Jim was not happy after his axe blew out mid figure 9....
A not happy Jim
If you look closely you can see he has ripped his left nostril right through. A wound that resulted in 3 layers of stitches to close it up and a few hours in hospital. Bad times.
Jim leading Ibex
Before this happened though we were having a pretty good day. Jim and I went up to Ibex and Bambi, the 2 dry tooling routes listed in the Quarry in the new winter guide book, and probably the only 2 climbable routes in it at the moment! Jim led up Ibex (D8), and I had a very disappointing go at top roping it after. I didn't even get to the top despite resting twice. Rubbish. It was only my second go though and prior knowledge of where the placements are makes a huge difference.
Torquil on Ibex
Torquil then came along and joined us. Getting Ibex clean on top rope. Jim then led it again, with Torquil getting some good photos suspended next to Jim. The best of these photos are all on my Picasa album. I then had another go on top rope and got it clean, knowing where the drilled holes are makes such a difference.
We then set up a top rope on the more difficult 'Bambi' (D9) and we all had a play. It's pretty difficult just making the first couple of moves, with all sorts of techniques being used. I managed to get past this 'stopper' move but then couldn't do the next, so lowered off. I had used a figure of 9 to get just enough height to make this long reach. Jim then got on and tried a figure of 9, he got his foot over, and was bouncing around a bit setting himself up when the axe popped out the shot hole (which is a very slight downward sloper) into his face, and he fell off and dangled only a foot off the ground. With Torquil and I laughing at the comedy figure of 9 fail thinking he had done no harm.
'They wont be laughing in a second' Jim thought once he realised he wasn't actually fine, and turned round to face us, and true, we then, were not laughing, as blood was pouring out of his face. Torquil thankfully had a little wound dressing which Jim used to stop the bleeding and I drove him down to hospital and we left poor Torquil behind to de-rig the ropes and remove all the quick draws on abseil, in the newly arrived rain. He got soaked. Jim is fine now, with a gnarly stitched up nostril luckily. The joys of dry tooling. I'm seriously considering getting one of those face shield things to bolt onto my helmet for that sort of thing.
The last few days have been mainly a mixture of poor and bad weather. Winter climbing has certainly been off the menu for some time now, which is totally rubbish, and its not been dry enough for rock climbing either. So I've been keeping myself busy doing other stuff. Well, apart from Sunday, where I did still manage to go rock climbing to the quarries. Chris and I climbed all the routes at the sidings in Australia in a couple of hours which was pretty good considering the rest of the day I had done nothing but clean, so it was great to get out.
Gareth and Dave in Minllyn mine
On Monday, Dave Gareth and myself set off on a rather epic journey to explore some slate mines down in the Dolgellau area. We first went into Minllyn (above Dinas Mawddwy), which was a lot more interesting then expected. The largest mine caverns I have ever seen, absolutely massive! And a number of strange features that I have not seen in other slate mines. All the caverns are pretty much clear of debris and have flat floors, in one there is a 100ft chain hanging from the roof which would be mad to climb up if you were a bit crazy. And the walls of some of these caverns could actually be made into pretty amazing sport climbing crags! Very all weather too. Well worth checking out on a miserable day. We also checked out out Bwlch Glas mine near Corris and Henddol near Fairbourne, which sadly was locked after some thieving scum have apparently stolen a load of gear out of it.
Dave and Gareth on the Dee
Yesterday was a wet and horrible day, but made for good canoeing. Me Dave and Gareth went to the Dee, and paddled down from Glyn Dyfrdwy to the mill, avoiding the Serpents tail. It was a very nice trip. They went tandem, I went solo. And I annoyingly was the only one to swim! Dammit. To my credit though I did preform a pretty efficient self rescue, then waited with the camera hoping to get those two swimming on film, which they didn't. Shame.
More rock climbing today. What's with this winter? Still in the last week I have managed to do more rock climbing then I have since September I think! So I'm not complaining.
I went down to Tremadog with Jon today, and because we didnt even have a pounds worth of shrapnel between us we couldn't park at Erics so we went to Craig y Castell instead of Bwlch y Moch as planned.
