Archive for December, 2010
Pen Llyn view
The view on Christmas morning from Pen Llyn up towards the Llanberis Pass and Cloggy with Llyn Padarn in rare iced-over form. Snowdonia was frozen solid over the christmas week, a proper winter wonderland. Photo: Si Panton
Are You Having It About the Woolly Mammoths XI 10
Photo topo: Simon Frost
Pete Harrison and Simon Frost have climbed North Wales’ hardest winter route. Are You Having It About the Woolly Mammoths, which weighs in at a whopping XI 10, is based around the spectacular hanging ice dagger on the buttress just right of the main Esgair Maen Gwyn (Scimitar Ridge) crag in the Llanberis Pass.
The route reaches the hanging ice dagger via the summer rock route Are You Having It about the Mammoths, an E4 6b first climbed by George Smith in 1994.
Pete had spotted the ice feature a while back and kept a watch on it while it grew bigger during the pre-Christmas freeze. Come Boxing Day, while most folk were nursing hangovers and feasting on Christmas leftovers, Pete and Simon made a beeline for the crag opting for an early start to beat the rising temperatures. Stepping out of the car at Pont y Gromlech the temperature was already around +2, so haste was the order of the day. Arriving at the crag 15 minutes later the ice dagger was already dripping. Nonetheless Pete decided to go for it figuring that at least there might be some good ‘toffee’ placements.
The initial section of the route follows the line of George’s route with steep and relentlessly difficult dry tooling. Pete was unaware that the line had been done in summer so was surprised to find three pegs on the way.
Pete attempted the line ground up, taking a few rests initially then lowering down pulling his ropes and going for the top in a oner. With the ice starting to drip heavily the route was grabbed just in the nick of time.
“We were lucky to get this before the ice went; any warmer and it would not have been feasible. In fact we could have really done with it being a touch colder.”
Said Pete before adding:
“It’s an amazing route; I’m so pleased to have done it.”
The suggested grade, a full two grades harder than both Cracking Up (IX 9) and Traversty Direct (now thought by Pete to be IX 10) on Clogwyn Du, is likely to turn a few heads, but it certainly sounds like a very hard and pumpy route. Simon seconded the route with some falls; check out his blog for more thoughts on the grade.
The fact that the initial part of the route was effectively dry tooled may also cause some controversy, but to put it into perspective this section was only done as a means of accessing the ice feature. Also, this is hardly a classic rock route (apologies to George!) and the buttress does take a lot of drainage.
Conscious of how the ascent might be perceived (especially in the aftermath of the recent dry tooling debacle at Millstone in the Peak) Pete has written a little about this matter on the Welsh Winter wiki.
(NB. The original route name came from a comment that Lancashire climbing legend Micky Johnston made to George after a visit to Hueco Tanks in Texas. Many of the large boulders at Hueco have heavily polished bases and one theory why this is so is that they were polished to a high sheen by Prehistoric mammoths rubbing their backs against the rocks to scratch an itch.)
Haston test piece repeated
On Christmas day Nick Bullock made the second known ascent of Stevie Haston’s route Terminator on Craig Ddu in the Llanberis Pass. This rarely formed thin ice line, first climbed back in the 80s with Andy Newton, had achieved almost legendary status. Recently Stevie suggested that it could have been the first VIII route in the UK.
Tim Neill and Ray Wood seconded the route and were suitably impressed with the quality and boldness of the route.
“Nick cruised up a detached and hollow Terminator this morning. Me and Ray pootled up behind, as it rapidly warmed up. When we got back down water was visibly pissing behind the ice and bits of ice were ejecting off the crag. Nicely timed. We climbed the whole thing on ice at a grade much less than advertised. It was definitely very good climbing though.”
Explained Tim after the ascent.
To see a picture of the route check out Ray’s report on the DMM site.
Falling Angel VII 7, Clogwyn y Geifr
Nick Bullock on the steep crux pitch of Falling Angel VII 7 Photo: Tim Neill
The strong early season conditions have certainly provided an astonishing purple patch for Tim Neill; Tim has maintained a relentless campaign for new winter lines, completing one V, four VIs, two VIIs and a VII/VIII so far! And now that he has teamed up the whirling dervish that is Nick Bullock, each day at the crag brings yet more amazing new routes.
