Tooled up on a Friday Night

The place to be on a Friday nights is The Beacon. With darks nights upon us, beer prices rising and clubs non existent In North Wales where else better to be. But hey forget those rock shoes and chalk bag, the pump really happens when your tooled up. No shooters here just an array of tools from DMM, Petzel and BD.

It is a true extension of what mixed climbing can throw at you within the UK and another form of training and practise which has been common practice up North with regular events and comps on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne71uoPC4yk&feature=player_embedded#

With a variety of traverses and 6 bottom rope routes at the Beacon there is plenty to go at. More routes are planned. This is a great opportunity to give it a go if you have never done this indoors. No need to worry about hard grades or not getting routes done just get on and have a play. On the other hand it is a great resource if your into mixed action.

There was a good crack this Friday evening, sharing of ideas, tips and plenty of trying what works and whats spits you off. Better to practice here and see what works, than a 3hr walk in, howling gale, spindrift down your chest, hot aches pulsing through your hands and a frozen belayer. All to find your to gripped to push it out.

With Steve Mayers and Leon well keen to see this work, then get down there. For more info contact the Beacon Climbing Wall http://www.beaconclimbing.com/

Had pictures to show you what was on offer. However, due to a problem with the camera, these will have to wait to next time.

Indoor Dry Tooling hits North Wales

At last, we have a venue for some dry tooling action here in North Wales. After the success of the AMI - AGM workshops that were ran at the Beacon, Steve, who owns the Beacon , has been sold on the idea of opening up the area, routes etc for the winter climber. That is great news.

So what are are waiting for get down there. ( see dates below )


Hone your dry tooling skills at The Beacon this winter

Friday night is dry tooling night at The Beacon!

Snow and ice is starting to appear on the hills so why not kick start your winter climbing with some dry tooling practice at The Beacon. It’s the perfect chance to get back into climbing with tools after a long summer, swap tips and try out new gear.

Sessions will run 7-9pm on Friday evenings and we will be setting up a dedicated area with routes, boulder problems & training circuits. The open sessions are for experienced winter climbers only and you can bring along your axes, boots (not crampons), old Dachsteins, etc. We also hope to have a small selection of tools available for you to try out.

Open sessions will be running on the 11th & 18th December ’09 and will then resume after the Christmas break on the 8th Jan’10. Cost for open sessions will be normal Beacon entry costs.

We will also be running beginner workshops in the New Year as well as master classes – dates & prices of these sessions will be advertised at The Beacon and via The Beacon web site

Grabbing the last of this spell

Any conditions that resemble winter have truly gone. Saturday was very warm and very wet with this type of weather forecast over the next few days. So looks like this spell is over. However, this recent spell has shown that conditions form quickly and are often better than many people think. Hopefully we will see a return. However, last winter this never came until just after new year.

It is good to see people getting the last of the conditions as highlighted below.

Friday, Dec 4th, Tim Jepson was out with 8 students on the Sports Science (Outdoor Activities) degree at Bangor University. In the morning the weather was fine but the air was warm, so they chose to get up high quickly to catch the snow before it softened. To thier great delight, once they were high enough in the Nameless Cwm, the snow was perfect for newcomers to axe and crampons and they did a mass ascent of Easy Route, moving together roped-up.

Another half dozen converts to Welsh winter climbing!!

Keep your eye on the blog as I will post various snippets of interest. Also if your mad keen to have ago at dry tooling indoors then watch this space.

Nearly 72 and giving it large

Thursday and Friday

Thursday delivered another good day and this morning ( Friday ) was a great morning. There was a ground frost at 100m,s and the tops were clear. The snow high up I would imagine would be good, a nice day for easy gullies, ridges and walking over the tops.

However, it is supposed to turn this afternoon, with temps above the tops well into Monday. Only time will tell if any snow holds in but it looks doubtful.

Gaz Davies from ( Summit to Sea ) went up to Fynnon Lloer on Thursday with James and Phil. Still lots of old snow that had consolidated and started to freeze mainly above 800 m. Some new snow fell during the day, mainly as graupel. They played around on some rocky steps (practicing coaching mixed moves ) then dropped back down to climb left-hand y gully.
Another fun day.


