A climber, Howard Jones, has notified us that Giltar Ramp at Pembroke Stackpole & Lydstep graded as VD in the original CC Pembroke Guide but upgraded in the later CC Pembroke Rock guide to VS 4c is indeed now VS. This is further confirmed by our Publications Sub-Committee Secretary, Nigel Barry, who graded the route for the original guide – “I climbed this again last weekend, something(s) has gone missing. Probably nearer VS than VD”
We would remind climbers that due to weathering, wearing by climbers and rock falls route grades will change over time. Below is the warning in our original Pembroke Stockpile & Lydstep guide:
Grade changes are almost inevitable in a guidebook; new routes clean up and lose some of their edge, old established climbs take on a sheen, and others may lose a crucial hold or two as is the case at Becks Point where a minor rockfall has resulted in more than a few routes having an increase in grade). The grades in this guidebook are the consensus opinions of a great number of climbers with a vast amount of climbing experience, not just in Pembroke. The grades were assessed during route checking but subsequent rockfall or fixed gear deterioration may make any climb more serious, harder, or sometimes easier. However what is certain is that someone out there will not agree with the grade given for a specific route!
Climber beware
In a similar ilk, I did ‘Love is the Seventh Wave’ the other day (over at Stack Rocks) – that too has suffered from rockfall and is now nearer to E5/6 6b than the original E4 6a.