I offered to take some people from work on a climbing expedition so they could experience what climbing is all about, and why I go all misty eyed every time I talk about it. We had planned to do some single pitch cragging in the Peak District, but the weather was looking hit and miss and the forecast was better for the west of the country. I opted for Wales to give my colleagues the opportunity to try a nice big mountaineering route in some (hopefully) reasonable weather. As it transpired, only one person managed to come along, so it turned out to be just Reg, My bro and me.

The approach

As we approached the Ogwen Valley in the car, it was quite a surprise to see that pretty much all the peaks were covered in snow. I started to question my wisdom of attempting a big route as we would almost certainly have to top out onto snow, which none of us had come prepared for. Once parked, we debated for a few minutes and decided to approach the climb and see how it looked.

Walking toward the ridge

As with all the best mountaineering routes, there’s a bit of a walk-in. Parking is at the Idwal Cottage in the Ogwen Valley, it costs just £4 for the full day – bargain! The approach starts on the cobbled path leading up behind Idwal Cottage. We followed the path until we reached Llyn Idwal, turning left and working our way along a stony path with the Llyn on our right. We passed through a gate and then headed up the hill to our left. Once we reached the top of the hill, we could see the Arête off to the right in the distance (see picture). As you can see from the picture we had to stomp through a fair bit of snow, which made some of the steeper traverses a bit sketchy.

The climb

Me near the top of pitch 1

Once we reached the foot of the Arête, it was obvious where to start, from the highly polished rock. I arrived first and took a couple of pictures of David and Reg as they scrambled up behind.

After all that walking, we eager to get stuck in. Well at least David and I were, Reg looked more than a little apprehensive. I had selected the route as a moderate grade to give him taste of a proper mountain day out, without the climbing being technically difficult. However, standing at the foot of the route made me feel a little uneasy for him, what if he just found the whole thing terrifying and couldn’t proceed? I considered this for a moment and decided that we could always abseil off from the top of pitch 2 if it wasn’t working out.

I climbed first. As I made my way up pitch 1, I placed a couple of pieces of gear to show Reg how it works. The guidebook, Scrambles and Easy Climbs in Snowdonia suggests this pitch is 26 metres. We had decided that Reg should follow next so that I could coach from above and David from the ground. Reg huffed and puffed his way up to a nice big ledge, just below my belay point. He still looked pretty white, but relieved to have the first pitch under his belt.

Reg about halfway up

Once David joined us at the first ledge, it was decided that I would continue to lead. I started climbing the sloping chimney above us. After a few easy moves I decided not to bother placing any more gear, I felt very confident and decided that adding gear would slow us down and cause a lot of rope drag (though I was very careful not to leave David and Reg exposed). I kept the pitches reasonably short, mostly setting up belays from the many spikes available.

We took a full rack with us, which was completely unnecessary. If you plan to do this climb just take nuts 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10, a few slings and some carabiners. Route finding was never a problem, I just stuck to the top of the ridge wherever possible.

The climb is really easy but keeps you involved. My favourite part was the exposed ridge. I tried to strike a balance between concentrating on the moves while not losing sense of the occasion. After all what’s the point of all that exposure if you’re so focused that you don’t notice it?

When we reached the top we were met with a good 6 inches of snow and truly magnificent views. Reg looked genuinely happy and I got a buzz from his obvious sense of achievement.

The descent was tricky, steep stony paths covered in snow. In some places, sliding down on your bum was the only option. We arrived back at the car a bit weary but completely satisfied.

Conclusion

The Cneifion expedition was a brilliant mountain day. I think there’s something for both experienced climbers / scramblers and beginners. I can wholeheartedly recommend it.

If you fancy it, I would recommend purchasing Scrambles and Easy Climbs in Snowdonia as a guide.

Snowdonia Climbing – Cneifion Arete 130m Mod, Ogwen, North Wales is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

1. Snowdonia climbing – Amphitheatre Buttress 294m VD, Ogwen, North Wales
2. Snowdonia climbing – Flying Buttress 87m VD, Dinas y Gromlech area, North Wales
3. Snowdonia Climbing – Milestone Buttress, Ogwen – Nasty rock climbing fall

All started well on this trip to Wales. David had booked us in for kite surfing lessons in Kinmel Bay (more hobbies – seriously my wallet can’t take it). We didn’t have to start on the Saturday until 1:30 so it made sense to fit a climb in, early doors. We booked 2 nights at the excellent Idwal Cottage YHA and drove over Friday evening with a view to climbing around 8am Saturday morning.

