The Idwal Slabs Climbing Link-Up

Another day, another blue sky stunner in the mountains of Snowdonia! Today, Callum and I headed up to make a link-up ascent of some classic climbs on nearby Idwal Slabs. Given the weather and the popularity of the climbs, we went with an open mind, but amazingly had the routes we wanted all to ourselves! On arrival at the base of the routes at about 11:30 (just as the sun reached them too!), the only route free was Tennis Shoe - HS (4b), which was perfect for us, as this was set to be Callum's first multi-pitch mountain climb.

I led the first couple of pitches, then Callum took over for the top slab pitch..

The final 'tower' pitch was as atmospheric as ever and just as polished as I remembered!

Having completed the route in good time, we decided to traverse across to the base of the upper cliff and climb another three star route called Lazarus (Severe, 4b). 

To save time, we climbed the route in one long pitch (it was also in the shade, so didn't fancy staying in the cold longer than we needed to!). It's a great route, but beware of a few loose flakes along the way that look like excellent handholds - one gave me quite a scare as I pulled back on it!

The Continuation Wall, above, gave us a choice of grades. We chose the mid-grade option - 'Groove Above' (Severe, 4b) which has a (deserved) reputation of having a desperately hard start. I've certainly had to employ 'combined tactics' on previous ascents, but Callum needed no such help and flew up it before thankfully giving me a nice tight rope having made it to the top.

From the top of Contiunation Wall, we enjoyed the views, then traversed across to the descent path. Before too long we were back down at the bags, then finished off the day with coffee in the sun soaked Cottage gardens. Later that evening, Clare and I took a walk down to the river and if it hadn't been for the fresh northerly winds, would have enjoyed an evening dip! Instead we enjoyed a drink from the banks...

Idwal Slabs:

- Tennis Shoe, HS (4b,4a,4a,4b)

- Lazarus, S (4a)

- Groove Above, S (4a)

Direct Route, HS (4c) Glyder Fach - Main Cliff

For those looking for some beta, the usually dark and shady cliffs of Glyder Fach Main Cliff begin to catch the sun at 16:00 at this time of year and remain basking in sunshine until dusk. And this is exactly where we spent our Bank Holiday afternoon. It's been crazy busy in Snowdonia, with cars lining the valleys, parking in all sorts of crazy places, but by using the secret, we found a parking spot right outside Ogwen Cottage - closer than where we'd normally park! As is often the way in the British mountains, once you've left the car park, the crowds disperse and soon enough we were on our own, trekking up in the sunshine towards Cwm Bochllwyd.

Up at the cliffs, the views were fabulous and on the distant horizon, beyond Anglesey, we could see the profile of the Isle of Man.

The Direct Route, is one of the least direct routes you'll ever climb, with at least two long traversing pitches that weave their way up through the cliffs. It was first climbed back in 1907, proving that the old guys must have had a sense of humour - and some pretty bold climbing skills - the final pitch was no push over!! The first pitch (photo below) does (more or less) go 'direct' straight up, so maybe they thought of the route name too early on, before having to do the massive traverses around the harder sections?!...

The belays all involved a good sized stances with some great views and were all bathed in sunshine (which was good as there was a rather cold northerly wind blowing!).

Traverses such as these, ensured that the route was anything but 'direct'! - But they were quite exciting...

The final steep crack is a real sting in the tale and a very respectable lead for 1907, when they had none of the kind of protection that I had available to use! Good effort!

We first climbed this route in 2004 on a beautiful day in February. The forecast was for the clouds to lift off the summit during the day, so we set off towards the cliff and began climbing. As the clouds dispersed, the higher cliffs were revealed - all covered in rime ice!! We could still both remember huddling together to stay warm on the upper belay (and we weren't even going out back then!) Today, things were altogether more warm...

Rather than carrying on with the long srcamble up to the summit of Glyder Fach, we chose the faster option of the scrambling descent down Main Gully to the base of the cliffs and an easier walk out.

The sun was still fully on the cliffs as we walked away and we only encounted the shade as we reached the car park as the sun began to dip behind the hills. 

