Climbs

A long power-enduro boulder set at 55° by Sean Houchins-McCallum on the Tension Board 2 Mirror.

Bill Ramsey:

I had always appreciated the tradition of naming climbs after famous battles (like Agincourt at Buoux), and Omaha Beach at Normandy had been one of America’s most harrowing victories in WW II. Also, on Omaha Beach, the key to the battle was climbing a desperate cliff above a bad and insecure shelf – just like the route. [1]

References

[1] https://fanatic-climbing.com/il-etait-une-voie-omaha-beach-once-upon-a-line-omaha-beach/

Direct start to One Step Beyond at Curbar. Superseded by Slab and Crack.

Originally given 9a but later upgraded following repeat ascents. This makes it the first 9a+ in the world, 7 years before Biographie was climbed.

A steep climb featuring jamming and slopey compression moves.

One of the earliest routes on peak limestone. A quarryman is said to have made an early ascent by driving spikes into the rock, but the first free ascent is attributed to Samuel Turner, though with the use of a top rope. The first lead is attributed to Siegfried Herford in 1914. [1]

References

[1] James Merriman Archer Thomson Rucksack Club Journal (1915) page 51-53 /library/7684/rucksack-club-journal-1915

H. E. L. Porter in the 1921 Ogwen Supplement:

Extremely difficult. Steep and exposed. Eighty feet of rope.

A magnificent climb is obtained by first taking 'Hope,' continuing up Holly Tree Wall, and finishing up a stretch of slabs of 150 feet on the right. The total height is nearly 800 feet. With the possible exception of the Grooved Arête, this is the finest addition to the Ogwen climbs since the book was published. The start is marked by a cairn to the left of and above the detached block at the top of 'Hope.' A steep and awkward twenty-foot pitch leads to a heather patch. A slab on the right is crossed to a small ledge with a belay above it. Twenty-five feet higher is the Holly Tree. The original route traverses to the left some twelve feet below the tree, the position being very exposed, until an adequate ledge is reached; on this trying section the second gives the leader moral support by ascending to the tree. Since then the chimney directly above the tree has been climbed; this route is safer, and probably not so difficult. The next pitch is steep and hard to start, but the holds are good at the top. In twenty feet a rocky bay is reached. A thirty-foot crack on the right leads to a terrace (cairn). Above this is a steep, shallow groove, the last twenty feet of which are very difficult, but can be avoided by taking to the arête on the left. From here a short upward walk to the right leads to a fine stretch of slabs, which afford interesting and not too arduous climbing. [1]

References

[1] Climbing in the Ogwen District Supplement (1921) /library/7280/climbing-in-the-ogwen-district-supplement