Gogarth & Holyhead Mountain

Mark, Lee and I headed to Anglesey today to seek the sun and escape the bitterly cold wind. We managed to do both by abseiling into Castell Helen and climbing Lighthouse Arete Direct and then heading over to Holyhead Mountain to look at problem solving and for the boys to lead Teenage Kicks. A stunning day.

Sunshine but cold rock!

The boys and I headed to Milestone Buttress in the Ogwen Valley today and they did a great job of leading Pulpit Route and Rowan Route for themselves, as well as a couple of abseil descents. It was very cold this morning, the fresh snow on the tops should have warned us really but be did stay dry all day!

Warm rock and sunshine

Mark, Lee and I headed down to Tremadog today for the second day of our learn to lead climbing course. Both chaps have done a bit of climbing in the past and so have been picking things up quickly. This meant that today we were able to climb Poor Mans Peutrey in 5 pitches this morning and then this afternoon, after a session on gear placements, the boys lead Boo Boo for themselves. We managed to stay warm and dry too!

Five Day Climbing Course

I have been joined for the week by Lee and Mark for our 5 day learn to lead climbing course. We spent the day in the sunshine at Holyhead Mountain on Anglesey and as I type its actually snowing outside! There was a fresh dusting on the mountains all day too. April showers with a twist!

Lovely day for rigging

Its been another stunning day in Snowdonia today. There was a dusting of fresh snow overnight but it hit 16c in Llanberis this afternoon so it didn't last long. I spent the day with the rescue team training for crag rescues in the Pass.

Cneifion Arete

Today was the last day of our classic scrambles course and again we split into a couple of teams to make the most of the last of the sunshine before the weather turns for the weekend and to allow for a few sore knees in the team!

Jammed Boulder Gully & Clogwyn Y Person Arete

Huw and I teamed up today and took Mike, Mark, Dan and Ronnie out into the sunshine for a team ascent of some grade 3 scrambling ground. We kicked off with Jammed Boulder Gully to the side of Dinas Mot, this route is graded 3+ and has a certain amount of notoriety. It was thankfully mainly dry and the boys did a great job of styling up the wet slab and grunting through the chimney squeeze to make our way up into Cwm Glas. We then enjoyed the Clogwyn Y Person Arete (3) onto Crib y Ddysgyl (1) before descending the North Ridge of Cwm Glas (1). A cracking day in more stunning weather.

North Ridge of Tryfan

Today I headed out with Shamaila and Sam whilst Huw took the boys onto some grade 2 and 3 scrambling ground on day 3 of our classic scrambles week. We headed up the North Ridge of Tryfan and enjoyed warm rock and blue skies once more. It really is the best job in the world! It will be a shock though when the weather changes at the weekend.

Thank You

Hi Rob,

I wanted to write and say thank you from Paul and I for a great weeks course - we both really enjoyed ourselves and felt we learnt a lot and built our confidence in the mountains significantly, which is what we were looking for.

Please pass on our thanks to Huw and Rob, and thank Rob for getting me down off Moel Siabod when I twisted my ankle! He's a legend, and will make a great guide himself.

Best, Roisin (and Paul) Mountaincraft - April 2015

Evening Climbing

I hooked up with Bryn this evening to make the most of the sunshine with some evening cragging, we found a route he had climbed as a boy in what was his home village and is now mine :-)