Jon loving the cold hands! Ha ha ha
We started up 'One Step in the Crowds' (E1 5b), I've never done it before and I was feeling pretty good so just jumped on it. I've only done 1 easy short E1 at Tremadog before and have heard they are pretty hard there so have been a bit apprehensive for a while. It was fine though, there is a difficult move that feels quite committing at the second roof but it was ok. Jon screaming from cold hands then led on to the top.
Jon on Mensor
We then did 'Mensor' (VS 4c), with the aim of just going for speed. We literally did the route and were back on the ground again in about 20 minutes. I was pretty impressed. And as we had done that so fast we thought we could fit in one more route so did Niobe, because it started in the same place. Not starred or recommended though but we thought we would give it a go anyway. The first pitch was good, an apparently very awkward move until a secret hold is found (possibly drilled, its quite unusual?). We ran both pitches into 1 and the second half I went up the top pitch of Tarantula because I heard Jon at the bottom shout 'just go straight up from the tree', so I did. It was a good finish to the route, better then I expect the ungraded actual finish is.
This did finish us in an annoying spot with a short tree and gorse infested down climb to the rap point. Jon loved it! It's compulsory to do a bit of bush bashing at Tremadog though. Good day!
I'm not a particularly superstitious person usually, though I do have a habit of saluting or saying 'hello' to a magpie, to avoid the associated bad luck. It failed me today, stupid birds.
I went to Gogarth for the first time in ages with Gareth. We were hoping for a day similar to Wednesday, with glorious sunshine, no wind, getting a load of routes done in t-shirts. We started off at Castell Helen, where we figured the sun would first hit, if the clouds cleared. It was chilly, and we set up the abseil and got down to the bottom hoping to do 'The North East Passage'. From half way down it was clear this route was pretty wet, so we scrapped that and went and did 'Rap' (VS 4c) instead. Not a bad route. And the sun came out and it was warm and nice, not quite t-shirt weather but quite pleasant.
Gareth on the belay ledge at the bottom of 'Rap'
We then did 'Lighthouse Arête/Blanco' (HVS 5a) which had a good pitch on it which Gareth led.
Gareth on Blanco
We had planned to go on to another area later on, and neither of us have ever done 'Dream of White Horses' (HVS 5a), so with it being a classic of classics we thought that would be a good idea. Then on the drive we saw a few lone Magpies, saluting them and saying hello, as lets face it, bad luck is not something you want when climbing is it?
Then we got lost in Holyhead, following some rubbish road through a Stena Line yard. We eventually found the car park, got walking. Missed the second junction, walked back up, then descended again, in the wrong place again. Finally we found the promintary and got to it, then realised we dont want to be there. However it did give us a good look at Wen Slab, which appeared totally featureless, very difficult to identify with the book topo. And more worryingly there appears to be no gear on it! But its only HVS, and gets done loads so it cant be a total sandbagging route. We went round to the ab point. And abbed in to the big ledge shown in the book. It was getting chilly by now, and late in the day, well about half 2, we had torches on us just in case.
Absailing down to 'Dream'
Gareth went first and set up a belay, I followed and led off. The wrong way thinking we were at the belay described in the book. Of course we weren't, we were half way up pitch 1. So I backtracked and went up again, this time the right way. By the hard bit my hands were so cold I could not feel anything. It was desperate. My fingers were soaked in a crack and I didn't even know it until I looked at them. So numbly hooking edges with wooden hands I got across and took a belay in the amazing looking crack of 'Wen'. Gareth came over and joined me clearly suffering from frozen hands too. So what to do? Continue on a few more pitches, probably in the dark, with frozen hands? Back track to the ab rope and prussic out? Jump to our deaths on the rocks below? We decided to finish up 'Wen', to get out as fast as possible. Gareth led it, with little gear just to go fast and we escaped. I was boarder line getting hot aches at the top. Misery.
Wen Slab
So we were defeated by 'Dream of White Horses'. I'll have to go back and do it another time, when its warmer. A friend of mine got the coldest he has ever been on that slab last year in a similar situation. Must just be a cold spot. One for summer methinks.
Today was one of those days where you say to your partner at the end of the day 'There can't be many other places in the world that are as good to live as North Wales'.
Rhys on 'Truant'
Me and Rhys headed over to Rhoscolyn with the hope that it would be in the sun all day, out of any wind and its not too committing if we were to get frozen. It worked out perfectly. The day was just bliss. We wore only t-shirts from the moment we realised we were absolutely baking after the first route. And even then we were warm.
