BBC - Weather Centre - Forecast for Llandudno, United Kingdom

Friday 15 October 2010

Sea of Tranquility 2nd Ascent

Pete Robins has done the probable 2nd ascent of Sea Of Tranquility on LPT. In the 97 Rockfax it credits Neil Carson with the 2nd ascent but rumour has it that this is a mistake. Over the years i have spoken to several people who were around at the time and they all thought that Carson didn't do it. If anyone knows for sure get in touch. Sea of was graded 8c by Ben Moon in 1993 who thought it to be similar to Liquid Ambar in the harder range of the grade. However with the evolution of grades throughout the world and with a distinct lack of repeats for both routes both could now be considered 8c+. Three of the four people who have done LA say 8c (Ben M, Jerry and Simpson, not sure what Pete thinks now) but they are all old skool in their grading. For me the fact the people who have failed to repeat both routes tells a story. I've belayed Mcclure and Simpson on Sea Of and neither managed to get it sorted in a few days of effort. This year Malc managed Liquid in two halfs but didn't get it done and Nic Sellars didn't do it in the height of his sport climbing powers (he said it was nails). Its a shame they don't get more attention as they're both brilliant routes. Pete has very few routes left to do on LPT now with the obvious one being Big Bang which will surely be the most prestigious 2nd ascent in North Wales when completed. He also becomes the first man to tick the three 8c/+s Liquid, Sea of and Infanticide which is quite an achievement. LPT almost ticked! - not bad for a few years worth of effort!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Class effort, well done Pete! And thanks for the write up Chris! Always good to read about whats happening on the best rock in the UK ;o)