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Martin and Paul finally managed to find a few days where the forecast in Wales and elsewhere was *dry* and headed up to Snowdonia, 250 miles away on a Sunday afternoon. Arriving in the early evening, we found a simple camp site near Capel Curig, right in the shadow of the perfectly shaped mountain, "Tryfan" and pitched our tent for the night.
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The weather started out dry but with lots of low cloud. Our two selected climbing venues were Idwal Slabs, only a mile away but nestling in the mountains amongst all that cloud, and Tremadog, 20 miles away. Since part of the Idwal Slabs experience is undoubtedly about climbing in a mountain setting, with glorious views all around, we decided to leave Idwal Slabs until the next day, when the forecast was the best for the whole week, and headed instead to Tremadog.
Martin had had his very first taste of rock climbing at Tremadog....nearly 27 years ago on a college trip to Wales. On that trip, the experienced climbers he was with, decided that climbing the multi-pitch, 250 foot route "Christmas Curry" (Severe) would be the perfect introduction to the sport for Martin...... even though Martin had no experience whatsoever of climbing and was wearing big hill walking boots rather than the specialised rock climbing shoes everyone else had. They were clearly either mad, evil or both! After struggling to the top of the second pitch, with much swearing as the walking boots failed to find purchase on anything, arms straining to the max and fear induced adrenalin flooding his body, Martin's climbing partner quite rightly decided we'd gone far enough and we abseiled back to the ground, less than half-way up the route. So that's where it all started :-)
Now, 26 years on, Martin revisited Christmas Curry with Paul, intending to lead much of this personally significant route, which is also regarded as a "classic" in British rock climbing history too.
Paul and Martin struggled to find the route at first, shrouded by the trees at the foot of the crag, but eventually the guide book description and Martin's recollection of the start coincided and we had found our route. Martin led the first, somewhat unexciting and short pitch up a slab and then chimney to a tree belay. Paul followed with no problem. Paul then led pitch 2, taking us up a further 70 feet or so to a ledge with a handy tree. From there, Martin led the final and very interesting two pitches. Way above the tree line now, we were in the sun and it was hot! Some of the climbing was actually quite challenging... the start of pitch 3 in particular, and one part of pitch 4, with one or two tricky gear placements to contend with. Eventually, both Martin and Paul were at the top, having had a great climb though. Overall, it was one of the most enjoyable routes Martin had led ever, a great start to the trip.
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Tremadog's climbing is one fairly long crag. |
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Martin looking happy at the thought of actually getting some climbing done after such a disappointing year! |
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Martin at the top of pitch 1 with Paul ready to start. |
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View from the top of pitch 3? Martin's car can be seen parked next to the famous Eric's cafe! |
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Martin at the top of the second pitch getting ready to lead pitches 3 and 4 |
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Paul arriving at the top after the exciting pitch 4 with its tricky traverse and steep section. Martin had added "lassooing" to his gear placement skills on this pitch, managing to loop a sling safely over a handy rock spike after a couple of abortive attempts :-) |
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Martin at the top |
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View towards Eric's Cafe again. |
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Back at the campsite, we moved the tent away from the smelly septic tank(!) and by a more secluded rock where we could also have a camp fire. |
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Day 2. After a cold, clear night, we woke to an equally cold but beautifully clear and dry day and headed down the road to climb at Idwal Slabs. The slabs themselves are in Glyderau Mountains and to get to them you need to hike for a mile or so along a well maintained path with all of your gear. We'd intended to climb Tennis Shoe that day but got talking to a couple of veteran climbers on the walk in, who also planned to climb that route. They recommended Hope as the bext route on the whole slab, so we decided we'd do Tennis Shoe tomorrow. Hope is only a "V Diff" route... pretty easy technically, but it's 450 feet, with lots of varied climbing features and in such a fantastic setting, it's another real classic. Martin led the first pitch to a big, comfy ledge. Paul led pitch 2. Martin then ran together the next couple of pitches to take us near to the top. Paul led the final pitch up to the terrace. Absolutely brilliant!
But getting to the top of the route was not the end of the day's adventure. We still had to get down! To get down from any of the routes on the slabs, you basically have to ..... ascend another 300 feet first and then work your way down a steep gully and onto a scree. The ascent bore much resemblance to mountaineering... steep and in places moderately dangerous, but not steep enough to warrant rock climbing techniques. Paul introduced Martin to "short-roping" and we moved together, both tied into a rope and improvising belays where it felt necessary to alleviate risk. It has to be said that parts of the descent were far scarier than any of the climbing done that whole three days!