Rhys on the first pitch of 'Icarus'
I have never climbed there before, Rhys has done a load of stuff there though. We started on 'Truant' (VS 4c) as he had never done it before. Rhys lead it in about 3 minutes. The route only has 1 real move in it.
From there we did 'Icarus' (HVS 5a) which has a great first move (in the picture) and a good top pitch. Then I did 'The Wild Rover' (E1 5b), which seemed very bold to start but overall was a nice steady route. I have just found out there used to be a bolt in the bold first part of the route, that explains why it was quite bold then!
Me leading 'The Wild Rover'
Rhys finished up 'The Savage Sunbird' (E2 5b), which was a pretty desperate route on lead, with fairly spaced gear, some of it not amazing. It was brilliant on second though whith nice moves.
So 4 decent routes in the sun. what more could you ask for?
Yes, its a new route that we climbed at the Black Ladders today. 'We' comprises of Geoff Bennett, Torquil Bennett and myself. We got the early start as planned, got the 'Parkin parking spot' and walked in to the ladders in darkness.
It didnt look very promising on route, the ground was quite wet underfoot and the turf most certainly wasn't frozen. But not to fear, by the time we got kitted up and started climbing the sort of grade 3 ground at the base of most routes things were starting to shape up and it looked promising.
Spotting the line
Our line, as spotted by Geoff on Monday when he did the first ascent of Cannon Fodder with Chris Parkin, runs up the groove just left of Cannon Fodder, up past a bulge and then on to the top just left of Arctic Fox. It looked quite amenable from the bottom, a slabby groove, to the bulge, pull out steeply on the left and head on up.
Geoff went up first, made good progress up the groove, passing a difficult step by skirting round to the left. He reached a point though where he was low on suitable gear (ie bulldogs), and there was a long unprotected section to deal with, and the bulge before any chance of a belay. So he backed down and took an earlier then planned one on a flake. Torquil and I joined him.
Geoff on P1
Me on the second pitch
From here it was my turn to finish, or at least try. So up I went, luckily having a top rope from Geoff's highest runner for the first move which was hard. And then it didn't really let up, sustained and tricky moves, with only bulldogs as runners for a while. Under the bulge I got in a few bits of gear, including a rather good knife blade peg in the crack just above the rook. I had 5 bits of gear in the space of 2 meters..... 3 were turf bits though so they don't really count, but it was a good indicator I was gripped. The line left which looked the most possible, was impossible, the line right which looked really hard, was too hard, so I thought it was going to be impossible. I wanted to have a decent look right first though. Reaching round the corner I found a mega-hook! I was made up. Using this I managed to reach up and find yet another mega-hook, and then another, to a turfy pull through the top to victory. I might make it sound easy there but it was desperate. I was on it for ages procrastinating and making sure all my placements were bomber. It's definitely the hardest mixed step I have done, very physical, I was pumped out of my little mind. Good though. Mad line, you go right, and then step back left onto the outside of the bulge in a very exposed position, not what you would expect looking from the bottom.
Moving around the bulge
It was quite interesting doing this, as a first ascent. Not knowing what is coming up is quite freaky. You don't know if there will be gear, if there are going to be any placements, if its even do-able? If I make one more move, am I going to find I cant go further? Then what? Can I reverse the move? Will I have to take a lob onto the poor gear beneath? A lot went through my head. Eventually I guess it's just a case of going for it, and not thinking too much. Realistically I wasn't going to nail myself too badly if I fell, 5 pieces would hold me. But I hate falling.
Geoff on the fourth pitch
Torquil on fourth pitch
The next pitch was pretty easy, and then the last pitch, which Geoff led was a horror fest. It climbed an attractive line up a broad groove, the only problem was it seemed loads of the essential turf placements were freeze dried, as in they were dry frozen and had no ice in them to hold you. So it was really sketchy. Not technically as hard as the lower crux by a long shot but very un-nerving. Geoff's feet tore through causing him to cut loose onto only one axe. He held on well though. And wasn't phased by it. Gnarler.
