Top 5 VS climbs at Wintours Leap

Here is a list of my top 5 VS climbs at Wintours Leap:

Freedom VS 4c
The Angel’s Girdle VS 5a
Swallow’s Nest VS 4c
African Killer Bee VS 4c
Nibelheim VS 4c

Wintours Leap is a limestone cliff, towering over and almost kissing the river Wye. Just 2 miles north of Chepstow, renowned for its steep and overhanging cliffs. The climbing tends to be more technical, and delicate, with the choice of lots of multi-pitch routes.

The area boasts of more than 300 routes. If you are new to the cliff, route finding can be tricky at times, and please go careful on the climbs. This particular limestone is prone to erosion, so please make sure that whatever you hold is secure, and same goes for gear placements.

Here are my top 5 VS climbs at Wintours Leap, in no particular order.

Freedom is a 2-pitch route on fly wall, and one of Wintours Leap’s classic must-do routes. Graded at VS 4c. The protection is plentiful on the second pitch, with an exciting and exposed hand traverse, that leads to the final corner.

Angel’s Girdle is an amazing 4-pitch traverse, across the North Wall area of Wintours Leap. Coming in at a steep VS 5a, the route even has some mandatory downclimbing involved. The route has many pegs in place. Just check the state of them, and do not blindly trust them. An exhilarating route, with stunning views, and engrossing climbing. The sting is definitely in its tail. With a big pitch to finish, some tricky moves, and a mantelshelf to the finish.

Swallow’s Nest is a tricky to protect 2-pitch corner on Fly Wall at Wintours Leap. The climbing is sustained, with a beautiful hero’s finish over the top. And a stunning view over the river Wye.

African Killer Bee is a 30m single pitch VS 4c on Fly Wall. Following a crack line, and a few ledges. You end up in an exposed position, with good gear and a very exciting mantel. Before a wide groove leads you to its summit.

Neibelheim is an exciting 4-pitch route on North Wall at Wintours Leap. The route has everything Wintours Leap could throw at you. Tree belays; good gear; some bold climbing, especially higher up; a little slab climbing; and some corner climbing; and even overhangs, with big holds. What more could you ask for.

Here are my top 5 VS climbs at Wintours Leap. If you would like some advice on any of the above routes, or others at Wintours Leap, please feel free to get in contact.

Or contact us if you want to go climbing at Wintours Leap.

If you feel you need help with your head game in climbing

If you feel your head game is preventing you from progressing in climbing, whether it is the fear of falling, the fear of failure or a negative mindset, we have a book available which can help you.

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What can I say but this experience was amazing. Kevin was an amazing instructor very knowledgeable and professional. Cannot recommend Rise and Summit enough. He fully understands the mountains and his clients needs. Even with weather issues he was able to come up with routes for each day pushing me to achieve things I didn't think I would be able to do.

We had a great time this weekend! I took my son Jack for a surprise night away & he had no idea what was coming and he certainly never expected to be sleeping on a cliff face in a Hammock 🤣🤣 Kev was brilliant very helpful with great communication from start to finish, we felt we were in very safe hands. Highly recommend Rise & Summit for a new experience you will never forget. Thanks so much Kev you get five stars from us.

Absolutely top instructor. Communication before, during and after the course was excellent. Friendly, patient and relaxed style, and really good at pitching the challenge at the right level for the individual. I did the multipitch trad climbing course with Kevin at Avon Gorge and it was a really inspiring experience.

We had a great trad climbing course with Eddy organised by Rise & Summit - two days of intense learning and a lot of fun. The course was well organized and Eddy adopted to our experience and expectations - we learned so much in two days AND climbed two multipitch routes as well.

I booked Kevin for a 3-day private Scottish winter mountaineering course, and I couldn’t have picked a more knowledgeable and professional guide. We learnt at our own pace and tailored the course to our liking. I loved every second of it and I now feel I now have the skills and confidence to take away from this experience to go out the winter mountains on my own in a safe manner.

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I would highly recommend Rise and Summit and will certainly be using the company again in the future. If you are looking for a good professional company which is well run and has very knowledgeable staff then look no further and contact Rise and Summit.

Attended a performance course with Kevin and had 2 days of very thoughtful and encouraging coaching that really gave me the push (and a few additional "tricks") I needed to start tackling some harder trad routes (HVS/E1).

We did the SPORT CLIMBING COURSE, with Kevin from Rise and Summit. And we can assure you that the course exceeds our expectations, we not only learned about safety techniques for rock climbing outdoors but also learned some techniques and different ways of dealing with fear while climbing. We felt so lucky to book a course with someone who got a lot of knowledge and passion about climbing and the psychology of climbers.

I recently did the Climbing Psychology Workshop with Rise and Summit, which focuses on fear of falling and how to reprogram your mental habits when lead climbing. I thoroughly recommend the course! It was very informative, tailored on the day to the needs of our small group, and gave me the tools I need to help me keep a clear head when leading harder routes in my projecting grades and to really enjoy doing it. It has really helped me grow as a climber. Our instructor Kevin was extremely professional, personable and is great at his job!

Top 5 VS climbs at Wintours Leap