Tuesday 16 June 2009

North Wales



A trip to North Wales this week was rewarded with some fine weather despite the gloomy forecast and allowed us to cover some mountaineering techniques - multipitch climbing, shortening the rope, scrambling and multi - abseils e.t.c , with the blue skies , strong sunshine and warm rock it felt like the alps, especially on the beautiful ridges of the Ogwen valley.
After some long days a short cut down from Castle Y Gwynt via the col down to Llyn Bochlwyd seemed a good idea, but got us onto some very fresh loose rock confined in the steep upper gully - a place for extreme caution !
Thanks to Guy, Geraldine and Andrew for an enjoyable trip - a valuable experience all round.

Monday 8 June 2009

Wye Valley Climbing


James Lane, a local climber, leading the ever popular " Questor" at Windcliffe last week) (n.b a very large flake has fallen off near " Cadillac" - doesn't effect the climb but does put into question some of the other large flakes in this area !! )

Last week saw us climbing in blazing June sunshine - where climbs in the shade were at a premium - all chalk, suncream and sunglasses, a long summer of climbing ahead - but no, it seems that the Wye Valley has a rainforest and the monsoon arrived this week ! - the variability of the British weather - Saturday was a washout ,but Sunday improved early and with a bit of searching some dry rock was climbed ( one advantage of overhanging limestone ) and as the day improved more and more climbs came into condition.
Thanks to Sean and Tracie for persevering through the early morning mud !