Whilst on my last trip with Ben to Arran we discovered we had a mutual small number of annual leave allowance to use and mooted a autumn weekend somewhere. A few months later neither of has a better offer and booked off a Monday and Tuesday late September with a destination to be decided later.
The title is a bit of a spoiler, we went to Snowdonia due to an acceptable forecast and the incredible variety of climbing available. We stopped off at the historic Pen Y Grwd Hotel Late Friday despite the recent poor report I received from a venerable CMC member who last frequented the establishment a mere 40 years ago. Not the friendliest of welcome but beer and character in abundance.
During the preceding week I rather absentmindedly suggested the Lleyn Peninsula classic Fantan B to Ben in part due to confidence instilled by recent success on Mousetrap and one of my random climbing goal of getting a list one tick in every climbing area of Great Britain (‘area’ yet to be defined but going with definitive guidebooks for now).
I say absentmindedly as Ben is when of the few climbers I know who would instantly agree to such an absurd suggestion as choss is to Ben is as bones are to dogs, chips to sea gulls or neck tattoos to chavs. Fantan B also came with the added kudos of supreme choss enthusiast Chris Woodall having failed to find the route). The absurdity was further evidenced by few of the hugely experienced Climbers Club members frequenting the Ynns Ettws hut had even heard of the Lleyn Peninsula let alone climbed there. The weather was predicted to be claggy in the mountains Saturday so Plan A was Fantan B.
Sure enough the clag was down in the pass so off to the Lleyn we went. The clouds were still a bit grey allowing me to voice some dissent as the guidebook states ‘All in all a serious proposition, where a good weather forecast is essential. It might also pay to have a couple of grades in hand, just to be sure!’. Ben was naturally keen and the classic euphemism ‘let’s just take a look’ reared its head.
So we did, a pleasant ramble down an old quarry road leads unsurprisingly to a large quarry. At the back of which is an old rusty cable winding down a steep grassy bank to the sea. Option 1 is to hand over hand this down the slope but we opted for option abseil as seemed safer and less likely to trash your hands.
I went down first loaded with ironmongery including Ben’s old geological hammer and some pegs and tried to find the start of the route. This wasn’t obvious but could just spot the goal of a pinkish belay ledge amongst the guano. The first pitch traverses for 40m, the line wasn’t obvious but I seemed to find a logical way to the ledge with sparse gear along the way. The next pitch similarly traverses further rightwards but with some height gain including some nice exposure on an arête.
The third pitch is where the scale of our undertaking becomes obvious as you are finally on the cliff face proper. If a complex, guano encrusted and poorly protected face can be deemed proper. The 3rd pitch description mentions an obvious overhang and further rightwards traversing. Above the cliff is festooned with overhangs which is the obvious one is unclear to me. I quest vaguely up and rightwards the climbing straightforward but each metre gained is an extra metre committed.
With numerous ganders at the guidebook and with head slowly frazzingly I ponder the best path upwards. I aim for an obvious leftwards groove but am puzzled so far by the absence of a dangerously perched block mentioned in the route description. Has it gone?
No there it is further right. The wall to the right of the block the guidebook mentions I should climb looks harder and bolder than I fancy since I can’t spot the peg you aim for. Plus despite the limited gear I placed climbing further rightwards before back leftwards would be problematic due to the line I took and I didn’t want ropes running over the perched block. I scuttle back left and slowly climb the easyish groove to a belay of sorts where I could see the groove that surely comprises the next pitch. Whether through unconscious competence or conscious incompetence I had avoided the crux of my pitch and stayed on route!
After short pitch to a better belay Ben took on an alleged 4b pitch with more confusing description to not follow. The pitch is not supposed to climb the previously mentioned groove in its entirety but is a nice line and Ben naturally couldn’t resist. The groove contained by far the hardest climbing so far and the most pointless bit of insitu gear clipped so far. A grotty weathered sling that was merely wedged behind a chockstone rather than the more traditional wrapping around the chockstone. After the groove there is an exciting traverse cum down climb onto the most outrageous belay ledge imaginable. About the size of decent size coffee table it was massively undercut so consequently despite the mostly rambling nature of the terrain so far there was a straight drop to the sea of about 150m. A stupendous position with the crux pitch to come.
Having had a minor freak out on the third pitch I decided to let the choss hound keep going for expedience sake though the pull through the roof above the belay looked great fun and was. Ben soon scuttled up out of sight and eventually the ropes pulled tight and I followed another meandering pitch with 2 steep pulls through overhangs the second of which protected solely by some ageing bent pegs.
I found Ben relaxing on a massive ledge enjoying lobbing rocks into the sea and waiting for the splash. The next pitch had another alleged 4b move before disappointingly degenerating into a grassy slope. The climb seemingly over I brought Ben up and he went on up the grass slope and find himself on the wonderfully gendarme ridge atop of the quarry we abseiled from. I, in hindsight, rather foolishly expected to find ourselves back on the quarry floor whence we started rather than being on top of the quarry 100m above our sacks. This was a wonderful bonus. We went into alpine mode moving together across the narrow ridge, if one of us slipped into the quarry the other would have to jump toward the sea. A cracking finish to an exciting adventure during which we had only a lone barking seal for company.
My next thought was ticking the climb in my book then burning it so I could never return! Type 2 fun for me.
