One of the most enjoyable trad lines at Mentmore, Happy Crack makes a great warm-up. Also a good cool-down at the end of the day since you can easily lower off of it, avoiding the typical Mentmore anchor-retrieval shenanigans.
A nice combination of liebacking, stemming, and straight-in jamming, this is a good climb to introduce beginners to these techniques. It protects well, although at the final offwidth lieback section, it's probably easier to just run it out than to hang around attempting to frig some gear into the crack.
The rock is pretty good, but at Mentmore that never means more than just "O.K." Try not to fall, and toprope the line if not solid at the grade. Note that you DON'T need jamming skills to climb this one.
Location
The obvious dihedral with a widening crack, found between "Sink or Swim" and "On the Edge." You'll be able to see the anchor chains hanging over the lip at the top. The anchor is a normal chain sport anchor, so this climb is one of the few at Mentmore that can be rapped off or lowered off easily. Please don't toprope directly through the chains.
Protection
Bring 1X C4s .75-3, plus one or two big pieces for the top (like a #5 Friend).
(03) Wall of Dreams
RSS Feed
