The longest day of the year started before the sun was in one valley and finished as it vanished from another. I enjoyed a peaceful swim in the lake in Llanberis as I waited for the team to complete their expedition. Then when they arrived, I got back in for a celebratory dip with them too! It was a super finish, with ice creams, speeches and an efficient kit sort out before returning them to school. In the evening, I was joined by Ed and Tim at The Cottage, for cold drinks in the garden, just minutes after arriving home, then cooked up some dinner with them to follow. I could easily have gone to bed after this, but the draw of the Solstice took us back out to the valley for a ‘quick’ climb on Tryfan in the evening sun.
The rock was glowing in the evening light when we arrived, at nearly 9pm, but the setting sun sent shadows chasing up, which caught me at the first belay.
It was still plenty warm enough even when the shade arrived, as we zipped upwards fast and efficiently.
We climbed the two main pitches of Direct Route, the well polished and rather tricky at times, V.Diff Classic climb. To save both energy and time, we descended by abseil in one huge rope length back to the bags. The long hours of daylight had us surprised to find it was 10pm when we got back to the van!
A very long day, but a good one…
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