And that was that, we topped out just before it got dark, about 6 hours on the route! We talked about grading on the way down. We couldn't decide if it was 6 or 7? We decided to choose the under grade option rather then over grade, but would like a second opinion. I know now, if I was on it again it would be a lot easier because I know it is do-able. So please someone get on it and do it and let me know!
I went to Llandegla today, with James, Guy, Jay and George to go mountain biking. Llandegla is a mountain biking centre over Corwen sort of way. It's pretty epic getting there just for a days ride, about an hour and a half from home. I've only been 3 times or so. But we went today because they have recently opened a new freeride park there, which we wanted to check out.
We did the black cross country loop first, which was as I remembered it, fairly uninspiring. There is something about the Llandegla trails that differs to the other popular trails in North Wales. It seems that the downhill sections have been made to maximise ride time, so instead of being able to shoot down a hill and enjoy it, you have to pedal loads, and its just hard work. The better trails around here like the Marin, have awesome fast downhill sections that are really worth the slog to the top for, Llandegla, unfortunately just doesn't. Except for one good section which is long and very smooth and flowy. The loop is fairly short too, only about 15km I think.
Guy on the jump loop
Me on the jump loop
We were a little frustrated after having done that. And soaked through and cold. But after a quick warm up in the cafe and some cake, we hit the free-ride park. One section was really good, a series of short skills loops (these are not so new), one jump run was very well built. We then went to the new section, and its pretty full on. You have to pedal hell for leather to get over the first jump, then keep pedalling as hard as you can to clear the next few, and if you stuffed it at all you had no chance to re-gain the speed. Some locals were able to do it which was pretty impressive but none of us could carry the speed through. To me it seemed its more of a motocross track then for mountain bikes.
So all in all a fairly disappointing day, but nice to get out on the old steed. On a brighter note, I'm heading to the Black Ladders to climb tomorrow with Geoff and Torquil. Geoff has a new route in mind which could be quite exciting. I'm excited anyway. Not for the early start though. Meeting at 6:40, its not right.
I had a horrible early start this morning. Rhys and I decided last night that we should go and do 'Jubilee Climb' (V 6) on Cloggy today, but because the weather forecast suggested it would get warm and wet as the day went on, we thought best get out early. So we met at mine for just gone 7, and headed off. It was grim. Really windy and snowing on the way up. Fortunately dry snow so we didn't have to wear boil in the bag clothing. We got to the base of the route fairly quickly, and kitted up just before to cross the snow slopes which were a bit death. You wouldn't want to take a slide!
Me on pitch 2, this was the first taste of what was to come!
Rhys lead out rightwards on the first easy pitch, which was quite exposed. He had decided that I was going to get the 'death pitch', because he seems to always get them when we go out. So I had the 'death pitch'. It was full on! Amazing climbing, and very continuous. It's without a doubt the most physical winter route I have done, I found myself locking off reaching up with the other tool, using rubbish little footholds with the front points. It seemed no move was easier then a grade 5 move, with 4 memorable cruxes along the way. It was all there though, with mega hooks galore. When your axe just slots in and you needn't worry about it! I spent a while on that pitch, working out what to do, clearing snow off the ledges and arranging loads of gear, as its very well protected.
Nearing the top of pitch 2
Rhys came up behind me, considerably quicker then me with a big grin on his face. Thankfully he also found it hard as nails! He had the next grade 3 pitch. Hardest grade 3 I have come across. With a desperate step in the middle. I then lead up the ramp to the base of the next main difficulties.
Rhys on pitch 3 at the hard step
Rhys set off up the next grade 5 pitch. Which was quite scary at the bottom, and had 1 desperate step in it. The guide described this pitch as being 40m, but I don't know if we belayed somewhere different to usual (it says go along the ledge as far as you can), but the main chock-stone he reached at the right bend was only about 30m from the belay, so he quested on upwards, unknowingly past the belay. It describes the passing of this chock-stone as hard work, thankfully some snow had slipped down it and frozen solid, making a great little pedestal for us to stand on and cross it fairly easily.
Rhys on pitch 5 moving out left
I had the final pitch, described as 5 but its easier (but didn't include the chock-stone this time). The guide suggests that without ice you cant really do this. But there was no ice today, yet it was an amazing pitch! The gully is rammed full of large chock-stones basically, and between them all are mega hooks. So the pitch was just a matter of yarding up on these mega hooks. It was a brilliant pitch. Comically Rhys got a sling a little stuck on removal from a chock, and kicked it out with his foot, sending it flying down the pitch!
