Central Groove, The Dewerstone, Devon
Hard Severe 4b
The Dewerstone is a fine crag near to Tavistock on the Devon-Cornwall
border that offers great climbing in the mid to low grades. The rock is a
good quality granite, a little more broken that the stuff on Haytor and
Hound Tor but still excellent. Whereas the Dartmoor tors are high and
exposed, sometimes similar to climbing on the gritstone edges, the
Dewerstone forms one side of a wooded valley and can be sheltered and
shady. There's a lovely river
underneath the crag and it's surrounded by trees. It's a good place to
head to when the weather's cold and the Darmoor Tors are too cold for
climbing.
At the Dewerstone, the Hard Severe climber is king and historically,
Central Groove (HS) and Climbers Club Ordinary (HS) are two of the classic
routes of the south west. Central Groove takes the line of an imposing
corner right in the middle of the main face whilst Climbers Club Ordinary
follows a line on the face to the right. Unfortunately, a substantial rock
fall from half height on Climbers Club Ordinary has changed the route and
the route will receive attention on the next few weeks (Sept 2006) from
the BMC who will assess the state of the route. So that leaves Central
Groove, one of the best lines at the grade around. It's a two pitch route
with the first pitch climbing a big groove to its capping overhang. The
route avoids this by a rising traverse on the right wall to an airy stance
on the right arete. From here, easier climbing up a short wall behind the
stance leads to a thin finger crack which is followed to the top. Both
pitches get the 4b technical grade and whilst the first pitch is
intimidating and strenuous, the second pitch is slightly harder
technically.
We climbed the route on a day of sunshine and showers in August 2006.
It wasn't raining when we arrived at the crag but the ground was wet and
the rock was damp from seepage. Kitting up, it started to rain lightly and
we thought about giving it a miss. But, having made the effort to get here
it seemed a shame to just walk off empty-handed. The overhang at the top
of the big groove was keeping the upper part dry and the lower, wet
section's short. We decided to have a look on the basis that we should be
able to climb down if it didn't look very clever higher up. The first
short wall took a while as the rock was so wet. Pulling up into the groove
it's good to get some bomber protection in as insurance against the slippy
rock. Some lovely bridging moves take you higher and the holds just keep
on coming. Big flatties, small crimps, all sorts of interesting holds that
you get on granite. Most of the time your weight's on your feet and
sporadic efforts to levitate yourself are all that's needed. There's a slightly trickier move three-quarters of the
way up the route which takes you to the overhang at the top. Looking right
from here onto the wall there's a series of small, black, flakey,
incredibly positive holds that lead up across the wall in an amazing
position. Once at the belay arrange your anchors and get comfortable. The
second pitch starts off with some slightly scrappy (but still exposed)
climbing up a wall behind the stance before moving rightwards to the base
of an obvious crack. Clean your boots, chalk up, place some gear and move
up into the corner. This bit needs a steady head and a careful lead as
some of the footholds are small and insecure. There's plenty of
opportunity to place gear and leaning against the left-hand wall can take
weight off your arms. All too soon, it's over and you're pulling onto the
top. The view over the wooded valley and river Plym below is
superb from here.
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