, I like being warm? leading it made me realise what a bad ass Steve Mac is, incredible. Found a white tri cam at the top under the sky hooks that made the ending quite safe imo.

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/Cto0lv3NA2F/

[2] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2023/06/rachel_pearce_on_nightmayer_e8_6c-73368