On Christmas Eve the lads returned to Clogwyn y Geifr in Cwm Idwal and took on the roofed corner line 15m right of The Devil’s Appendix. After some tussling this became Falling Angel VII 7, a wild thin ice/mixed climb allowing back stage access to the upper part of Devil’s Appendix. After the first tech 7 pitch a further 40m pitch of 5 lead into the final pitch of the Appendix.
“Nick obviously did the hard pitch, which was more climbable than it looked and also had some gear. The very useful ice encountered was necessary for it to be climbed at this grade. Would be tricky otherwise to place the very short screws needed for pro. Really good fun spiralling out onto the top of the Appendix as a finish.”
Enthused Tim.
Faust or Famine VIII 8, Clogwyn y Geifr
Ali Smith on the second pitch crux of Faust or Famine VIII 8, with other climbers walking up the base of the Kitchen below. Photo: Pete Harrison
As promised in a previous news report we now have full details of Pete Harrison’s wild new route on the right wall of the Devil’s Kitchen on Clogwyn y Geifr.
Faust or Famine VIII 8 reaches the obvious icy groove between the summer routes Advocate’s Wall and Tarturus by an airy traverse and contains all styles of mixed climbing from delicate teetering to steep thrutching on rock, ice, turf and snow.
Initially Pete climbed the first pitch of Tartarus (E1 5c) with Chris Parkin; this went at well protected technical 7, however the upper pitch was totally dry so they decided to back off. During the abseil a more attractive winter line, starting at a skinny ice pillar 10m left of the slab of Tarturus, became apparent. A new plan was hatched and Pete returned with Ali Smith a few days later. This time Pete lead two pitches of 6/7 and 7/8 which took him to the top of the icy groove.
“I looked up above and the exit was a steep chimney line. At this point I only had two quickdraws left and the light was deteriorating, so with some reluctance we bailed.”
Explained Pete.
Three days later a return visit saw the whole route go without any major incidents, although the top chimney did prove to be quite a feisty struggle at 6/7.
Grading winter routes is a tricky game and this one left Pete vexed as to its true difficulty:
“I had thought of giving it a bracketed grade, i.e somewhere between VI and IX as I’m not sure of exactly where it fits in. Maybe its best described as soft touch VIII? Either way it’s a real three star classic”
North Wales Winter Climbing guidecoming first week of January
We now have an arrival time for the new North Wales Winter Climbing guide.
“I will be picking up the guides from the printer on the evening of Friday 6th Jan, so it will be available from V12 shop in Llanberis on Saturday morning. It is 200 pages of winter fun and adventure, all packed into a neat pocket sized guidebook. Get one while stocks last, this thing is going to fly out!”
Enthused guide editor Si Panton.
The winter season has continued with epic amounts of snowfall, a surge of new routes and numerous ascents of the big icefall lines such as Central Icefall Direct VI 6 and the Devil’s Appendix VI 6. This is shaping up into a truly amazing winter season, even stronger than last year.
Freyberg’s Diversion VI 7, Black Ladders
Ben Bransby on the crux pitch of Freyberg's Diversion VI 7, Black Ladders Photo: Adam Long
Ben Bransby and Adam Long struggled up to the Black Ladders through drifting snow and deteriorating weather. Their initial thought was to do Gallipoli, but once they reached the base of the crux gully section they decided to opt for a more spicy line out to the left on the buttress
This became Freyberg’s Diversion VI 7 which gave a short, tough crux.
The walk out, as Adam explains, gave the whole day a rather epic feel:
“The descent was pretty wild – the last mile into Gerlan was the worst, tracks totally drifted over, couldn’t see in pitch dark driving snow, kept plunging up to waist etc, what you get for going out on the shortest day I guess!”
The full description is as follows:
Freyberg’s Diversion VI 7 320m
P1-4 As for Gallipoli, to belay at the base of the parallel sided gully.
P5 7 25m Break out left onto the buttress and follow a shallow groove to the base of a short steep corner. This is climbed with the help of a crack on the left wall – strenuous both to climb and protect – to a belay at the base of the next corner.
P6 5 50m Step left onto the crest of the buttress and climb a series of flakes to a terrace. Bear left across this and up a broad groove, bold, which ends in a short safe struggle up a tight corner. Belay in a jumble of blocks.
P7/8 3/4 80m Make a move up, then trend right back into the Gallipoli gully. This soon eases and leads to a short snow slope and the top.
Old Nick VI 6, Clogwyn y Geifr
Nick Bullock on the first ascent of Old Nick VI 6, Clogwyn y Geifr Photo: Tim Neill
Yesterday Nick Bullock, Tim Neill and Ray Wood picked off a plum ice feature on Clogwyn y Geifr.
