Monday, September 27, 2010

Adventures in North Wales

After a long weekend in Cornwall it was time to visit the mountain crags of North Wales with Adam.  The weather forecast wasn't great but we decided to take our chances. Thus, on wednesday morning we drove to the ever so famous Dinas Cromlech in Llamberis pass to start our Welsh adventures by climbing the old classic called Cemetary Gates (E1). Despite of the dark skies and the odd raindrops I managed to onsight Cemetary Gates, however, the afternoon heavy terrential rain prevented any other climbing activities and we were forced to head for the Pete's Eats for coffee and cakes, yammy! On thursday the  weather was even worse - more heavy rains in the Llamberis pass! Again, we took our chances and decided to travel to Tremadog, which is often dry when its raining in the pass.  Luckily we found few hours of sun shine and Adam quickly tiptoed up the dry'ish rock on the 'One Step in the Clouds' (VS). On Friday it was still raining in the pass (we must be the most unluckiest people) in the morning so we decided to escape the dampness and rain to the west coast  of Gogart, and to see if the famous amphiteatre traverse 'The  Dream of the White Horses' was climbable but, unfortunately, we were faced with very heavy winds and thus decided to cut our losses and spend the day climbing in the Holyhead Mountain. We found several good lines such as Black and Tans (VS), King Bee Crack (HVS), Bruvers (HVS), Breaking the Barrier (E1) and Bran flake (E2) to mention few.  Not a bad day at all! On Saturday, due to the car parking problems in the Llamberis pass (be early folks if you fancy a space for your car!!!) we ended up returning to Gogarth's beautiful autumn sunshine and Adam lead the Strand (E2), a true Welsh classic and possibly the best E2 in Wales. Well done Adam, it was a very steady and beautiful lead that we will both remember for a long time. On our last day in North Wales we adventured up the famous classic 'The Grooves' (E1). It was a special climb for both of us, 120 meters of slimy, wet rock, amazing positions and scary moves. With great team work and efforts by both of us we topped the Cyrn Las in a lovely September afternoon. What a great week with my best friends and an amazing way to end my stay in the beautiful Great Britan!

Holyhead mountain
Adam on Strand E2
Cyrn Las with the Grooves on the right
Adam on the first pitch of the the Grooves
Dinas Cromlech
Grib Goch
Cyrn Las

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