Rhys on pitch 6, the first time
Then it was done! We both thought we were being rather optimistic in choosing the route, neither of us have lead a real tech 6 before, and the weather was grim. In fact, by the time we topped out it was lashing it down with rain. We walked back totally soaked, but well chuffed too!
It's been another day on the Trinities for me today. I seem to be addicted. It makes sense though, with the weather and conditions as they are, fairly unstable, the highest ground is most likely to be the best. So today I went up there with Gruff with the route 'Gentleman's Groove' (IV 5) in mind.
We had a fairly late start, of around 10, thanks to me oversleeping after a crazy dream about climbing on a snapped rope. It was raining on arrival at Pen y Pass which was quite disconcerting. We decided to not wear waterproofs as we both knew with the walk ahead we would probably be wetter from sweating then rain, so we agreed if we got soaked on the walk in, we would sack it off. Thankfully the rain stopped after a short distance and we powered on up. Catching up with Bryn and Gareth who we joined to the kit up area, along with about 3 other parties. It lashed it down with really wet snow as we got there which was most unpleasant.
Bryn kitting up amongst others as the weather became grim
Bryn and Gareth were off to do 'Gwyn Ein Byd', we set up to do 'Gentleman's Groove'. At the base of the route some guy came up soloing 'Ladies Gully', he asked if we were doing 'Couloir', we told him we were doing 'Gentleman's Groove', and asked if he had done it, and it turns out he was the first ascentionist along with Streaky. 'The moves are fairly hard but there aren't many of them' he told us.
I led up the first pitch, which was a narrow groove, really narrow in fact, required bridging as you couldn't move if you placed your tools at the back. It's an ok pitch but the best was yet to come. The second pitch started up another narrow groove, with fairly blank sides, very little in the way of footholds. The gear there was fairly good though. Some fairly desperate moves up, to a 'thank God' hook got me into a very bizzare position. My feet were wedged lengthwise in the groove with a thin sliver of ice securing my front points. It was very precarious. Eventually I managed ot get out of it to a snowy section above where I noticed my damn crampon had come off my foot and was hanging by the ankle strap!
Me on the crux of Gentleman's Groove
It took ages to stamp out a ledge and get it back on. The crampon had adjusted its length and was too long, I have found when I fold them up the ring at the front to thread the strap through catches the length pin and must inadvertently adjust it. I need to keep an eye out for that in future. Scary.
The rest of the pitch was pretty straight forward. Gruff followed up, freezing cold after my slow lead. He didn't find the 'thank God' hook for a while, and was ready to try some horrific moves through that crux section! He got up it no problem, not bad for his first mixed route!
Gruff playing on the 'Zig Zag Ice Boulder'
On the way down we called in at the Zig Zag ice boulder, and played round on a variety of lines. We found 5 micro lines on it. Some pretty desperate, and the ice was mad, 2 foot dinner plates regularly, sketchy stuff. Bryn and Gareth came down to us and we headed back to the car. They reported little gear on 'Gwyn Ein Byd', but enjoyed it. I don't know how they can say that though, I got a good amount in, and Geoff Bennett who did it before me got loads more then me still! I maintain that its a safe route.
I needed a bit of a rest day today as my legs were getting wrecked. So when Gareth and Dave asked if I wanted to join them in going mining I thought why not? The weather for climbing was not up to much today, and mining isn't half as physical.
Gareth's nervous smile, could be crushed alive instantly
We went down to a few mines around Carreg Llanfrothen. Pretty interesting places, some really cool formations, especially bright blue copper sulphate. A few really sketchy crawls under stacked rock and climbing over God knows how old false floors. Mine exploration is always interesting, its nice to get out at the end too.
Dave 'Devil Eyes' Barnard carefully downclimbing
I popped into V12 in the afternoon and bought some CAMP Tri cams after using Jims yesterday. They are amazing! Not cheap though! £65.00 for 4 of them!!! Cheaper then friends though and better in icy stuff.
It's getting good and cold again tomorrow. I think I will be visiting the Trinities yet again!
