We set off to Wales on the first anniversary of the infamous
Idwal slabs clusterfuck which necessitated mountain rescue getting involved.
Fortunately the chances of anything similar happening were reduced
significantly by the weirdly good weather forecast, but in any case I decided
not to tempt fate and steered away from any multipitch mountain crags! The
drive down was notable for the return of Harry from London and James blowing it
and forgetting the guidebook, necessitating Jack returning to get it and a
subsequent 90 minute wait at Tesco for him to catch up and give me the hut key.
Whilst at Tesco we were presented with the problem of the bus’ sliding door
locking itself and refusing to unlock. After brute force failed to loosen the
mechanism a change of tack was required- so we took the inside of the door
apart. They’ll never know… We arrived at the hut before midnight and after a
bit of drinking hit the hay.
Saturday dawned surprisingly dry and everyone was ready
pretty quickly to head off to my favourite place in North Wales, the slate
quarries. The walk in was no less steep than I remembered but we eventually got
to the Sidings and Railtrack levels in Australia, where people commenced
leading and generally getting used to the weird but wonderful world of slate
climbing. I’m not sure if anyone got bitten by the slate bug- some people seemed
to downright hate it- but as far as I’m concerned if you don’t like it you have
shoddy technique and need to sharpen up :P
Jack was the first to get going on a nice little 5c called
Hogwarts Express, which Charlie and Bethan toproped afterwards. Meanwhile, I
nipped up the Mallard 5c which Katie and Sam N-E got on, before Sam got led it
to get back in the game. Further along, James and Amy were powering up 4’s that
were far too easy for them and Ollie decided to get back into leading by
choosing the wettest route on the level for some reason. He made it up after
some tactical use of the knee and Harry followed him up. While people were
getting used to the slate I took Bethan and Sam down a level to try one of the
few slate overhangs still standing, Orangutang Overhang 6a+, before it falls
down in the next few years. Bethan couldn’t get the opening moves wired, so Sam
had a go, conquering it with some old fashioned macho grunting and finishing
with one fall- good effort. Bethan had another go and got further but couldn’t
quite enter the tricky opening groove, so we headed further along the level
here Sam led the really nice Steps of Glory 5b and Bethan seconded. On the
level above Emily was getting some good leading mileage in, with Sam H also
getting involved, and we returned to find Amy with a foot in a sling above her
own head for reasons I am yet to fully work out...
The leading continued apace and so James and I decided to
escape to do the classic Looning the Tube HVS 5b (him) and the direct start
Bise-Mon-Cul E2 5b (me). The fact they were mostly bolt protected makes the
trad grade a bit ridiculous but take the tick! Jack and Amy also went off
elsewhere with Ellie, James, Sam and Emily (I think?!) to do the mega 40m 6a’s
at the top of Australia. Amy led the airy Plastic Soldiers and Jack Clash of
the Titans before bringing up their
respective seconds. Further down, James got started on Looning and did the
traverse slowly but looking solid before setting off up the crack. After a
slight wobble at the crux he was through and topped out in front of Harry and
Ollie on the level above. Great effort, that traverse is necky. I seconded and
we headed further into the bowels of the quarry via a tunnel/scree slope
approach to get on the direct start. After waiting a while for some climbers
from Aberystwyth to finish the route, I got started and after a few hard pulls
on small and sharp edges I was through the crux- good route though. Having
realised it was getting dark we started to pack up and headed down the car
after a quick look at the Quarryman. Throughout the day a lot of different
people got leading, including first leads for Sam H, Ellie and probably more
(can’t remember sorry!). Hopefully people were seduced by the delights of
slate, which is always nice- my propaganda campaign continues!
Having got back to the hut, everyone started drinking and
eating before Frosty turned up and began to chalk up on the table traverse.
After this the evening passed entirely without incident.*
Sunday was meant to be amazing weather and it didn’t
disappoint. We packed up the hut rapidly to Frosty’s amazement and headed off
to Craig Pant Ifan, Upper Tier, Tremadog, persistently mispronounced
‘Tremor-dog’ by most people. After a quick stop to lower Emily’s chunder factor,
we parked up and set off the very steep walk up.
I take some responsibility for
missing the first turnoff but the steep bit would always have been there! After
much complaining we reached the crag where we found Frosty halfway up the crag:
and people got leading- Jack, James and I on VS’s, Ollie and Amy on Severe’s.
The rock was apparently dolerite but was like Velcro- the friction was amazing.
Everyone brought their seconds up and switched around routes, with Jack doing
another VS and me a contrived but fun HVS, which Sam and Katie seconded well.
At this point I realised I was hungry and went to get some food, which I had
somehow forgotten. However, people’s generosity was welcome and I successfully
scrounged enough to keep me going. Ellie also did her first trad lead, with
Ollie teaching top setup, before my psyche got out of hand and Frost and I
headed off to attempt the classic E3 of Silly Arete on the main cliff- thanks
are due to the rest of the committee who didn’t give in to their urges and allowed
me to do the best route ever!
The descent was downright dangerous and after a bit of cross
country scrambling Frost and I decided enough was enough and headed back down
to the road. Having found the right path eventually the route was very obvious
and looked incredible. Frost headed up the first pitch which was a bit dirty,
before parking himself in a big tree to belay me up the big stepped slab. I got
a big sling on under the overhang and pulled over on literally the smallest
holds ever, it is only just possible. Then the real bold climbing began- after
arranging some bombproof gear in a crack I traversed to the arête and got going
with extreme trepidation. No gear appeared and the runout lengthened to about
15-20 foot- a fall would not have been pretty. Eventually I crammed my little
blue cam into a pocket which was apparently shit but made me feel better,
before giving myself a talking to and running it out to the easy finish and my
first E3 tick. All this was captured on film by a Leeds uni student on another
route- the video is sure to be embarrassing as I tend to talk to myself quite a
lot and didn’t realise he was filming. I brought Frost up, before we agreed it
was the best route we’d ever done and walked back to the upper tier with big
grins on our faces- no words can describe how good the route was, the exposure
on the top arête blew my mind- the photo below (NOT of me- stolen from internet!) doesn't do it justice but its a start!
 |
| This is not me, but it gives an idea of the mental exposure... |
|
Apologies it took so long- but it was worth it!
In the interim Jack had attempted and failed the nails E1 6a finger crack,
which Frosty got one move into before bailing, and lots of leads had been done-
great effort to Sam, Katie and Ellie, probably among others- let me know if you
did a lead and I haven’t got you here, and let me know the names of what you did...! The sun went down as we packed up and
walked back to the bus- a North Wales meet with incredible weather for a change
was very welcome! I wouldn’t have any money on it lasting but you never know…cracking
weekend, hope everyone had a good time, I certainly did!
*This is obviously bullshit but details cannot be given out
for the sake of people’s mental health. Suffice to say dreadful stories were
heard.
