Well if the weather near you was anything like it was in North Wales today, then the only excuse not to be outside was injury, illness or death. Even I couldn’t fake one of those and despite an 8.30am start I still forced myself out of bed before lunchtime. I don’t know whether it was the company, destination or weather that kept up my enthusiasm for escaping the confines of Llanberis or a mixture of all three, either way the morning found me travelling down to Craig Doris on the Lleyn Peninsular, .
For anyone one who has heard tales of loose rock at Gogarth, then it is generally accepted that the Lleyn makes Gogarth look solid, and parts of Craig Doris make the rest of the Lleyn look like a kids play park. The real question is why would anyone climb there if its that loose. Well to a certain extent it is the ultimate climbing adventure within 10 minutes of you car. Quite often it is a total juxtaposition at the bottom of the cliff, where radiant sunshine and picture perfect sets of waves crashing into boulder beach make for a utopia. Half way up the cliff it is a different story, as the situations you can get yourself into are totally wild, as long and committing pitches mean that as well as a full adventure rack you need to have packed your cahooners.
Some people can’t get enough of the place, although it had taken me over two years of absence to return to the crag. The sheer power of the climbing experiences it offers, often stay with you for a long time and I for one get the feeling that if I play here too often then the odds get shorter and shorter. Its like playing Russian roulette over and over again, every time there is a 1 in 6 chance of carnage, but the fact that you keep rolling the dice means that eventually the gun is going to go bang in your face.
Despite this the climbing is great, if an acquired taste. However like rotting cabbage brie, if you have the taste for it there’s nothing finer. Unfortunately I am still injured (see the top excuses), so was just photographing Sam and Matt today, who eventually got stuck into a dare I say it a classic of the crag Absent Friends. Coincidentally the first ascentionist phoned me just after I got back in, and filled me in with the history of this route. The absentee in question when the route was first climbed was Ed Stone. Who whilst I never knew him, was a strong and much like figure of the Llanberis climbing scene during the rock and dole years of the late eighties onwards. The routes position and quality seemed a fitting tribute to the man.
Sam and Matt had a hard time on the route, but given its been impossible to get out climbing due to the weather, I think they did alright on the aging fixed gear. After Matt got to the first peg and backed off with ‘illness’, Sam then stepped up to the plate and pulled it out the bag by getting higher before his guns gave out. Managing to free the rest of the route between resting and occasionally falling as holds exploded. It made me think about the dirty issue of style of ascent. Now the style police would have said that their ascent was simply not one or given it french free, dogged, yo-yo etc.., as there were rest, falls, and as many ‘tactics’ as we could find (I include myself as part of the ascent, even if it was only as a supporting role) .
Many years ago I visited the Czech republic, and was introduced to a different ethic, whereby an entire team head out, and by hook or by crook an ascent is made. This can include standing on shoulders of other (combined Tactics), resting, aiding, even free climbing is allowed. The main aim of the day appeared to be to laugh at everyone else antics as well as your own. At the end of the day you hoped to have got up a route, but if you hadn’t, as long as you’d been having the most fun was all that was important.
Whilst I sympathise and understand the need for a style of ascent police at the top end of our sport. After all how else are you going to know whether climber A is better than Climber B? For every other Tom, Dick or Harriette at the crag surely they are less concerned with the art of ascent and more interested with whom they are climbing with and enjoyment they have. I remember reading somewhere, maybe even on an Internet forum, “I climb for fun, it is a hobby after all”. Remember “the best climber is the one have the most fun!” (who did say that? Bridwell?)