I headed up to the Trinity face again today with Jim. The weather was not great, with light rain forecast for the morning and clag around all day and strong winds. Fortunately we didn't get rained on at all, the clag wasn't too bad and we were sheltered from the wind on the routes the whole time. So it all worked out very nicely.
Jim approaching Ladies Gully
We started off up Ladies Gully (III 3), though we weren't sure at the time as I forgot the damn topo. We decided to solo it, and it looked ok. I however got to the top and got a bit spooked so managed to sling a chock stone and throw a rope end down to Jim and finished it easily afterwards. It's amazing the difference knowing your not definitely going to die if you fall off makes. Got a seriously pumped leg whilst sorting all the stuff out! That route is harder then 3 in current conditions too by the way.
After that we descended end gully, and cut across into Cave Gully again. Where out of the blue Tim Neil once again popped out from nowhere! This time not soloing but with Geoff Bennett. They were going to do 'Gwyn Ein Byd' (V 5), which Jim and I had in mind. But we went on and did 'Cave Gulley Left Wall' (IV 4). Jim led it very quickly. It wasn't the thin snow and ice as described in the book but turf and ledges. There is one tricky step at the top, other then that its fairly easy and uninspiring unfortunately. Probably better if it is filled with ice.
Jim on 'Cave Gully Left Wall'
We descended End Gully again and joined Tim as he was still belaying Geoff. Jim and I kitted up and I led up behind Tim on 'Gwyn Ein Byd'. Its a super route. Up this slabby chimney like feature into a proper chimney. Loads of great rock hooks and some quite small rock foot ledges, bridging and back and footing got me to the top. There are plenty of good runners too. All 4 of us who climbed it today agreed its worth its stars.
On the way back down to Pen y Pass, we stopped off at the 'ice boulder' just by the zig zags on the PYG track. Jim climbed this, and I took some photos. The ice was bullet hard but the top was really shattery. Someone has clearly taken a massive chunk off it. Maybe the loud noise and screams of 'BELOW' heard in that area on Sunday afternoon?
Jim on the 'Ice Boulder' near the Zig Zags
What amazed me about the day, is that it was so quiet up there. Tim and Geoff were the only people we saw beyond Bwlch y Moch. I think the few people walking down before here had sacked it off as the path was covered in treacherous ice.
It should still be ok up there tomorrow I think. Though temperatures are close to zero. I'm not climbing tomorrow, I'm too worn out. Its colder later in the week so I'll conserve my energy.
Following such a good day yesterday on the Trinities Torquil and myself decided to head up to the Black Ladders and get on some mixed ground when there is not a great deal of snow around but the turf is fairly well frozen. On reaching the ladders I was amazed that Ice Fall Gully Left hand is still in good climbable condition, and so is Eastern Gully bottom pitch! These routes must be the most thaw resilient routes ever! I climbed them both during the last thaw too when there was probably no other route going in Wales, but this thaw has been much warmer and over twice as long.
There were 3 teams above us when we reached the kit up rock. And by the time we got up the neve slope to the real base of the routes, we noticed another 8 or 9 people behind us that had sprang from nowhere! Well they probably didn't really but we hadn't turned round for the past hour and a bit on the walk in. Sneaky buggers.
Torquil and the impossible central gully cave
We decided to do 'The July Crisis', a turf based route with no description of needing ice, so sounded good as there was not much ice about. It goes up Central Gully to above the cave pitch. The cave pitch was mental! We kitted up with the intention to do it but it wasn't going to happen. It must be a M6/7 pitch on the left of it in the condition it was in today. I have done it before and it was hard, but today must have been impossible to mere mortals like us. So we skirted left, and went wrong, going up something hard and steep.
Me on the first proper pitch (photo: Torquil)
'The July Crisis' (photo: Huw Gilbert)
With a few route finding problems, trying to find the 'first weakness on the right', we just quested up what we thought might be the route. it looked really hard, but we gave it a go. It was hard, but not too hard. And we found a sling on it so assume it was the route.
Torquil leading the top pitch
By the time Torquil was leading the second pitch things started to match the description. The route was brilliant, quite awkward techy climbing, well protected, with continual interest for about 70m. In comparison to the relatively few grade 5 pitches I have done, I did think it to be more difficult then most.
We made it our mission to get back to the car just in time to not need lights, which we just managed, and then over to a friends for some tea and amazing scones. What a day!