Sunny Sunday Snorkelling

Back home at The Cottage and time for a rest this weekend. After all the recent busy travels, The Cottage has been a little haven of quiet chilled-ness. And the weather in North Wales right now is perfect. Not a cloud to be seen and just light winds. Ideal conditions to be taking advantage of The Cottage gardens - eating, drinking, sleeping and sunbathing - all at a very leisurely pace. Yesterday afternoon, however, we did decide to venture out from the grounds and head to the beach.

I don't think I've ever seen anything like it in North Wales! A busy beach! There was the small chance of there being some surf, but when we arrived the sea was as calm as it could have been. Being the boy scout that I am, I'd come prepared for all eventualities, so we pulled out the snorkels instead!

One of the good things about snorkelling on a busy day, is that as soon as you are in the water, the crowds are lost and left behind on the beach. I saw quite a few big crabs, but only a few small fish. The colour of the seaweed was almost tropical in the bright light but the temperature of the water was certainly not! 

Not wanting to rush away after our swim, we took a walk around the coast to the village.

Where we managed to get 'last orders' at the Ice Cream Shop before it closed for the evening!

What a place to live! We felt super grateful that we only had a twenty minute drive home (which we broke up, by calling into our friends house for a cuppa on the way). Back home, although the sun had left the garden, it was still warm enough to dine outside. Brilliant...

Down by the sea at Biddiriscittai Cave

We had a bit of a false start today, hunting for a crag, up in the hills that we couldn't find. We were certainly close, but the walk in didn't look very appealing and neither did the crag (if indeed it was the right one!)

In the end, we cut our losses and moved onto plan b, which involved driving back down to the coast and walking along to a big cave that has some climbs on its back wall. Walking along the rocky coast line, (which also happens to be a nudist beach - thankfully unfrequented today!), we stopped to look at some of the shallow rock pools which seemed to have ice in them?!

A scientific phenomenon?! Ice on the coast of the Mediterranean?! Amazing! On touching or putting some of the 'ice' on their tongues to cool down, some of the students were surprised/disappointed to find that it was actually evaporated sea salt. We had a good giggle and may even have imparted a bit of a science knowledge as well! Maybe...

The views were better than the actual routes, but it was good for the students to try out a different style of climbing: steeper routes with 'soapy' flowstone holds. The features in the cave are quite cool though, with long horizontal shelves at the top. 

The sector is certainly very well used - the routes are well polished and some of the metal lower-offs were almost worn through! 

Walking back, the sea looked ever so tempting. There were lots of very deep zawns with invitingly clear turquoise waters. I'd definitely take my swimming stuff next time for a cooling plunge!

Back at camp we've been busy sorting kit ready for a monster travel day tomorrow that should hopefully see me back at The Cottage before midnight...

The long walk to 'Flintstones' Slab Climbing

Well it's been a very leisurely day today, with some nice shady slab climbing to finish. After last nights night climbing, we had a late start followed by a rather nice lunch down by the sea front, where we spotted another dolphin out in the bay.

Around mid afternoon, we made the hot walk up to the slabs of 'Flintstones'. The groups psych was pretty low, which was a real shame as it had some of the best climbing that we'd done so far. Big long pitches of pocketed slabby limestone. And all the routes were in the cool of the afternoon shade! It shouldn't have taken long to walk up to the crag. (Guidebook time is twenty minutes). With a tired group of unmotivated teenagers, the walk actually took one and a half hours - including two first aid stops! Really!!

Having taken so long to get there, we did at least climb until about eight o'clock in the evening, but productivity was slow. The views were pretty fabulous though, looking out to sea and over to the crag of 'Serendippo' that we'd climbed at the start of the week.

It was the perfect climbing temperature and the rock was giving off heat.

Thankfully, the walk back down was quicker. Made it into town for Pizza by half nine...

