Llanberis Climbing Weekend Account

Being on top is Bliss

 On the weekend of the 18th to the 20th of November Club X went as guests of David Wynne-Jones (El Gringo's father) to the depth of snowdonia to stay in a mountain hut in Llanberis enjoying that greatest of all feelings, being on top.

The Hut came with all the amenities one would want or indeed expect from such an establishment: the ceilings were designed for people of five foot high or lower; the water needed to be boiled to ensure it was safe to drink; the building even had a special ability to sap every last ounce of warmth from your body as you tried to sleep. In spite of everything though, the hut was still preferable to spending a single night outside.

Our chosen weekend cunningly coincided with what is recorded as being the coldest three day period of the winter yet. The decision was made howecver not to let any of this tamper with our spirits or get us down as we greedily tucked into our steak's and mixed grills, well deserved after the near three hour drive on that Friday evening.

Saturday morning brought with it new found enthusiasm as we headed to Llanberis Pass in the hope that a south facing cliff face would capture more of the suns rays and not freeze over. Solace was taken in the fact that we were at least partially right. The crag was indeed facing the sun, but an offending ridge just in front prevented any of the warming rays from reaching any of us, or where we climbed.

At the base of the crag we all went our separate ways; making our own way up the rock face. Rhys and Rick, undoubtedly the best climbers in the group, headed off to some remote corner where the hardest routes were to be found and settled on a VS (Very Severe).

James and I chose an easier route as with little experience and even less skill between us; something in the range of “Very Difficult” sounded more appropriate. Finding a climb known as “wrinkle” with a two star out of three enjoyment rating, making it a classic, we were sold.

The remaining four members of our party were hidden from view but set off on their own paths up the rock face after a short training session at the bottom going over some safety techniques and trying out a few rather short but stylish climbs.

The ‘Dafydd Arms’ in Llanberis provided a convenient place to regroup and tell our stories of the days adventuring. Rhys and Rick’s story was based more around their descent; which proved to be as treacherous and almost as steep as the actual climb. James’ and mine was based more about these women from Cardiff University Climbing Club that we had bumped into whilst sitting on a ledge enjoying the genius of a whisky filled hip flask; and then how they’d gone on to invite us back to their hut for the evening.

Dan and Andy’s story gave us the knowledge that they’d ignored the guidebook altogether and decided to just find their own way up, making their route as they went along. This meant that they earned the right to name the route, auto-phobia, as well as being happy in the knowledge it may also be appearing in the guidebooks revised edition.

That evening, enjoying the relief that having both your feet on solid ground brings, coupled with the inebriation brought by excessive wine drinking meant everything soon devolved into drunken game playing and the inevitable trials of trying to outdo one another at every mindless task imaginable.

Waking rather wearily on Sunday morning, but appreciating the added warmth that spotting some previously hidden blankets can bring, we set about preparing for another day amongst the mountains.

The plan was to head into the Glyders, a mountain ridge of much renown and summit Gylder Fach (the smaller summit) by means of the Tryfan valley and a short sharp scramble up the exposed ridge on the eastern side where hopefully we would be partially sheltered from the strong onshore winds.

Our plan had several flaws; firstly the temperature had dropped again overnight and it would be around minus five (Celsius) at the summit. Meaning most of the way up would be iced over. Secondly, there was an offshore wind, so although we were out of the way of most of it we weren’t quite as sheltered as we would have liked and finally our bodies were pretty knackered from the day before and hadn’t really had the opportunity to recover.

The initial walk across the boulder filled grasslands took a heavy toll as we had to slow our pace incredibly to insure safe crossings of the treacherous icy rock. Time was soon made though as we hit the Tryfan Valley at full force, gaining 200m in height and covering 4km in little over an hour.

Stopping briefly for a drink as dehydration is a constant concern when mountaineering we examined the path which lay ahead. We still had a good 100m to gain in height and although the summit was currently out of view we knew it to only be a km or so further along the ridge. Our name ‘Club X’ was not chosen lightly and we were all well aware of the inevitable implications that it would bring. Bearing this in mind we chose the more exposed and harder scramble to the right over the well protected and easier route to the left.

Scrambling is a halfway house between climbing and walking and in many ways can be considered to be one of the truest forms of mountaineering. It requires the use of both hands and feet and many of the more climbing orientated sections can reach VD and HVD standard though no ropes are employed.

Halfway through our very own scramble, as we came out of a nice well sheltered chimney onto a traverse along the mountain side, it was hard not to notice the 400m drop straight down. With only a foot wide ledge to stand up on and fingertip holds to grip to for grim death to, James felt the need to share his sentiments on our current situation “this isn’t just extreme, this is bloody stupid”.

The scramble proved to be arduous, life threatening and seemingly fraught with more risks than an alpinist ice climbing a melting waterfall. Despite all of this we achieved our goal and just after midday we reached the summit of the Glyder Fach and set about making ourselves a rather large spot of lunch.

The return journey was planned to go down the Grybin, a nice gentle descent along an outcrop of heavily weathered rock setting us up in the right direction to walk back to the car.