Even more impressive was Huw and his mate Cled Jones, who is almost 72. If I am out on the hill at that age, let alone mixed climbing I will be well happy. They were on Clogwyn y Person Arete on Thursday. They were expecting to find wet snow at best but were presently surprised, the rock was all quite verglassed and was noticeably riming up as the afternoon went on. Higher up the route the snow became quite firm where the wind has got at it, crampons were definitely needed along the ridge to Crib y Ddysgl. There seemed to be a lot of snow on the trinity face though.



Cled Jones on Person Arete on Thursday





Seems like there is no stopping Hugh and Cled. You would think at 71 you would need a day off, not this chap he is mad for it. Today ( Friday ) they climbed Tower Rib in Cwm Cniefion. Snow was good, turf was good enough and ice was forming.


Cwm Cniefon - Looks good and plenty of ice



Cled on Tower Rib

Some gullies could be good

Looking at the forecast this evening seems like we are in for another few good days. The wet weather has been useful as it will have consolidated the snow pack . Lots of snow stripped today and crags were black but with the amount of snow that fell on Sunday it will not have all gone and I am sure there will be neve in many of the easy gullies.

Have a good one


Below are a few pics form Gaz Davies from Tuesday on Snowdon.

Early season may be at an end

Today, Big Tim, Andy Turner, Dave Evans and I bailed upto Grib Goch area. Tim and I were going to look at at new route, but getting too it might be an issue. You have to climb slabby and broken ground and with v little neve or frozen turf it might be tricky. This was the case, and again not wishing to trash the turf retreat was the order of the day, even though we were not far off the meat of the route.

Andy and Dave climbed Reades Route on Grib Goch. This is a classic route and goes at V-5/6. It has good gear, goods hooks etc and outstanding position, in particular stepping off the pinnacle ( see below ) get it done. Tim and I followed with Tim taking the lead as I had led the route last winter.

Dave and Andy tried a new route but again conditions stopped play. From our vantage point Trinity Face was plastered in little black dots of climbers.

There is a lot of snow and it is real winter up there. Loads of ice on the Pyg Track and elsewhere, just not on the routes as of yet. Weather looks warm for the next three days and after that, not realistic to believe forecast. Have to wait and see what happens.

Always the same, not so good over the weekend, good mid week and then rubbish the next weekend. Hold in there it will come good again, how do know ? I have no idea !!!


Tim starting 2nd pitch of Reades Route



Me seconding top pitch of Reades Route today




Adam Harmer steeping off the pinnacle, what a position to be in ( Feb 08 )




Andy Turner high up on 2nd Pitch



A view of 2nd pitch




Dave new routing



Snowdon Area under its winter grab today



Gaz Davies went up to the Trinity Face today. The route he tried was not really in so they bailed off wishing not to trash the turf etc. However, he reported it was a great day to be out, full on winter and lots a teams around

Another season starts

Today was the first day of winter when you could go climbing and it seems folk have.

Me and Big Tim headed up into Nameless Cwm, being one of the highest cwms in Snowdonia it is a safe bet. We were surprised to see how much snow there was and how low it was ( 500 m. ) Our main aim was to do Manx Wall as knowing the turf would not be really frozen this route relies mainly on rock in its upper reaches. with blobs lower down. However, the turf was not frozen at all, climbable ? maybe ? , but not really envrio friendly and not good for future ascents. Therefore, we opted for Pillar Chimney IV-4 instead. From the top of the ramp, there was a good old fashion thrutch in the chimney pitch and some slabby and Ice ground on the third pitch.

Tim enjoying the chimney pitch



Top of the chimney



Olly Saunders http://www.rockandseadventures.co.uk/had a trip up the Trinty Face on Snowdon and climbed R-H - Trinity. Lots of snow, good rime, cold, turf frozen on surface all in all and very nice day out.

Pictures of Trinity Face ( Thanks to Olly )






Some chaps were on El Manco VI-6 . One of Snowdonia's classic routes, great climbing, great atmosphere a top 3 star route. With the first pitch using a lot of turf and that not really forzen today, then it would be best to leave this for now.



A picture from Huw Gilbert shows how much snow Cadair had on Saturday, so that will still be there.



Finally with good forecast for Tuesday Morning, changing later in the day and week, then its a day to get out if you can.

Indoors Today

Here is a picture of the Snowdon Horseshoe on Saturday Afternoon.