Yesterday I had been fairly optimistic that a few routes would come into condition today with the falling freezing level. I figured that all the snow lying around in the gullies would freeze solid and be amazing. 'Good luck with that mate' was the reply I got from one friend, and someone else suggested I was stupid (only in a more polite way). So I was very pleased to prove them very wrong and had one of the best days climbing I have ever had.
I headed up with Rhys to Clogwyn y Garnedd, or Trinity Face to most. No rush at all, we set off at the leisurely time of half 9, and didn't leave the car park at Pen y Pass until 10! Still, we managed to do 5 routes, and be back at the car for half 5.
Rhys on the crux of Great Gully 1st chockstone
The PYG track was really quite busy, I guess its a bank holiday weekend, but considering the conditions there was a surprising number of people. We belted it up the path to the bottom of the crag, prodding the snow along the way to see how good the neve was, it was surprisingly good. We had hoped to do snowdrop, but that most certainly wasn't in. But Great Gully looked really good, and with the neve as it was would be fantastic. So we did that first. Soloed it, it had a few tricky steps but nothing sustained. Its a really nice route, definitely recommend it, and it brings you out right on the summit.
Great Gully
From there we dropped down Central Trinity, avoiding several people climbing it very closely together by following the turfy buttress to its left. And then went to the right (looking in) to find something good to climb. Couloir looked interesting. We soloed to the bottom of the main pitch, which didn't look too bad. The guide describes the belay here as being poor. We couldn't find anything that I would even consider poor! So I climbed up a bit and found a suspect flake to sling on the left. We were in the classic position of not kitting up in a sensible place and faffed with the ropes and rack on the steep slope. When will I ever learn? Tim Neil popped up behind us then. And joined us for the route. I lead up, quite gripped. It's very true what the book says about there being little gear. And there was a strip of water cress that hadn't frozen down the centre of the route making things quite exciting. Did it though without dying. Always a bonus. I wouldn't recommend this route at the moment, let it freeze a bit more. Follow the books advice!
Tim and Rhys on Couloir
Tim left us there and went back to Llanberis. We carried on and descended End Gulley, and cut along into Cave Gulley, which we finished up. Rhys has soloed this in the past, but he did say to me earlier in the day if he did it again he would want a rope. As we approached it, I had forgotten our earlier conversation, and suggested soloing it, and he agreed, then told me to go in front... I got to the base of the difficult bit, and it looked nails! So I got a rope out, whacked some gear in and threw the other end down to Rhys and carried on climbing. I was glad we didn't solo it! It really was hard! No footholds where you want them. It was however possibly my favourite bit of mixed climbing I have done! Really interesting moves, but pretty well protected. It was really really good! Harder then the 4 its given in the book for when there is ice there.
Rhys on the crux of Cave Gully
We then raced back down the PYG track, where crampons were essential, until we took them off, and then fell all the time! Great day out.
The conditions up there were surprisingly good overall. Old snow is now good solid neve. There was a dusting of snow last night so everything is white. And turf overall seems well frozen (except for the death watercress sections, avoid these, they are evil). It will be even better tomorrow!
Happy new year everyone! Lets hope for a year full of fun and adventures, not like today.... Recovering from last night, and with the weather being all grey and horrible.
Jim on the crux of Daddy Cool
Still yesterday was ok. I went to Tremadog with Jim to re-familiarise ourselves with rock climbing. For me I have not properly rock climbed for about 2 months. And its funny how out of practice you can get. Worrying about what we might have forgotten on leaving the house, and nearly forgetting the rock boots and chalk! And I was a real spanner trying to place fiddly small wires in the rock, its much easier to smash a bulldog in. We climbed Daddy Cool, Jim lead the hard pitch, and it was properly hard. The crag hadn't really dried very well, and the cracks were soaking, and it was cold, so semi-numb hands on slimy rock didn't exactly inspire confidence. Great route though! And nice to rock climb again. We then did Merlin Direct, in one mega pitch of 58 meters! Which was pretty cool.
Jim near the top of the Merlin Direct mega-pitch
It's getting cold again outside tonight, sub zero above 600m or so according to the weather reports. Monday looks to be a good day for winter climbing. Lets see how it goes anyway.
