Month: April 2010

I am usually very good at finding, extracting and keeping kit left on crags, however recently I feel I have been in losing too much, including a few wires and carrabiners. Although the carabiners where more deliberately left behind to hasten my retreat from sports climbs.

So today i was chuff to bits when I pull excalibur from Christmas Curry. It was a cross between difusing a bomb and cracking a safe. But given some attention I managed to free the cam 0.5. Glowing inside from my winning the battle I had a hop in my step.

That was until I went sport climbing this evening and when the last person lowered off we forgot to take out one quickdraw. I doubt it will be there when I get back, although it is on a F7c.

Easy come, easy go, as is the crag booty way!

I have been back at the grind stone this week, teaching Intro to Rock Climbing. The weather has been rather pants early in the week. However I have been able to duck and dive, and be rather cuning and avoid getting wet, and still managing to climb outside.

Monday, we stayed in the wall until 3pm, and then went to fachwen, where we did some real climbing and basic ropework, return back to Plas Y Brenin late having enjoyed a bit of sun. The next day we went to Betws Y Coed, as far east as we could go to avoid the front moving in from the west. The wall of hate came in at about 2pm, but in the trees we stayed dry, and when we returned to the centre the full onslaught of rain began.

Today, we drive through the rain to tremadog, where the final tremadog corner kept the magic going as the rain stopped just as we arrive. The day great, the warmest so far. I think i have even managed to get a bit of colour in my cheeks!

Then I head up to Bus Stop for some Forsinain Motspur action. We warmed up and got instantly pumper on the route, and I had a couple of goes, on the second go I managed three overlapping sections. Including the first and second cruxes clean. Psyche for the climbing on it as well, as hard slate is all about the move!

With the weather set to stay good for a few days. I feel like I have artfully avoided the ming.

After a week of festering and mooching around not doing much I spent Sunday climbing with llion. We headed up to rainbow slab area of the quarries. We were up there about three hours and climbed:

Horse Lats F6a+, Alive and Kicking F6a, Catrin E2/F6a+, Bella Lugosi E1, Poetry Pink E4 and Pull my Daisy E2.

Not a bad afternoon really, and some great climbing, it was nice to get back on Poetry on the sharp end, it felt nice and steady away, and I just love that teetering section along the best rock feature in Wales, “The Rainbow”.

I will see if I can get a few of the images I have taken of the routes up over the next day or so. Most are archive as yesterday was mainly climbing.

Today i started a seven day stint of work at Plas Y brenin, delivering rock courses, so hopefully I will get some more cragging done.

Well, it was a bit of a damp weekend in Snowdonia, I have a few things that have got my goat this weekend. Firstly was the traffic warden who unlocked thPay and Display parking meters in the morning and then instantly ticketed the cars that had been parked there overnight or turned up early, unable to Pay and Display because the machines weren’t working. A total disgrace, a kind of F U to the few unlucky tourists.

I also saw the £10 price for the Pen Y Pass car park, and the new pay and display meters at the Pen Y Gwryd. Which again is a great way to put tourists off coming to the area. Which I am sure is what some of the old and not so old xenophobes that seem to hold office in the local councils.

I only saw the new £10 sign at Pen Y Pass as I headed out on a rescue on Saturday, walker crag fast in shorts and trainers on Crib Coch. There was about 6 inches of snow up there! What on earth they felt they were doing up there god only know, one expects that involuntary suicide might have been on the cards. If that wasn’t bad enough, as we waited for the RAF to make a risky winch off the ridge, we saw three ‘yoffs’ in jeans and trainers.

One of the team made a polite comment that they might not be equipped to go up Snowdon as the top of the PYG track will be very treacherous with the amount of snow up there. You would had thought we had told them to F off and Die rather than give them some friendly advice to lengthen there life, given there reactions of virtually ignoring us. We had after all not told them to turn round just to think twice before commiting to the top of the PYG track.

Image our surpirse when an hour and a half later we ran into them on a second rescue that the RAF couldn’t get to, on the top of Crib Coch. These three idiots, and to be fair it wasn’t just them I saw many people not wearing appropriate foot wear or clothing up there.

Lets just say I thought one of the team was going to knock the little twats out there and then, I wanted to vent on them as well but three of the team already had, and I had nothing new to offer other than swear words. Totally unbelievable, these guys and many others just seem to think it is one big playground, which I have to admit that it is, but in those conditions it is like a inner city playground with broken glass, seringes, smackheads and pedo’s everywhere. So basically a place to go only when well equipped and aware of what is what and who is who!

Anyway totally shocked and appalled. Interestingly the team chairman was on TV the previous night trying to get the message across that this weekend the conditions were gong to be serious. Nice to see that the message got out to these few idiots!

Anyway I wound down by cooking a mexican feast for a few friends!

…down a hole without a prussik.

I had a call two nights ago, it was from the Chairman of LLMRT, and for once I hadn’t done anything to piss him off! He was asking if I was goingn to make it to a rescue in the quarries, mainly because I have a very good understanding of the complex terrain. As he pulled up outside my house I was trying to explain that I was so much drunk, but plastered.

When he saw me he realised that the ‘No fit state to be on a rescue’, wasn’t an excuse. Anyway it appears that two people keen to new route, had abseiled into Film Set Quarry and forgot prussics to get out the rope they abseil in on. Resulting in a being trapped in the bottom of the hole. Interesting as I do believe that Lord of them Rings, HoseyB has dug the tunnel through, so you can actually walk out of that hole if you know what you are doing.

Fortunately I don’t have the guys names, but I just hope the team threw two prussics and a headtorch into the hole and wished them good night! I wonder if they new there is an lovely E2 on bolts you can climb out on as well?

It is called film set quaary, because it was used in the 80’s film The Keep, which was a early flop for the now cult director Micheal Mann. I few years back I took two of the films biggest fans down into the hole to explore the remains of the set.

Well, after working all weekend doing single pitch climbing. Where I basically checked knots for a whole 2 days, before taking an intrepid trio out for a short day scrambling in the sleet on Siabod. I have mainly been taking it easy and relaxing. My inbox’s have around 30 unanswered emails, most offering me viagra not doubt.

Today, though I managed to re-enter the world of the living and get up to go round to Huw’s for a morning bake off. I opted for the WI special, a Victoria Sponge Cake. I think I did all right, as having delivered to a friends new shop that has opened up just by Pete’s Eats, Craig Y Can or something similar. Anyway the cake tasted lush, and I quickly avoided the crowds of parents and kids, looking at the latest in rural chic fashion.

Also on the High Street for all those Ice Crream lovers, Georgio’s has reopened for the summer season, so looks like I will have to start warning my clients that we break at 4 for Ice Cream!