Having spent years climbing all over the cliffs of Ogwen and Idwal, I can barely remember a time with such idyllic conditions. We hiked up late in the afternoon and had the whole mountain to ourselves. The temperature was so warm that I climbed without a shirt and we didn't see or feel a single midge! Incredible!
Just before we started climbing, we heard a loud plane and looked over to see a low flying Hercules!
The cliff was in direct sunlight and making the rock warm to touch as we set off up the route called 'Hope' (V.Diff).
The views were great and we made fast progress upwards.
The 'twin cracks' were as slippery as ever, but otherwise, the conditions were perfect.
At the top of 'Hope' we had planned to climb the next section of the cliff via a route called 'Lazarus', but the belay meant that one of us would have to stand in a shady corner, so we opted for a slightly harder, but more direct (and sunnier) route, called Piton Route, which I'd not done in ages. It was brilliant.
A sandwich in the sun and a short scramble off left and we quickly made our way down the descent path and into the evening shadows.
Walking down in the shadows at 20:00, it was still t-shirt weather. Long may it last!
Idwal Slabs, Ogwen:
- Hope, V.Diff***
- Piton Route, VS, (4b)**
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