Placche di Flintstones:

- Flintstones, 5c** (32m x 12 bolts)

- Bam Bam, 6a**

Boat based adventures at Cala Luna

The beach of Cala Luna is billed as one of the most beautiful beaches in Italy. To be fair, until the boat loads of hundreds of tourists arrive, it probably is. Rather than join the masses though, we opted for an earlier start and hired our own boat. This also meant that we could explore the coastline along the way, rather than just take a water taxi direct. 

It started off as a pretty bumpy ride, due to some strong winds, but thankfully it calmed down enough to explore in and out of the caves. 

About half way along the coast, we got a real bonus when a couple of dolphins swam right by us!

Some of the caves were big enough to drive the boat into, and one even had a landing jetty in the back of it! 

It brought back some god memories of when Clare and I had explored this coastline by sea kayak about ten years ago. There's plenty of climbing at Cala Luna, but none of it is particularly easy. Overhangs and tufa features are the name of the game here.

This crag (below) is bolted up and looked good but we didn't have time to climb on it though. After anchoring the rib, about twenty metres from shore, we went on land and had a look around. After finding a nice shady cave we lay out for a bit of a relax. I was just getting into my book when the cry went up that the boat was drifting out to sea!! A rapid change into my wetsuit ensued as I wasn't confident that I could swim out that far fast enough without the security's and buoyancy of a bit of neoprene. Drama was averted half way out to the stricken vessel when another boat ferried Ian to it. We kept a much closer eye on it after that!

We climbed a new steep route that had some decent looking resin bolts. (Many are looking a bit rusty from the sea salt! We didn't know the grade, which made it even more exciting. I used a clip stick to do the last move, (which of course turned out to be fine!), rather than risk a fall. My foot was aching from the boat/swim drama too.

Headed home late afternoon. Thanks to my James Bond training, I was able to drive the boat for a bit and on the way a huge swordfish lept out of the water!!

Back on land, I made straight to the humble bakers for some sustinance in the form of some basic local produce...

And then washed it down with a quick brew...

After dark, our day continued with a night climb back at Cala Fuili. The stars were all out and just before we finished, the moon rose big and orange over the horizon. It was an amazing moment - made all the more amazing by a long shooting star streaking right overhead and out to sea! Bed just after midnight...

Climbing at Cala Fuili

Another long day on the rock, but with the bonus of a lunch time swim to cool down! 

The climbing at Cala Fuili is very conveniently at the end of the road, and very close to the sea. Looks beautiful, but was actually quite cold. Refreshing!

After a dip and some lunch, it was back onto the rock. Another good thing about this area is that the crags face different ways, so it's possible to stay in the shade and avoid a roasting! The day ended with the now obligatory cuppachino, pasta and pizza. 

Cala Fuili:

(Vie dei Bimbi)

- Pikachu, 4b

- La Pimpa, 4c

- Nesquik, 5b**

(Spigolo Fuili)

- senza nome, 5a

- Zia Lillith, 5b

- Spigolo Fuili, 5b

Climbing at La Poltrona

Climbed today in the mega ampitheatre of La Poltrona, which is just a few minutes drive from the campsite. What a place! We were at the crag just after eight in order to climb in the morning shade again. (Right hand side of the photo).

By midday there was nowhere to hide from the sun on the climbs, but later we took shelter under some trees for an extended lunch break as it was impossible to climb in the glaring sunlight. 

I saw this cheeky lizard who kept creeping up on me while I was belaying...

Once the sun had left the far side of the bowl, play resumed and I climbed a little two pitch route with two of the lads. It's always great to get up off the floor and high above the rest of the world. Once they'd got to grips with the art and exposure of the 'hanging belay', we lent back and enjoyed the views. This was one of the fine 'pocket' handholds on the way up! You couldn't make a better handhold!

Climbed until about 5:45, at which point even my feet had had enough of being crammed into rock boots... Ice cream time...

La Poltrona:

(Settroe basso)

- Karo-x, 4c

- Capri, 5a

- Sogno, 5a

- Dopo il pesce, 5b

- Hey Jude, 5c

(Settroe Central)

- Sperone Lillith, 4b

- Ziu Milawaki, 4c,4a