Capel Curig. This post shall at least be on time. An even more packed bus this time, with only 2 seats for 13 people’s gear. A rather tight squeeze indeed. The stop at Telford came quickly and faster than expected we were in Wales and at the hut. This may be due to me sleeping a fair bit but that’s beside the point. After beds were chosen and the committee bunk formed we sat in the ‘common room’ and tried to decide the plan for the next day. Milestone buttress seemed to be the preference so after people started to get bored we went to bed.
Saturday started a bit drizzly but it could have been a lot worse. Being a slab, Milestone is hell in the rain and at the start of the day the rock was wet, with some precipitation falling. Split into 4 teams we started on our routes. I had Pulpit Route on the far right, Lidiya and Sarah swinging leads on Rowan Route the left, with Brad and Josh on Ordinary Route further left. Josh had initially wanted to climb Super Direct Route (HVS 4c, 4c, 4a, 5a), but backed down after an assessment of a sketchy section that his seconds, Ben and Eleri would be unlikely to be able to climb. Halfway through the second pitch or so however the rock dried up nicely and the rain stopped. The wind was consistent throughout the day helping to dry the rock. By this time the other climbers were out of my sight so I just continued up with my seconds Jake and Joe. Several checks of the topo from a photo on my phone kept me on the right path, compared to the last time I led – with Frosty in the rain. The final pitch which was most definitely not a Diff went up a chimney that was green and slipped. The holds weren’t bad, just a bit spaced and I did get a bit scared. At the top of the chimney I placed my best hold of the day, a hex that resisted almost all attempts of removal, so much so that I had to abseil down and get it out myself. From the top of the chimney I made some interesting and exposed moves to pull over a perched block and onto the tip on an arête. I unfortunately topped our 3rd, but despite this I abseiled down last. I helped Lidiya’s group get down and then gave the same help to Josh’s team shortly afterwards. By the time I got down it was around 5 and the bus had already dropped half of the group at the hut, so there was no option for extra routes. We returned to the hut and stayed there for the rest of the night. A long game of Pass-Out was played with a brief interval of hanging from slings and roof beams. Much jokes ensued and after a fair amount of water and alcohol had been consumed we headed to bed. The last few of us up decided on Little Tryfan as the crag for Sunday.
Sunday dawned the best day I have seen on a meet this year. It’s not you Amy, honest. We woke a bit later than planned, well I did at least and decided that to get the most of the weather we should climb early and then tidy the hut in the evening. So we left nice and early for a good days climbing. Despite the reputation that Little Tryfan has for attracting groups there was barely anyone there apart from us. It took us a while to work out where the routes were from the guidebook but shortly after arriving all 5 leaders (Lidiya, Josh, Sarah, Brad and Myself) were on our routes. The routine started to set in, leaders lead, belay lead more, top out and pick another route. After I came down from my second the urge to solo overcame me, but I ended up simul-climbing a route with Josh, swinging the lead halfway through. After this I came down to find Lidiya, Jake and Joe planning a trip to the top of Tryfan. I’m not sure what persuaded me to join in but I ended up tagging along. We walked to the north face and ascended further up some sketchy gulleys. An hour or so after we got to the north face we were approaching what we thought to be the summit. Unfortunately Tryfan has 3 and we were after the furthest south. Some technical scrambling later we were next to Adam and Eve; the two blocks perched on the top of Tryfan. We all jumped between them with photo and video evidence and quickly started back to the hut so we could leave and make it back to Leicester before it was too late. The downward scramble led to a long scree slope and a nice path to the road. Before long the bus had been packed, more organised this time so it was less of a squeeze and ordered for removal. We got lost once or twice in Leicester but other than that nothing that eventful happened. Well apart from the massive chav meeting at Telford. Twas ridiculous, it even had a registration plate recognising police car parked in the car park.
Overall a pretty epic meet, and I’m glad I was there J
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