The walk back revealed to us the true extent of the cold and how quickly it can take effect as the lake we had passed on the way up was now found with a good 3” frozen cover. Realising the potential this afforded we attempted a crossing, after testing the ice for its strength, namely by throwing rocks at it. Sadly none of the ice stood up to the pounding, and fearing we may have destroyed something beautiful, at least until it re-froze, we fled the scene.

With the dark quickly encroaching along with a nasty looking cold front we began to rush the descent, bounding over boulders and running through the fields. This came to an abrupt holt as the knowledge of our stupidity hit us, or rather hit James, as he slid and smacked into the floor.

As he picked himself up and tried to pose as if it had all been intentional we knew that he was fine, but the realisation of how badly it could have been hung over us all. Looking around we realised we were descending in to the wrong valley and would end up several miles from the car. Retracing our steps was long and lingering, we all chose simply to get our heads down, not complain and simply get on with it, it was only another hour to go.

Later, travelling home in the car we looked back on what the weekend had taught us, how quickly things could go wrong, how even though we were all proficient map readers we still made mistakes, and finally, how great the long standing tradition of the hip flask truly is.

Cheers.

El Capitan

Where did Dan and Andy go?

 After reading El Cap's account of our Wales trip the question on all your minds is where did Andy and Dan go on the saturday and what happened to them on the sunday? I know thats the question on my mind (well not really cause I know the answer, don't I...)
Oo i'll tell ya. The tale begins with when we all got to Llanberis Pass we had a job to find some damn parking because half of wales must have decided to decend onto the pass. Anywho we (me, Andy-club x aspirant, Tim my friend and Henry tim's friend) met up with the rest of the lads (Ben, Rhys, James and Rik) we then preceded to eat the 'amazing' ham butties that Rhys put together and decide which crag to climb. Tim and I chose to do something simple as Andy and Henry had not climbed outdoors that much. So we left the others to it and scambled up to Dinas Cromlech. Dinas Cromlech is home of the Cenotaph corner, one of the most famous climbs in the area, first accended by Mr Joe Brown back in the old days!
After a nice little scamble to the crag we got out my recently purchased guidebook and chose Parchment passage as a nice starter. Its a 2 pitch VDiff. I led the first pitch which involved a slightly exposed arete, moving to the belay point which was a bit hairy and exposed itself but I wasn't worried! Tim 2nd'd and led the rest. On his accent there was a pair of older dudes doing a route next to us called scarab (HVS) and I asked to take the blokes picture, which he was more than happy to let me do. What a splendid chap! We set up a top rope for Andy n Henry. After that Tim and I were still itchin to get more done so we headed up round the back of the crag to hopefully reach the top ledge to get a few single pitch leads done. But we soon found out you have to climb the 3 plus pitch routes through the cenotaph to get to the ledge and it was far to late in the day to start on them. So we were unsure what to do, when i spotted a small wall around the back of the crag which looked like it hadn't had much attention. Intrigued i approched the wall and thought "hell yeah" and so I precceded to lead my way up the wall it was only about 15-20 ft, a nice single pitch. But some of the moves were a bit hairy. The gear was a bit sparce as well I only managed to get two bits in. As ben sed i called it autophobia and Tim and I both reckon it was a round a severe/H. severe. I am very proud of it and hopefully you'll see it in a climbing guide very soon! HAHA.

We stayed up on top of Dinas Cromlech to watch the sun go down. It was bloody awsome. Check the pics to see for yourself. After the sun had decended we made our way down around the back of the crag. It was pretty damn dark and it took us a wee while to get back to out little camp at the crag base where Henry was waiting for us. On our way back to the car Tim noticed two lights on the face of Dinas. Two silly buggers were still on the crag in the dark! They were absailing off by the direction of the lights, or they were falling down very very slowly. So we headed back to the pub in Llanberis to hook up with the guys and exchange tales of heroism and galantry. I decided to abandon the hut tonight and take up Tims offer of sleeping at his in Bangor. which would be far warmer and they had an Xbox which I happen to have a big soft spot for. So me n Andy left the others in the hut and headed into Bangor for the nite. We got drunk and had a jolly good time.

The next mornin I had slept in far too late. Damn! Ben and the rest of them were having an early day walkin, which we had missed. I decided to go for another climb with Tim and Andy as the weather was holding.
We went to Holyhead Mountain on Holyhead suprisingly! The rock there is great. Its quartzite, it's a bit like limestone with strips of quartz in it which makes it extra grippy! We started out with a route called Teenage Kicks (S) which Tim led I 2nd n Andy followed. Our cliimbing was happily interupted by a crazy pilot in a stunt plane atempting to commit suicide several times, which was fun. We then

climbed a three star route called candlesticks (VS) which I led. It was a damn good climb. With plenty of gear placement, which I am very thankfull for as some of the moves neared to E1. We decided to head back to Bangor to get lashed again. So we did. I then caught the train from Bangor on monday, missing my games concepts lecture (it was worth it!). 
Cheers guys and we are goin to the lakes next. I'll show you the beauty of borrowdale volcanic!

Stay dry everbody!
El Blingo