John Redhead

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Originally an E5 trad route.

John put in a solid ground up effort before taking a big fall. He then put in a bolt at his high point and named it The Tormented Ejaculation.

John pulled a flake off the route after Johnny Dawes had made the first ascent, he then painted a piece on the rock scar. This angered Johnny who then scraped the painting off.

...my own attempts from 1980 have been well wagged about. I call them The Tormented Ejaculation - not just mere climbing, but an expression of the flesh and blood of my work, the poetry of rock-movement inextricably bound up with the network of shape and colour. A last look at the line and a strange impulse took hold of me. I went for it. At 70ft I woke up. Ghastly! The aggression was dissipated and the fear gripped me. I had climbed with no protection and was now eyeballing a tiny shallow crack. I remembered it from the abseil and it had looked pathetic. It was real now. I contemplated jumping on the scree below before the situation got out of control. I fell a million times, my arms unfolding, my breath fading. A no. 1 stopper came to a halt, half-way down this crack, half in, rocking - my weight was on it...the mental preparation was becoming harder and harder. The so-called psyching up, a pain beyond reason. Out of the accquaintance grew more and more fear. Gone the initial naivety that had sparked off this terrifying enterprise. I knew the score and was unnerved by it...I distinctly felt a tiny slide on a friction move lower down and became very insecure, with my feet in canyon boots. I got to the little crack another 20 feet up and was dangerously pumped because of the extra strain on my fingers. The resin was wearing off the boots. I managed to place an RP1, clipped in, and was about to place a No 2 when my right foot shot off.The strain came on the RP, ripped it through, and I cartwheeled a long way down the wall. [3]

References

[1] Clogwyn Du'r Arddu (Climbers' Club Guides) 2004, Nick Dixon

Margins is more strenuous and technical but Master's is a much harder lead. The crux and substance of the route done in 1980 by myself.

Probably the hardest thing I did at the time, and I was going really well. [1]

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQzdrpFm_Pg

Protected with three skyhooks and RURP.

Mark Lynden:

I watched JR leading this. At one point he got the sequence wrong and teetered backwards, but stayed on the rock because a small, sharp spike stuck into his finger and just held him on. [1]

References

[1] Llanberis Slate. United Kingdom: Ground Up, 2011.

Second pitch.

A few holds have snapped making the moves up to the bolt more tricky and the moves after the bolt less tricky. A tricky, gripping problem.

I had just recovered from a paralysing virus, no doubt self-induced, as most viruses are, which hospitalized me for several days. The births of four paintings (titled The Shaft of a Dead Man) were no doubt the product of this alternative head space. [1]

References

[1] Dixon, N. (2004). Clogwyn Dur Arddu: Climbers' Club Guide to Wales, page 188. United Kingdom: Climbers' Club.

References

[1] Mountain Issue 104, page 11

Redhead's first new route on the slate.