So I had a lovely day today in the sun up Llanberis pass. I reclimbed for the first time in years Flying Buttress and Spiral Stairs. It must have been nearly twenty years since I first climbed them. It would have been a similar afternoon on a sunny day.
Being twenty years braver I actually soloed them both. Flying buttress was more memorable both then and now. Reinvoking the thoughts of a young man who soloed with ease to the last pitch of Flying Buttress only to have to spend five minute there not so much have words with myself but an entire conversation.
I was glad that the same move still exists and that with a rope attach to your waist and a runner above your head it was only a word I needed to commit today.
We headed down and then up Spiral Stairs, which is ultimately easier but much more blind when it comes to route finding. Despite authoring two guides that include the route. I choose to not look at one whilst the other too heavy and big for me to fit in the small bag. A bag that I wrote a review for and had to rewrite it twice.
The first review might have said both an advantage and disadvantage of said bag was its size. As it was so small you could fit a whole rack in it. The disadvantage is obvious, however the unobvious advantage is that if you can’t carry everything then you climbing partner will.
Fortunately using the force and mountain sense I managed to stay on the line that was of least resistance. Finding my way up the spiral stairs.
Both routes were amazing and I wonder how much easier they were when they were so polished. As to be totally honest my main way to stay on route was that if the holds I was on were polished to a mirror like hue then I was off route. Both routes are over 80 years old, so I guess we have to forgive them for being over used in that time.
Anyway, lovely weather so looking forward to more classics.