• Lower Wye Valley Edited by John
Willson (2007)
• Produced by: Nigel Barry, Martin Beale,
Nigel Coe, Jeremy Cowen, Martin Crocker, Gordon Jenkin, Tony Penning,
Paul Robertson, Richard Sewards, Tim Wilkinson, John Willson &
Paul Wood
• Artwork by Don Sargeant
• ISBN 978-0-901601-79-7
• £19.50
•
Download Lower Wye Valley Sample Pages (PDF, 3.6MB)
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The Guide has now been printed by a quality
print company and has been published. We have a high-quality
product, which is being distributed by Cordee now.
A sample of the book (Wynd Cliff section)
has been and remains available as a free pdf download by
clicking the link above. An additional or alternative sample may
also be posted meanwhile.
Though labelled Volume One, this is the
second to be published of a new series to the Wye Valley and
Forest of Dean. The Sandstone Outcrops of the Forest of Dean by
Martin Crocker appeared in 2006, and a new Symonds Yat guide,
including also the central Forest quarries and the Cotswolds,
should follow in two or three years’ time.
The 432 pages are printed in full colour
throughout in the new Climbers’ Club guidebook design, and the
book is generously illustrated with maps, photodiagrams, and a
wide selection of action photos.
The guide has been compiled by a mixed team
of experienced Wye Valley hands and younger activists, and the
work has incorporated not only a radical reassessment of
virtually all the climbs but also substantial cleaning and
regearing of all those considered worthwhile. This operation was
spearheaded by the GO Wall Restoration Project undertaken by
Martin Crocker in late 2005 (funded by the Access and
Conservation Trust, and The Climbers’ Club Colin Kirkus
Guidebook Fund).
The Lower Wye crags (Wynd Cliff, Wintour’s
Leap, Ban-y-gor, Tintern Quarry, Shorn Cliff) now offer a huge
variety of excellent climbing: trad routes in all grades from
Moderate to E6 and sport climbs from F4 to F7c+. The sport climb
descriptions are printed on a pale orange-coloured background
for quick recognition, while the unrecommended and unrestored
routes are set on a light grey background.
A complete set of new path and crag-base
maps for Wintour’s Leap and Shorn Cliff has been surveyed by
members of the team and redrawn inimitably by Don Sargeant. It
is hoped that these will mitigate the notorious problems people
sometimes experience locating the buttresses and climbs amongst
the trees at these two crags.
There is a brief historical overview in the
usual slot after the Introduction, and there are a number of
mini crag historicals printed on yellow panels throughout the
book. However, the main and more detailed threads are woven into
the first ascents list, now entitled Chronology (this latter may
be a feature also in some future CC guides).
The usual index of climbs is brightened up
by the inclusion of thumbnail-type replicas of all the main
action photos, and there is also an index of crags and crag
features with replicas of the photodiagrams.
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