Today, the weather turned for the worse with wind and rain upon us again. Is it going to snow high up ? The forecast would indicate this, but it is not certain and the mnts were all covered in cloud this afternoon.

I drove down the pass at 9.00am today, it seemed snow was only remaining high up and it looked through the clag, to be thinly spread and the temp at Pen Y Pass was plus 4 degrees.

However, I got stuck into more dry tooling today with the added benefit of having Mountain Equipment sponsored climber Andy Turner on hand to give advice. Being involved in organising workshops for the Association of Mountaineering Instructors ( AMI ) AGM for this weekend, I got Andy in to pass on some of his hard earned expertise. With the kind help of Steve Mayers at The Beacon Climbing Wall, Andy created 6 routes and a few traverses which had all kinds of techniques built into them, can opener moves, torks, laybacks, opposition moves, hooks, side pulls, pockets to name a few.


Chris Guest trying out a variety of axes.



Andy demonstrating another type of move



Chris honing his skills




The session ended, as you would expect, with everyone quite wasted.

Andy giving us another few tips

Who would have thought it !!! Sat 28th Nov 09

Today I could not believe my eyes when I looked out the window. There was a good covering of snow down to 300m,s cars were getting stuck in the Ogwen and the Pass due to 3 inches of snow on the road.

Talk about Carma, it was this date last year that the first routes were done in Wales, so will we see a repeat of this. We will have to wait and see. No point in getting too excited too soon. But hey, its a good start and helps focus the mind.

Unfortunately, I am unable to get out today as I am involved in running the AMI - AGM at PYB. However, if anyone gets out even for a nice day out let me know and get some pics to me.

Hopefully will have some pictures later

Welcome Back-Has 9 months really passed- Fri-27th Nov 09

Well here we go again, winter is dawning and as always the tease of the weather is going to play havoc with our minds.

Firstly, I must thank you all, for the support and thanks which I received at the end of last winter. The results of the blog were far beyond my expectations. The aim, was to inform climbers of conditions and promote N Wales as a leading venue for winter climbing and boy did it do that. Finally, it was to open all your eyes to the fact that N Wales is not a place that you have to wait years in order to climb some fat chunky ice, mixed is where it is at and those North of the Border have had it too good for years.

So how do we follow on from last winter, I for one have no answer this question, apart from pray !

Has North Wales had any signs of winter as of yet ? The answer is yes, but before you get too excited is was just a very small tease.

November 9th -09 found North Wales covered in its first ground frost of the season ( see picture ) alongside blue skies. Two days previously the first snow arrived, though it was insignificant, just a thin covering on the tops of the Carneddau which quickly disappeared as we were hit with two weeks of deluge. Our thoughts must go out to those in certain areas of Cumbria.





Based on last year, winter is behind currently. Having climbed Central Trinity near the end of October 08 in knee deep snow, North Wales found itself under a cold spell near the end of November 08 which produced the first good conditions of the season on the 28th November. This lasted for nearly two weeks and lots of action was seen, new routes produced and first ascents of certain rock routes recorded.

The result was a sense of excitement and physce, not seen in Wales for some years in regards to winter. Alongside this was the accompanying BS and all this before XMAS what a year. Anyway without the where would we be.

So what is in store for this winter, I predict a huge wave of action when conditions arrive, there is so much muttering in North Wales, climbers are being coy, hinting at great things and I have got thee Andy Turner running 3 dry tooling workshops at the AMI AGM this weekend and they are all full. What a result, would this have happened a few years ago ?

So stay tuned, this is the beginning, I HOPE, of a another 4 month relationship which will see us all in the dog house at sometime as we battle with the elusive draw of the white stuff alongside that arena called life. Oh and not forgetting that BS which we all will add to those tales of that was the best route of our life, it was so hard, I was so pumped out my box, but how I am a Jedi.

Finally, for total inspiration I leave you with one of North Wales greatest winter achievements, still waiting a second ascent !!!! produced from a man - not a sponsored climber - called Dia Lampard. With no desire for the latest fashion or gear, but just an immense passion for climbing on his home patch, he produced a winter a traverse of LLiwedd. Where is that crag you may ask ? The picture below will give you a clue, but some of you will need a map. But this is a crag which would rival many of the greats up North and leave many of them standing.




Above - On the walk into LLiwedd

FINALLY I leave you with the following image. It just goes to show that no matter what anyone can be mad for it.