We slogged back up the hill me with the ab rope again as the wily Ben having played the dodgy knee card about 10 minutes into the journey Friday before I could play my Tough Mudder rib injury card. We headed back to Llanberis and had enough time to squeeze in a couple of sport routes on the slate. I loved the contrast of the routes we did. Fantan B is a rock climb so were the 2 sport routes but that was all that had in common. The skill set and experience required for a Fantan B is far removed from the demands of a pleasant sport route.
Sunday dawned claggy again and we again went to the sea side, this time Gogarth. Ben was trying to tempt me down to the lower tier for the classic of Scavenger but I was bit adventured out and sea cliff traversing is not within my comfort zone so we went for the upper tier. I had heard that Gogarth is best avoided early morning due to sweaty rock and it was early morning. I started on the Gauntlet and found the crux starting groove very sweaty. I found cursing and whining whilst placing lots of micro wires helped me scrape up the groove. There is a peg in the groove with what I assume was someone’s shoe lace bleached white by the sun hanging from it. It held the weight of my lightest quickdraw but I’m not convinced it would hold much else. I found a semi rest before a bulge where I spent age whining about the sweaty rock and depumping before continuing upwards the crux beneath me but interest maintained to the belay. My rack emptied into the rock from smallest wires to biggest cam, a cracking pitch. Ben’s pitch was much shorter but fun. There was an insitu abseil anchor which we took advantage of saving a long walk round. Unfortunately the rope stuck on something and took some effort to pull through, HVS 5b rope pulling.
Next up was The Ramp. First pitch fell to me again more excellent sustained climbing with a few spicy run outs. The 2nd pitch has a truly out there swing across a bottomless chimney before getting established in the groove above. It was very exciting on second, on lead without a runner above would be most memorable. A good effort by Ben.
Back to the gearing up area for some nourishment with daylight diminishing we have some indecision regarding our next route. Ben was tempted by the uber classic The Strand which someone cruised up whilst we climbed The Ramp but we plumped for the more amenable Holyhead Mountain which you pass on the walk back to the car park. King Bee Crack however, is anything but amenable. It looks fine from the ground but a goier HVS is hard to imagine (Nowanda, Gardoms is one though).
Finally a cloudless morning and we could take advantage of staying in the heart of Llanberis pass. The call was the Cromlech and with only 1 route on both our minds; the peerless classic of Cenotaph Corner. The slog up to the crag was easier than I remembered and we were first on the crag. I suggested we dump the sacks before scrambling up to the base of the corner, we didn’t, we should of. After a polite discussion as to who would go first Ben went on the basis he had been waiting to do the route longer. Too late I realised we forgot the peg hammer for Ben to drop on my head in homage to Joe Browns first attempt on the route. There was palpable nervous tension in the air, not due to danger but to the reputation and history of the route. Ben made steady progress and with a few huff and puffs at the crux Ben had the route in the bag it and was soon abbing down stripping the paltry 17 pieces of gear he placed. We had more problems pulling ropes down and then it was my turn to attempt the fabled Cenotaph Corner.
The reputation of the route weighed heavy and was achey from the previous 2 days but the sun was out and the line is perfect. The rock of the Cromlech is superbly featured and the 8m crux was soon despatched. I plugged in gear with wild abandon as I bridged/smeared and laybacked upwards to the upper crux. I don’t bother to clip the ancient peg from the niche below the crux, Decent micro wire and small cam encouraged some strenuous bridging upwards to more gear. I dilly dallied on the last moves trying to find some larger dimples to pull on but none were to be found I committed and scraped my way to the finishing jugs. Hurrah!
I extracted a less than paltry 26 pieces of gear abbing down possibly some kind of record. We got back down to the sacks and for once the ropes pulled freely. Next up was the lesser classic of Ivy Sepulchre. I had the truly awful first pitch as described in the CC guide. Other guides suggest traversing from the ledge below the corner which is considerably less vegetated and scrappy than the route I took.
Ben had the main pitch and we weren’t bothering with the hassle of stripping on ab. We both enjoyed another superb sustained corner pitch. More rope retrieval hassles were endured followed by more next route indecision. Fortunately rain intervened so back to the hut for some tea and triple chocolate cake inexplicably left in the fridge.
Tuesday morning the body was weary and the weather was dreary. Not fancying a drive to coast or Tremadog we went back to slate via the multi tiered fun of Australia. Ben had done little other than the nutty scramble Snakes and ladders on the slate I had done bit more so I pointed Ben at the classic slate mixed ethic of Looning the Tube I lead last year. Gear consists of 2 bolts, a rusty chain to sling and a cam placement.
It was quite entertaining watching Ben have severe words with himself traversing across to the chain, he’s completely home at running it above rusty peg on guano encrusted choss but a few feet from a bolt on the rather unique medium of slate not a happy bunny. This may sound cruel but Ben was planning to jump on the considerably harder and bolder and classicer Comes the Dervish so experience will have done some good.
We moved to pure sport routes after. Highlight for me the tricky groove of Gaddafi Duck (6b). Ben did a fine lead of the tricky and excellently monikered Orangatang Overhang (6a+). When I huffed and puffed up a 5 I took this as a sign we should retreat to the delights of Llanberis. New harness and N Wales Limestone purchased before cheesy chip butty at Petes Eats.
A dam fine and tiring long weekend. On the drive back Ben was flicking through the Limestone guidebook and found a sea cliff HVS traverse he suggested we solo since we drive through limestone country on the way back. I laughed on the outside and cried on the inside. I’m pretty sure he was serious, my only thought was of getting home and lying down. Ben is seemingly inexhaustible and possibly worth sectioning; excellent attributes for a climbing partner to have.
