North Wales – Rain dictates play
So here we are in Jo and Catrin’s place in Abergele, North Wales, enjoying a cold beer after two great days of climbing. Although, for a while, it looked like the rain gods were going to stop us.
Despite a good forecast, we drove up the Llanberis pass yesterday and were met by driving horizontal rain. Great. Undeterred, we continued down to Tremadog, home of the last hopes of the rain-soaked Snowdonia climber. Fortunately for us, Tremadog came good again – time to climb!
I must confess that I wasn’t so pleased about going to Tremadog. I have never really got on with the place, as it requires a certain style and finess, which I don’t have. Nevertheless, I ‘warmed up’ with a lead of Falcon on Craig Pant Ifan. It gets E1 5b in the old guide, but it was continuously interesting and sustained, and I wasn’t surprised (and was actually quite pleased) to see that it has been upgraded to E2 5c in the North Wales select guide.
Another upgrade in the select guide is Vulcan, from E3 to E4. PJ tied on to try it, but backed off, and frankly I don’t blame him – it’s nails!! Jo picked up where PJ left off and led it to the top (10 years after he first did it) and I followed, sweating and cursing the whole way. Great route; just bloody hard :D
Then after failing on Pincushion E2 (we’ll gloss over that), and spending a night in the CC hut in Llanberis, we hit the slate today. Highlights for me were onsighting Heading the Shot, which used to get E5 but now is officially given sport 7a. Personally I thought the bolts were too far apart for it to be called a sport route, although it’s almost certainly not E5. E4 6b would be my guess. The climbing is excellent, though really thin.
Finally we dropped down to Never Never Land where I onsighted Kubla Khan E4 6b. I was dead chuffed as it’s the first ‘respectable’ E-grade that I’ve managed this trip, and sad as it sounds, that does make a difference. Jo had a good day too as he made a great lead of ‘Short Stories’ – three bolts in 25m makes it well worth the E4 grade!!
So now PJ and I leave the Land of my Fathers and head east to England. The Roaches tomorrow, and either Stanage or Millstone on Saturday. Can’t wait!
Mother Scarey’s
This morning I said to my Mum, “I’m so glad I’m not in Barcelona, because the weather is nice and cool here”. So, of course, today both PJ and I went and got sunburnt!
The weather today was spectacular, and Pembrokeshire was at it’s very best – although it did mean the climbing conditions were a bit greasy and hot. St. Govan’s head was shut by the army today (it’s an army firing range) so we backed up the car and resorted to Plan B: Mother Carey’s Kitchen.
Mother Carey’s (or “Mother Scary’s”, as it’s also known!) has a deserved reputation for being quite a serious cliff. It is a little loose, quite committing, and all none of the routes are soft touches. PJ started up with the excellent The Straight Gate E1, and I ticked the fine arete of Herod E2, great climbing and position, but a bit little blocky and hollow.
Then we tackled the classic E3, Zeppelin. With the tide approaching high-water, it was a quite committing to ab in – sea-cliff climbing at it’s purest. We took a hanging belay off the Rock-Idol ledge and traversed in, to ensure I wouldn’t get wet feet. Zeppelin gets E3, but with the greasy conditions it felt much harder and PJ took a spectacular fall, fortunately onto good gear and into clear air – it’s really steep. Next time he had more luck and we topped out in the evening sun with the satisfaction of having had a bit of an adventure.
Tomorrow is a rest day, so we’re pleased that it’s forecast to rain. We’re driving up north and meeting Jo in Abergele. I spoke to him on the phone just now, and he said that he also took a whipper on Zeppelin when he tried it, which made us feel a little better!
Sun in St Govan’s
Despite plenty of fog around this morning, we jumped in the car and headed west, and pretty much as soon as we reached Pembrokeshire, the the sun came out. Grand.
PJ warmed up on Space Cadet, a great E3 at St Govan’s, which is pretty soft touch so good for warming up. I seconded it but found it harder than I remember it being. So I promptly ignored the warning messages and got straight on Test Case, a not-so-easy E3. Greasy conditions saw me slip off a rest hold after the crux, and take a sizeable fall. Rats. I got back on and reached the top, but I shan’t pretend I wasn’t disappointed, I felt robbed.
After a short break, we abbed back down, and PJ, after looking briefly at the classic E5 crack, Get Some In, decided on the slightly easier No Man’s Land, E4 5c. It was a fantastic route, really steep, no particularly hard moves, but it kept coming at you!. Then I finished the day off with War Crime, an absolutely fantastic, juggy E2, which my cramping arms barely managed.
So a great day, but I’m already pretty exhausted, and but I’m not sure if I’m looking forward or dreading going back tomorrow!
Back in Blighty!
So I’ve been slack on the blog updating front recently…that’s cause I haven’t been climbing!! But now I’m back, and, most importantly, I’m back in Britain!
This week, PJ and I are doing a road trip around Wales and a bit of England, giving PJ a taste of the British Trad climbing!
Our plan is roughly as follows:
Today and tomorrow = Pembroke: We’re staying with my Ma and Pa Evans at the moment in Swansea, which means a little more driving, but a comfortable bed and nice food in the evenings! I’m going soft…
Tuesday – drive to North Wales, maybe an evening on Llanberis slate. I have my eyes on Poetry Pink on the Rainbow Slab. We’ll see. On Tuesday night we are guests with Jo and family in Abergele.
Wednesday-Thursday: Jo has taken these two days off and so will be joining us to climb in North Wales. No firm plans yet but maybe some sort of adventure up on Cyrn Las, with The Skull? Maybe a day on Scimitar Ridge? Maybe even up to cloggy if it’s dry? We’re staying a night in the CC hut in the pass, and then thursday night back in Abergele.
Friday – drive to the Peak, climb at the Roaches. I have a loong ticklist of slabs there: Elegy, Smear Test, the Swan, Chalkstorm, Track of the Cat, Wings of Unreason etc. Friday night we meet up with Ian, Paul, Fran and Kenny to camp.
Saturday – one of the eastern edges. Probably somewhere like Curbar or Millstone. I should imagine that Stanage will be heaving. Another night in the campsite.
Sunday – lazy morning, maybe a bit of bloddering, drive to airport, home to BCN.
Sounds fun, huh?!
Yesterday we had a quick afternoon on Gower to warm up. PJ did the classics Isis (HVS) and Lazy Sunday Afternoon (E2), and I ticked one of the few routes I hadn’t yet done on Fall Bay Buttress, Seth. It starts up Osiris/L.Sun.Aft. before splitting off right and up a nice crack. It gets E1 5c but at that grade it is a total sandbag, I reckon in another part of the world it would be soft E3!! (Gower is reknowned for it’s stiff-grades – small man syndrome reaction to Pembroke I reckon!)
The tide had come in, and with Yellow Wall still bird-banned, we walked over the other side of the headland to Trial Wall at Rhossili. Very different in style, a smooth quarried wall with some fingery routes. I did the Adulteress E2, which I’d be meaning to do since I saw it on the cover of the 91 guide (20 years ago! – I started climbing a few months after that guide was released!) , and PJ did the semi sport route next door, Blackman’s Pinch. It gets E4 but with a couple of bolts protecting the two cruxes, it feels more like 6c/+. Disappointingly, I fell off when following him, which doesn’t bode too well for the rest of the week!
So, off to Pembroke today, in theory, but would you believe it, it’s raining…