Facebook & Google. How harmful can they be?

So on Saturday morning I had finished the normal chores, whilst the wife is away in England, when I updated my status on Facebook with an innocent question. What are you doing today? Nathan replied that he wanted to try Petit Port chimney. I jumped onto the GMC webpage to take a look, nothing there. I then went to UKC to see if there was any information there. Nothing. So I emailed Nathan to see what it was all about, "It was climbed in 1908" he said. Ok, let’s do it. Anyway we met up at Petit Port myself, Nathan and Chris S. Nathan gives me a climbing log he had found via Google about 2 brothers climbing in Guernsey. "Petit Port Chimney" was the first one in this logbook. Reading through it these brothers had started about 1/2 way up as it was high tide and couldn't get to the beach access. So we headed to the beach .

The plan was to do it in 2 pitches, the first pitch starting from the beach then the 2nd pitch from where the 2 brothers had started back in 1908. The first thing we noticed was the rock was wet, as Nathan started the lead, the second thing we noticed was the rock was loose! I think "below" was probably the most used phrase of the day. Nathan made a good effort and got to the crux on the first pitch, but after about 10 minutes of doing an Elvis impression had to come down. Up stepped Chris. Within a few minutes he was at the crux, an overhang chockstone, then as he cleared it we heard "awesome, you can climb through. There's a tunnel". After Chris had set up the belay, Nathan told me I was seconding the climb.

I clipped in and away I went. Back, Arm, Leg, Knee, brace, squirm, wiggle. Got to the chockstone and managed to get myself in a position where I could clear it and as I poked my head over the top, realized that it was a 2 stage crux, the chockstone was the easiest, the next part leading into the tunnel was, for me anyway, way harder. Basically a headfirst dive on top of the chockstone then squirm along on your belly. Not too bad, until the gear I had cleared on the way up got jammed. For the next 10 minutes I was trying to clear the gear which had got stuck, all Nathan could see from the bottom were my legs sticking out, and all Chris could see from the top was my head. Eventually I did manage to clear the jam (quick tip if you carrying gear, try to put as much as you can on the right hand side). With a helping hand from Chris I got into the tunnel and in the process cleared some nice holds by removing all of the debris with my feet. In the tunnel it was wet, muddy, the rock was flaking off, and to top it all there were pigeons nesting in there. I unclipped and Nathan started the climb.

Whilst Nathan was climbing Chris was telling me how he was glad it was Nathan's ropes, brand new gear and draws we were using. Did I mention it was muddy in the tunnel, and Chris was basically sitting on Nathan's ropes. Nathan cleared the route easily and picked up a few bits of gear I had left and cleared a couple more holds with his feet. We hadn't got a clue what time it was apart from after 3:30. Looking down from the tunnel you could see the tide coming in and it looked massive. We took a walk up the tunnel as far as we could, but decided we would leave the chimney, as described by the brothers, and come back for it when we had more time. The belay Chris had set up was all on micro placements, and we were not sure how good they would be when we abseiled down, so we started looking for better placements. Then we found out how flaky and loose the rock was. Nathan climbed up onto the roof of the tunnel to see if we could place gear there, no luck. Could we throw a rope over the roof, no, we wouldn't be able to get it on the other side. Could we place further up the tunnel, no, the rock was to loose, Nathan tied back in to see if we could get something in the roof, and also to tie a sling around one of the chockstones as a backup. After spending some time checking out the possibilities he managed to get a big hex in the roof of the tunnel. It was bombproof. A quick and smooth absail down, and we were standing at the end of the cave, with the tide washing around our feet. At the bottom Chris said he thought we would be abseiling into water and would have to swim for it, I told him the same thought had gone through my mind and I was bracing myself for it. All in all a great afternoon's climbing and a really good laugh. Glad I was there and can't wait to go back and finish the chimney. As Nathan commented "a classic adventure. Many more to come this summer"

As this section of the route was not climbed by the brothers back in 1908, and none of us had heard of anyone else climbing it we decided to name the bottom section "The Fireplace", why? Firstly it leads to the chimney and secondly, if you're not careful you could end up getting burnt! Oh and if anyone does give it a go, can you get Nathan's gear for him please. :-)

More pictures on Facebook in the next few days