I have been wanting to go to Horseshoe Quarry for a while now, and this week I had the opportunity to finally explore this great sports climbing venue. It was a good refresher on how sports climbing feels and also a very educational venture. Since I have not been sports climbing for over 4 years, my climbing buddy thought me some of the basics of the rope work at the top of the climb and also some multi-pitch sports climbing skills.
Parking is free and it’s all along the road on both left and right sides laybys, and on the road up towards the Quarry entry point. Set sat nav to S32 5QD and this will take you to the right area.
Here is a link that covers all you need to know about the area and also the routes that are currently available. This is very handy if you don’t have a guide book, as the UKC Horseshoe Quarry page side doesn’t show you where the routes are.
Below are some images of the climbs we have done on the day.
Looking for an all-around good sports climbing venue at the heard of Me and my climbing buddy have done the Trog in 2 pitches. First pitch being 4a and second pitch a 5a or something like that. Grades I have found for this online and the book vary around 4 and 5. A very lovely route but contains loads of loose rock. I think it would definitely be worth doing this in one go with an 80m rope instead. I did complete both routes as a second, as this was the first climb of the day and I really wanted to observe what my partner does with the rope on both pitches.
The second climb and my first lead we did was the Crumbs which is just a few metres to the right of the Trog. This was a 5a and it felt very nice and straight forward as the whole wall was on a slab, meaning I would stick to to the rock very well with my super sticky new shoes 🙂
After the Crumbs, we wondered to the second tier and did another climb which I competently forgot the name of and I just cannot find it anywhere online. All I know is that it was a 6a and I seconded it 😀
Into the Labyrinth was my second lead of the day. Well, originally when my partner thought this was a good climb for me to try out, with a bit of a tricky start, he thought this was a one star 5a or a 5+. When I went to add this into my UKC Logbook, Rockfax has re-graded it as a one star 6a since the route was retro-bolted 😀 I did get pumped at the beginning as I am just not used to making big moves, knowing how far is the last clip and how far I can fall.
This was the last climb of the day. Big Rock Candy Mountain is another lovely, one star 6a climb which I seconded. The tricky bit is when you have to go over from the right side wall onto the left, but there are some very good foothold and good hand grips which should keep you stable. There are some lovely pinchy and sharps hold on the top which makes you feel safe to rest on before the next move.
I also want to give a quick mention to my lovely new feet, Tenaya Mastia, which are a downturned climbing shoe, excellent for bouldering and sports climbing. Very configurable but I would suggest taking these off as often as you can to make sure you don’t walk on these for too long. Very soft and flexible, similar to my previous paid Tenaya Oasi LV. These are also completely VEGAN, which was one of the biggest reasons I have gotten these. My last paid of Tenayas I got in my size, but using the Banana Finger shoe size calculator I have decided to go a half size down, which after wearing those after few occasions makes total sense. They are super comfy and very pretty 😀
Tenaya Mastia is currently on a great offer with Banana Fingers and Epic TV so click here to check out more details about them.
Climbing and Travel Adventures 