Monster Anglesey roof finally goes down for Whittaker and Muskett
- Wednesday 28th September 2022
After several attempts a monster roof on Anglesey has finally been climbed by Pete Whittaker with support from Calum Muskett to give Bar Wars (E8 6c).
Pete was originally tipped off about the monster roof – said to be one of the biggest in the UK – by George Smith. Smith had actually climbed the first pitch of this already albeit with a couple of aid points but had never managed to free it completely.
Excited by the project, Pete enlisted George and they went together to have a look at the route which is in Natalie Zawn. Described by George as “a flared slot from Hell” Pete nevertheless managed to on-sight that pitch and then eye-up the continuation of the roof out to the lip of the zawn. Although Pete set off on the next pitch he soon realised that George wasn’t keen on the idea of seconding so the pair abseiled off.
Pete next returned with Calum Muskett. George by this stage had warned Calum about what lay ahead saying, “I fear that all I have done is to awake a sleeping dragon and fill it with the most terrible resolve.” Calum however rose to the challenge and embracing it led the first pitch that Pete had already done. Pete seconded then when at the first stance asked Calum what he thought about the pitch. “A struggle!! Actually, mostly not too difficult by a few metres of quite hard climbing.” Was Calum’s summary.
Pete then lead the next pitch to a point about half way along the giant roof. A cursory look at the third and final pitch however wasn’t promising as Pete realised that hadn’t got sufficient large cams. “I’m not gonna lie, it looks a bit daunting.” Pete said to Calum before they abbing off! They returned shortly after with a monster bag of cams. Pete described their increased rack, “We’ve got 9x #6’s, 6x #5’s and lots of #4’s and it’s about 5 to 10kgs.” That was enough gear to basically “dog” the third and final pitch but Pete did free it. Leaving a fixed rope in situ Pete vowed to return.
All that happened prior to the Covid lockdowns. Last Friday Pete returned once again along with Calum. Eventually, they emerged victorious having climbed all three pitches in one push. Keeping the original name that George had for the first pitch Pete named the route Bar Wars and graded it E8!
As we know Pete not only likes a challenge but doesn’t like unfinished business as he told Climber, “Definitely not, this one had been at the back of my mind for two years, since first going on it. I knew at some point i had to go and get it finished off. Some other filmed stuff in the UK lined up with some decent weather, so I knew it was a good opportunity.”
We also asked him which was harder – the climbing or getting a partner and a rack of monster cams together? “The cams weren't so much a problem, even though I don't have that many big ones these days. A bunch of kind folks lent me a few and I was sorted.
Partners was a little tricky, because for one I wanted to go with someone I knew, but then again it was important not to lose them as a friend after taking them down there, haha. George and Calum ended up being great partners for the mission, because they are psyched and good on that terrain themselves. A capable second is important for this one.”
We asked Pete to compare Bar Wars with the big USA cracks that he and Tom have climbed in the past, “It's actually quite different. Bar Wars is a roof adventure where crack techniques come in useful, whereas the desert monster roofs are more pure splitters where you have to know how to jam or else it's pointless being there. The Gogarth roof is maybe a little more faff logistically, but our hardest USA cracks are much more physically demanding. A couple of those newer ones in America really blow crack roof difficulty and scale out the water.”
Finally, for those interested, Pete lists the techniques used and the minimum gear requirements:
- Hand, fist, teacups, butterfly jams
- arm bars, kneebars and chicken wings
- foot cams, inverts and wide pony
- squeeze and bridging
- head jams
- 4 x #5 and 4 x #6 is a minimum at the larger end of the rack.
As it stands, Bar Wars is yet another testament that the UK still has some amazing routes still to be climbed providing you have the vision, tenacity and drive to get involved.
George Smith himself summed Pete’s ascent up saying, “This route, in its new extended form, is a monument to positive thinking and will shock anyone who goes down there! Remarkable effort Pete.”