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The beautiful Glyderau Mountains on the walk in to Idwal Slabs. |
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Paul, with our first sighting of Idwal Slabs on the other side of the lake. |
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Did I mention how beautiful this place is? |
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As you can see, the slabs are not steep. There are other climbing challenges here though and much satisfaction to be had. |
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The area of the slabs we were about to climb.... |
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Route marked in white, with the red dots marking the approximate location of the stances. There's a big optical illusion here though... pitch 3 was really long (150 feet?) and looks shorter than the others here. Pitch 1 was about 100 feet. |
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Martin's feet dangling down from the ledge at the top of Hope's first pitch. |
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... and Paul on the way up. |
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Martin about to head up pitch 2 to join Paul. |
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Despite the super-serious and pain-filled expression, Martin *is* enjoying this! |
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Wow |
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...and again |
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One of the climbers we met on the walk in, David. He's on Tennis Shoe (Hard Severe) and it might not look like much, but he's in an exposed position with a steep drop to his left and on a pretty blank piece of rock with not much protection. |
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Martin and Paul, happy, safe and at the foot of the climb immediately after the precarious descent. |
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Martin stuffing his face :-) | |
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Back at the campsite we celebrated a great day with fish and chips (and mushy peas for Martin!) and copious amounts of red wine... essential preparation for another day's climbing at Idwal Slabs :-) We had a great campfire too that kept the cold evening at bay. |
We saved our hardest route for the last day of our trip. This was the day we climbed Tennis Shoe (Hard Severe), another reknowned classic. We'd been warned that it was quite tough in the grade, especially the first and last pitches, where the popularity of the route has led to parts of the rock being polished and lacking in essential friction. Martin led the first pitch.... and found it highly enjoyable but mentally quite challenging, especially the first half where footwork was hard and the rock exhibited the most polish. Paul led the next pitch up a groove to a ledge. Martin then led 2 (or possibly 3) pitches all run together into a single, very long and quite awesome pitch of at least 150 feet. The climbing was technically easy but with the view of the valley behind, the drop down the east wall to one side and the regions where there was little protection to be had, leading to run-outs of 30 feet or so at times, it was *fantastic*. The friction was great so the run-outs were not a problem, making you feel incredibly brave knowing you had a possible 60 foot fall if it went pear-shaped... but equally knowing that you were pretty safe thanks to the great quality of the rock. The pitch culminated at a broad ledge. Martin set up 4 bomber anchors, knowing that Paul was about to lead the hardest pitch, traversing left initially and then heading up a steep and somewhat polished section of the final tower of rock and onto a less steep but fairly blank and poorly protected final stretch up to the ledge by a boulder. Paul did a great job and Martin followed him up to the top. All that was left then was the hideous descent path (after the 300 foot scramble upwards) and the hike back out to where the car was. And that was it! Martin drove back to Surrey, arriving aout 10pm. Great trip!
Oh and btw.... at the top of Hope the day before, another climber told us to check out this "amusing" video of some *thing* on Tennis Shoe that his friend had filmed. Highly recommended! Falling on Tennis Shoe! Baaaaaaaaaaa!!!
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Paul sorting out the ropes at the foot of Tennis Show |
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The route. Distances distorted somewhat.... |
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Taken by Martin at the top of the first pitch |
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Martin still "serious" after the first pitch and feeling the cold! Whilst belaying Paul, Martin's cold feet were clad with socks! |
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A search and rescue helicopter, presumably training. Nothing compared to the totally awesome RAF jets we saw screaming down the valley at 400 mph and at probably only 100-200 feet above the ground! |
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The easy but very long 3rd/4th/5th pitch, taken partway into it by Martin as he led this part of the route. Note the massive run-out... you can just make out the last piece of protection if you look very carefully. |
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Nice pic taken by Paul from the top of the second pitch. | ||
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The final, exposed and tricky pitch of Tennis Shoe. |
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Paul at the top of the final pitch by the boulder. | ||||
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On the latter, easier part of the descent path. |
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A last look back at the route as we left Idwal Slabs. |
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And a last photograph of this beautiful place too. |