Now I would ordinarily have liked to have gone for a really big multi-pitch route, and Tryfan was tantalisingly close. Unfortunately there was no way we would have been able to walk-in, climb and then walk-out in the time we had, so we opted for Milestone Buttress (just 15 minutes walk-in from the side of the A5 at the wide end of Llyn Ogwen).

David and I have been confidently leading to HS level outdoors this summer (and about 5b/E2 indoors – crazy huh), but for the bigger routes over 50m, we have pretty much stuck around VDiff (well it’s only our 1st year outdoor climbing). I told David that I fancied going for a big HS, so we decided we would tackle Wall climb, Soap Gut Chimney Route 79m HS (North Wales Rock, by Ground Up). We arrived at the foot of the climb and geared up. As usual I would be first to lead.

When I stepped up to make my first moves, three things became evident:

1. The beginning of the route had a LOT of polish on the footholds
2. The rock was a bit damp
3. The first gear placement was rubbish

Anyway, I gingerly stepped up and tried to place a small nut in a shallow crack to protect me over the next couple of moves. The nut sat awkwardly, only half in the crack. I wasn’t happy with it, but it looked like it was the best I could hope for (please tell me if you have climbed this and found better). The next move required me to place my left foot onto a sloping hold a few feet to the left, and pull up on a crimp. I didn’t feel too uncomfortable with that so off I went. As I pushed from my right foot (which rested on a tiny, polished foothold) it all went belly up. I slipped and fell, landing painfully on my chest on the boulder that I had stood on to start the climb. The nut I had placed had popped straight out and left David holding a slack handful of rope – I knew that nut was crap when I placed it!

It took me a good 2 minutes to get back to my feet after that fall. David was pretty concerned until it was clear that we were not going to require a ride in the Sea King helicopter, he then found it pretty amusing.

A nasty bruise to complement the cracked (or bruised) ribs

I spent the next 5 minutes trying to analayse what went wrong and find an alternative start. There was an alternative just a couple of metres to the left but while it looked better for holds it required a good deal more commitment and would have resulted in a far worse fall had I not made it to the first point of protection a good few metres up. Eventually David and I agreed that we should move round to the right and climb a VDiff. I hate to be beaten, but I was in pretty considerable pain which kept my ego in check.

So what have I learned?

I’m not sure I have learned anything. I would probably make the same mistake again given half the chance. The first few moves of any outdoor climb are the riskiest, especially when you can’t place a good piece of protection. Perhaps the moral of the story is that; if your first piece of protection is poor and the move to get past it requires a commitment near the limit of your ability, walk away and try a different climb (or get someone else to lead that pitch).

It’s now 4 days since that fall.  I did go on to climb a nice big VDiff straight after and another fantastic multi-pitch climb the following day (both of which I took my usual turns to lead). I’m sore as hell and I’m not sure if my ribs are cracked or just bruised, but my enthusiasm for rock climbing remains.

I would be interested to hear your experiences of falling off, whether you managed to escape uninjured and how you dealt with it psychologically.

Snowdonia Climbing – Milestone Buttress, Ogwen – Nasty rock climbing fall is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

1. Snowdonia climbing – Amphitheatre Buttress 294m VD, Ogwen, North Wales
2. Snowdonia climbing – Flying Buttress 87m VD, Dinas y Gromlech area, North Wales
3. Snowdonia climbing – Llanberis Pass, Crag Ddu – Rib and Slab 79m, Vdiff

• It has over 670 routes; everything from trad routes and sport climbs to sea cliffs.
• It comes in a handy pocket size, but is packed full of detail.
• There’s maps showing the position of the crags and clear, full colour photographs illustrating the climbing routes.
• Each crag features a nice introduction and a quick-view of the grades available.
• Each crag has a description of its aspect, altitude and rock type.
• There’s a grid ref for every crag.
• Each climb features a grade, length and description of each pitch.

Overall this climbing book has real quality feel to it. The routes look fantastic (especially those big multi-pitch routes), and the climbing pictures are really inspirational.

At a touch under £25 it isn’t the cheapest book, but I still feel it represents good value for money, and it’s probably the only North Wales climbing book you’ll ever need. To save you the bother of looking for it, there’s a copy right here: North Wales Rock

I simply cannot wait to get over to North Wales and climb some of the routes featured in this book. If you get a copy, let me know what routes you climb, I would love to hear about them.

Climbing book review: North Wales Rock (Ground Up) is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

1. Climbing book review: Peak District Climbing (Vertebrate Publishing)
2. Snowdonia climbing – Flying Buttress 87m VD, Dinas y Gromlech area, North Wales
3. Climbing book review: Eastern Grit (ROCKFAX)