The Spectacular North-East Ridge of Y Garn

I sated some of my mountain lust during the third pandemic lockdown by studying the recently published guidebook Snowdonia: Mountain Walks and Scrambles, which I had been given for Christmas. I looked longingly at the many colour photos of Welsh mountains and the routes up them that it describes. The guidebook gave me a chance to remember fondly days I’d spent in those mountains, and to dream of walks that I had not yet done. One route caught my attention and imagination more than the others – the North-East Ridge of Y Garn. The guidebook gave it three stars (out of three) and described it as “One of the finest walking ridges in Snowdonia.” This route somehow had passed me by even though I had literally passed by this ridge many times. I wrote the name and page number of the entry for this route on a scrap of paper, along with the details of the other routes that interested me. I then put this note between the pages of the guidebook for use when a global pandemic wasn’t preventing me from getting to the mountains. Continue reading The Spectacular North-East Ridge of Y Garn

Beachside Bouldering on Anglesey

Delightful cottage with all mod cons, less than five minutes walk from the beach and a short walk from bouldering in a rocky cove.

OK, the advert for the holiday cottage I rented for my family holiday on Anglesey didn’t read like this. Perhaps the ad should have.   It was great being able to do a little bouldering on the beach and an added selling point for staying in that part of Anglesey. Continue reading “Beachside Bouldering on Anglesey”

Finding Somewhere New

I really enjoy exploring new climbing venues. They’re not new in the sense that they are untouched (I don’t climb that far off the beaten track). They’re just new to me and that makes them intriguing. That is part of why I enjoyed bouldering at the RAC Boulders in Snowdonia for the first time last weekend. It really felt like a discovery because I’d driven past the RAC Boulders fifty or more times before and never realised they were there. Continue reading “Finding Somewhere New”

Learning to lead

Well, after two years following Robin up crags and cliffs, we decided that 2012 would be the year I would learn to lead.  Aside from the fact that it’s frankly rather cool, I had several reasons I wanted to progress to leading.  Firstly, I wanted to start pulling my own weight in our climbing partnership, we both want to have a stab at longer multi-pitch routes where leading through is necessary, and lastly, you haven’t really experienced trad climbing until you’ve been reduced to a quivering wreck… Continue reading Learning to lead

Turning Around the Men in Pyjamas

There are times when there is no doubt that you should tell someone that they’re not properly equipped for a day in the mountains and should turn back.  One example of this happened earlier this month when a stag party attempted to climb Snowdon dressed in pyjamas and trainers, in a storm and by the scrambling route of Crib Goch. Unsurprisingly, this stag party got into trouble and had to be talked down by phone by mountain rescue. Continue reading Turning Around the Men in Pyjamas