Pearce gets second ascent of The Human Skewer Direct (E10 6c)

• Tuesday 8th August 2023

Tom Pearce is on an extended trip to Cornwall has made the second ascent of Mark Edwards’ The Human Skewer Direct (E10 6c) in Zawn Rinny at Chair Ladder, Cornwall.

Well-known for his hard repeats/climbs up on the North York Moors and his appearance alongside Franco Cookson in the BritRock films by Alistair Lee, Tom Pearce has been on an extended holiday in Cornwall where he’s been checking out some of the classics of the area as well as some of Mark Edwards’ unrepeated routes. After inspecting a number of such routes Tom decided to focus-in on The Human Skewer Direct. Mark Edwards made the first ascent of The Human Skewer back in 1998 and then returned to add the Direct start in 2007. Like a number of other Mark Edwards routes, The Human Skewer Direct has, it is believed, remained unclimbed since Edwards’ first ascent. The dearth of information about the route attracted Tom to investigate further.

Climber has been in touch with Tom to get the low-down on what first attracted him to Cornwall, how he came to repeat The Human Skewer Direct and what kind of an experience he had along the way.

Sounds like you’re having an amazing time down in Cornwall. What attracted you down there; were you trying to escape the lousy weather up north or was it the thought of all the unrepeated Mark Edwards’ routes playing on your mind?

I find Cornwall to be one of the nicest places to spend time doing anything. Admittedly it is quite a long way from anywhere else but I feel that kind of adds to the experience. The weather is usually a lot nicer than the rest of the country, and even when it’s not, it’s still such a lovely place to be. You’ve got the sea, the sea cliffs, the old mines, little coastal villages and local communities. And for the climbing, due to it being a bit detached from the standard climbing areas, almost all the hard routes haven’t been touched in years. A few get repeated every now and then, but the majority are left and forgotten. I spent ages trying to find photos or information on a lot of the routes but came up empty-handed most of the time. That only drew me in further. The unknown element of it all just intrigues me massively.

How has it been looking at the various routes? How have you picked out the routes to try?

I’ve abbed down a lot of routes. Probably over 25 by now. There are a few I fancy going back to that are on decent rock, but I decided the others were too loose to justify doing quickly. I’d have to spend a good few days cleaning them. On some, I’ve knocked off so many holds it feels like a totally different route to the First Ascent. The lines are amazing though, and I believe after a good clean they’d be some of the best in the country. I wish I had come here 20 years ago and had a go on them then when the FAs were done. It’d have been amazing to try them and see what the rock quality was like. I’m not entirely sure how long I’m going to stay down here, but I don’t fancy just removing rocks for the rest of my holiday!

Let’s turn to The Human Skewer Direct, please. Did something in particular appeal to you about that?

I spend loads of time flicking through guidebooks so I essentially just happened to come across it when I was reading the guide. I spotted the grade, read the description about the spike below the crux and was immediately interested. I couldn’t find any other information about it, so all I could do was head to the crag to go have a look.

The thing that appealed to me the most was again just the unknown nature. I didn’t know what I was going to find. Almost felt like new routing but having someone tell you where the good lines are.

How did you approach trying it and what were your first impressions?

I started off by just abbing down the upper section and taking a look at the moves. I noticed that the direct start needed the rope to be redirected so I had to come back a few days later and try it when I’d brought more gear. I spent the first couple of days working out a sequence I liked, then a few days after, perfecting and practising it. The upper section of the route is on good rock, and although the lower bit is crumbly, it didn’t take that long to find the holds that I thought would stay attached. I loved the atmosphere around the route too. It’s in a dark zawn tucked out of the way of the sun trap that is Chair Ladder. It feels serious even just abbing down. There’s a huge cornice of mud and soil in the back of the zawn with all types of birds calling it home. Every so often they would seem to laugh at you with a strangely human-like laugh. You’d just be sitting on a ledge and this group of birds would begin mocking you from all angles. It felt really unnatural for a human to be there.

How did your attempts on THSD develop and when did you start to think it was a goer?

I fairly quickly managed to link the route. It’s very bouldery with big rests, so getting tired wasn’t too much of an issue. I remember on the third day on the route, topping out and quite literally saying to myself ‘It’s a goer’. The day after that was my worst day on it probably. Admittedly the conditions were terrible, however, I definitely started to think it was absolutely not going to happen. Luckily I got some sense talked into me and headed back in good conditions.

