Early Season Slates

Big new today in Wales! As from tomorrow you can travel anywhere* (*in Wales)! That's certainly better than no travel, so we'll have to get some plans together. Since leaving University, I think that it's quite possible that I have not stayed in the same bed/place for more than six weeks at a time, so this lockdown thing has been quite a disruption to my usual lifestyle. Expeditions, camps and travels have been so prolific - I'm certainly looking forward to seeing somewhere new and getting back on the move.

After hearing the news, we took a gamble on the weather this morning and went over to the slate quarry with the hope of getting a quick route in before the rain arrived. The 'weather window' was only supposed to last an hour or so, but someone obviously forgot to shut it and it stayed dry until late afternoon. Bonus!

Temperatures have taken a nose dive though and the mountain tops have been given a fresh dusting of snow over night. It looked lovely, but with the strong wind, made it very cold!

But when the sun shone it felt great to be out. We stayed in the sheltered areas as much as we could to avoid the wind chill.

Having woken up to torrential rain, the slate had dried very fast. Some of the routes were still wet, but there are plenty there to choose from. After three good climbs, in three different areas, we beat a retreat back to The Cottage for a rest. Felt good to be on some steeper routes, especially when the sun shone.

Llanberis Slate Quarry:

- Fresh Air, 6a***

- Seamstress, VS (4c)***

- Steps of Glory, 5a*