Many years ago, I purchased a book called 'Rock Climbing in Snowdonia' by Paul Williams. A veritable gem of a compilation, featuring all the classic rock climbs of North Wales, which since starting in my journey to become a Mountaineering Instructor, I have been steadily working my way through. I've now climbed almost all the climbs that are within my ability or persuasion; all that remain are mostly the esoterica. Today we ventured out to 'tick off' such a route, on the isolated southern flanks of Mynydd Mawr. We knew we were venturing into the wilds, but knew little of the wildlife we might encounter!...
Amazingly, despite being less than forty minutes away, we'd rarely ventures over to the western side of Snowdon and enjoyed the 'new surroundings' on the hour walk into the crag, despite the uphills!
Our route (Angel Pavement) is the skyline in this photo, and finishes on top of the top pinnacle.
The weather was beautiful and with new views in every direction, we had a real holiday feel, despite the proximity to The Cottage. A drystone wall helped to locate the base of the climb, but the line of the route was less obvious.
As with such routes that are 'less well travelled', there was a certain amount of jungle bashing and 'vegetation' to contend with!
After a bold (not much protection) slab, pitch two gave the best pitch of the route on some decent rock in a fine airy position.
After losing the way slightly on the final pitch, (involving some steep sections of loose rock covered in heather) we finished the route up the scrambly arête that led to the summit of the pinnacle.
It was mid afternoon by now and sunlight was streaming through the valley below. From our airy perch, the views were marvellous.
The 'newer' guidebook that we were using, almost fooled us as it tried to send us on an epic, with its incorrect descent information, by sending us down the wrong gully (proper descent is from the summit, descend to the right, facing the hillside and go down the scree filled gully!). But on the way down as we surfed the loose scree slope, we noticed a big hole in the cliff at the top of Sentries Ridge! Cool feature!
Then, having collected the bags, we returned back across the hills and (after a short sunbathing session), through the forest, tip-toed past the bears and returned to the car.
Another 'Paul Williams' tick in the book and another great adventure had.
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