What about the lead then; how did that go? Any dodgy moments?

The lead was pencilled in for a sunny evening. Having the midday sun burn off the grease definitely made a huge difference to the conditions, and then giving the route time to cool down after the sun had left the route was important too. Paul H had offered to belay me which definitely relaxed me a lot, knowing I didn’t have to worry about sorting a belayer and specifying a day in advance, as I knew he would be really flexible. In terms of the actual lead, the Direct section went really easily, there’s a hard pop with the right hand to a good edge that just felt smooth sailing. I reached the ledge in the middle and pulled the ropes through the lower gear to reduce the drag for when I did the upper headwall. On the upper headwall I had a slight readjust of body positioning which involved a foot not being placed correctly the first time. Other than that, it went perfectly.

Now that you’ve had time to reflect on what is the first known repeat of THSD what are your thoughts about it now; the location, line, rock, climbing, protection and seriousness?

As I mentioned before, the location is amazing. It’s so atmospheric and moody, it makes you feel like you don’t belong and yet you can still find a way up the wall. The rock quality on the upper wall is good also, I don’t think I broke many (if any) holds and definitely regard it as a good section of climbing. The lower was is also really good, if a little loose… but the crux moves on it are brilliant. Some intricate foot swaps follow by a big pop to a good edge. As a whole, it’s great fun to climb, and in a stunning place. It’s not going to win any awards for anything, but it definitely holds a lot of character. It’s serious too, you really don’t want to come off on the hard bit. It’s pretty much certain you’ll hit the spike and ledge if you fluff the crux. It doesn’t really matter what gear you have, as long as it stops you from hitting the floor.

And the big question, how does it compare with other the stuff you’ve climbed – in particular, the hard routes back on the North York Moors?

Here’s the question I’ve been dreading…

It is bold. I’m almost certain if I came off the crux of THSD I would not have been able to walk out of there, but I don’t think it would have been any more serious than broken bones and a trip to A&E. The fall is very unpredictable too. After hitting the ledge you’d end up falling backwards off it and potentially causing more damage before finally being caught by the rope. I didn’t want to test it that’s for sure.

It’s definitely not got the hardest moves. The Aghori, for example, took me weeks before I even linked just the crux once. I had linked THSD on the first day I tried the direct. I reckon as a sport route it would be F7c+/8a. Not that I’ve climbed much sport. But from the very little I have, and the trad routes I’ve tried that have a sport grade, F7c+/8a seems about right. Now comes the hard bit, putting the danger and difficulty together…

Climbing in Cornwall always feels different to climbing in the North York Moors, the granite has a totally different feel to it, both psychological and mentally than the sandstone I’m used to. I think this is why I’ve struggled to put a grade on it. I don’t think I had an E10 experience on it, but having said that, it did feel more committing than the other E9s I’ve done. So I feel like downgrading it wouldn’t be right, yet had it been in the Moors I would have said E9. I think the location massively adds to the experience you have on a route. With THSD if you were to injure yourself it would be incredibly difficult to get help. You’re sort of stuck in the zawn, and I did not fancy laying in the jumble of rocks at the bottom for hours waiting to be rescued.

Mark Edwards did the FA of The Human Skewer in 1998 and then added the Direct start in 2007. Why do you think it’s taken so long to see a repeat?

There’s always been discussion and controversies surrounding Mark Edwards’ routes, I guess it meant that people started totally ignoring what his new routes were. Maybe they didn’t believe he’d climbed them, or they expected to find bolts drilled in, or expected chipping. Whatever it was, people just turned away. I’m not going to start up another UKC/UKB debate though, because it’s just totally pointless and will never get resolved. But I’m sure that it has a major part to play in the unrepeated nature of most of his routes.

Having been on several of Mark Edwards’ other routes what’s your feeling on the climbing down there in general?

A lot of the Cornish climbing is outstanding. I’d quite happily say Cornwall holds some of the best routes I’ve ever climbed. As I mentioned above, a fair few of the harder routes are loose; however, there are so many that aren’t. On this trip, I was only focusing on unrepeated Edwards lines so I was bound to find more loose rock than other routes that had been repeated. If you came down for a holiday and wanted to climb three-star routes every day for weeks, you pretty much could at any grade. It seems to be lacking three-star E8+s. There are a few, but not loads. You would have to look at the more unknown lines to climb much at those grades…