Recap of a great week of winter climbing in Eryri.
January was a pretty reasonable month for winter climbing in North Wales. We had a couple of weeks of cold in the hills so a fair few climbs came into condition.
I managed to climb for 7 days in a row which is a rarity these days in Eryri!
Here are a few highlights from the week….
Will on the first ice pitch of Cleft Gully V6.
Meeting in the carpark in Ogwen on this morning, the weather wasn't very inspiring. Raining and not very cold, we were unsure whether to bother walking in to try and climb something.
We decided it would be good training carrying a heavy bag if nothing else so set off up into the mountains.
We got to the freezing level at about 700m, and things started to feel a bit more promising.
With thick clag it was impossible to see what routes might be climbable, so we were pleasantly surprised when we got to the bottom of Cleft Gully and it looked like it would go!
After we climbed this route it saw a ton of ascents! I climbed it again at the end of the week and it had been hacked to bits.
Matt starting up Golden Girl Ali.
The following day I teamed up with Matt Toal and we headed back up to Cwm Cneifion to see what we could find. Matt had never done Golden Girl Ali so we headed for that. It’s a brilliant mixed route on the side of tower rib and doesn’t rely on any turf or ice. I’ve done this route a fair few times now but it’s always great fun.
Matt after topping out of Golden Girl Ali.
The next day I had no climbing partner so went for a great solo day out on the Glyderau. I climbed Idwal stream, some random mixed stuff on Glyder Fawr main cliff and the some good ice on Tower slabs. soloing stuff is fantastic. Being able to move quickly and efficiently means you can cover a lot of ground (and stay warm!).
The rest of the week I climbed with Elin Lois, Will Hardy and Allan Evans.
