In reply to UKC Articles:
Great stuff. Brought back happy memories of Shorncliff.
In the early 90’s, I was a Sunday morning climber. Throughout the seasons, nipping out early, as often as not, crunching down the forestry road to Shorncliff, knock off a route and home for elevenses. So Shorncliff remains a place of early morning sounds and smells for me.
After a couple of years basic training at Wintours Leap and then getting spanked by the grades and the steepness at Symonds Yat and Wyndcliff, Shorncliff, with its gentle angle and deep, incut pockets came as a nice surprise.
Some of the routes were only five years old, clean, unused and unpolished at the time. The only approach paths were at either end of the crag so you had to bash through head high nettles to get to the great slab in summer.
State of Independence was the first route I did there. I remember faffing for ages beneath the bulge, having never seen rock that blobbed and hung in loops like petrified chewing-gum before!
I also remember seeing Tony Penning around, making everything look easy, with arms like a gorilla!
Thanks for bringing it all back again!