Hazel Findlay Climbs Classic Quarryman Groove Pitch
As Angus Kille ticks a full repeat of the classic Johnny Dawes route
Top climber Hazel Findlay has repeated the classic Groove pitch of The Quarryman E8 7a in the Llanberis slate quarries, North Wales. It’s the most classic section of the four-pitch route that goes at E6, E5, 8a (5.13b), 7c+ (5.13a).
Findlay mentioned her send of the Groove while mentioning that she needs to return to send the full route. She climbed the pitch on the same weekend that her partner Angus Kille sent all pitches on lead. French climber Caroline Ciavaldini made the first female ascent of the full route in 2018.
Findlay and Kille fixed a 100-metre rope so they could sort out the moves and continue to climb during the covid reopening when lead climbing wasn’t yet allowed. They also replaced most of the original bolts.
Kille is one of the U.K.’s top bold climbers, with other hard climbs including Gribin Wall Climb E9 6c, Indian Face E9 6c and Leo Houlding’s Trauma E8/9 7a. He’s also ticked hard routes outside of Europe, such as El Corazón VI 5.13 on El Cap.
“Working in a climbing shop back in Shropshire I kept putting on the DVD of Committed to see James Pearson and Dave MacLeod climbing Trauma,” Kille wrote in an article for his sponsor DMM. “Sometimes it’s your climbing heroes that make a route what it is, sometimes it’s the iconic venue or often just the moves. This route has all of that.”
About Quarryman, Kille said: “This route deserves its reputation – it has some of the best vertical, slabby and esoteric slate climbing in Wales. The famous Groove pitch combines subtle climbing with some pretty brutish thrutching, but the other pitches on this route are often overlooked, even though they are worth a visit on their own.”
Watch Dawes on his famous Groove pitch below.
Groove Pitch
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