Old Nick VI 6 tackles the attractive hanging icefall above the left side of Hanging Garden Gully. It had been eyed by a few folk last season but no-one had gone for it. In the end it gave a steep, technical and bold route.
“This route was great. I spotted the pillar in a picture in Cold Climbs [page 262 in case you were wondering – Ed.]. Thought it would be there, and it was. Today, there wasn’t a described route on the Kitchen cliffs not in nick!”
Enthused Tim.
On the same day Pete Harrison climbed a stunning grade VIII line on the opposite side of the Devil’s Kitchen chasm.
He described it as:
“Absolutely brilliant, three stars for sure!”
More details to follow.
Yr Arianrhod VII 6/7, Black Ladders
Yr Arianrhod topo
The snow conditions may be heavy, and some folk have foregone any ideas of climbing for snow boarding and skiing, but the keen lads are still getting out there and climbing impressive new routes.
Yesterday Owen Hayward and Martin Land picked off one the most obvious unclimbed lines on the Black Ladders. Yr Arianrhod VII 6/7 is a continuously absorbing route up the buttress left of Gallipoli with bold and technical climbing reliant on frozen turf.
The fifth pitch takes the eye catching groove/crack level with the crux of Gallipoli. See below for a full route description.
On the same day Tim Neill and Nick Bullock had a big success on Llech Ddu when they climbed a VII 7 line based around the summer line of Central Route. Tim telephoned in on his mobile as he was wading out from the crag under increasingly heavy snow fall:
“Gerlan seems to have disappeared under the snow and we are wading hard to get out of here. We’ve done an amazing route, probably VII 7. There was some signs of another attempt by somebody else, although we’re not sure if they followed the same line all the way as us.”
It seems that the other mystery attempt was by Simon Frost and Rob Gibson. To read more about this go to Simon’s blog.
Yr Arianrhod VII 6/7 *** 320m
P1 4 55m P1 of Central Gully.
P2 3 40m P2 of Central Gully to belay below the right end of a steep, roofed buttress on the right wall (midway between the Hedd Wyn and Scimitar Hill starts). Rounded spike belay. [Or follow the easier 2/3 alternative start to the right].
P3 6 50m Climb 5m up the right side of an obvious fin of rock (good gear) then make bold, committing moves right to gain an obvious shallow turfy groove. Up this to a snow ledge then straight on up the continuing steep turf line (5m left of Gallipoli) to gain the snow terrace. Belay over left at the toe of the next buttress (spike and nut belay).
P4 5 50m Move up the slab just right of the belay linking turf blobs then make bold moves left then up to gain good rock gear 8m above the belay. Follow turf up and right to gain a square cut groove in the centre of the buttress. Up this passing an awkward section then traverse left to large spike belay below the obvious cracked tower on the left wall of the groove.
P5 6/7 40m Great technical climbing leads straight up the slim groove/crack above the spike belay to gain the obvious ledge/break just below the top of the tower (tricky to place but good gear on the left). Committing moves lead straight up to a difficult exit (easier if neve) onto the snow ledge and a junction with the route Gerlan Heights. Cross the snow ledge and continue on easier ground up and left to belay on large cracked blocks.
P6 4 85m Awkward moves lead onto the top of the cracked blocks and a ledge. Step right and up the turfy wall to another ledge then one final wall to reach the crest of the buttress. Easy snow leads to the top.
Central Route VII 7 *** 166m
An amazing route following the summer line, with only minor variations. Some very bold climbing on the 1st and 3rd pitches. The 2nd pitch is outstanding. Rare conditions needed.
P1 30m Follow the summer line to the detached flake, continue up and right onto a sort of pedestal. Pull over the bulge directly in line with the main groove above. Good ledge.
P2 27m Follow the sustained groove, with good protection to a foothold stance under a block roof.
P3 18m Swerve round the roof on its right, then step out left to gain a hanging shute of icy turf. Very exposed! Belay at the foot of the right slanting chimney.
P4 27m Climb the thrutchy ice choked chimney to the Pinnacle.
P5 27m Climb up and right 20ft below the big roof to turfy ramps. Gain a slot in the overlap near its right hand side. This leads precarisly to a good ledge.
P6 37m Head up rightward slanting ramps to gain easy ground.
Trench Warfare VII 6, Black Ladders
Yesterday Keith Ball and Chris Parkin climbed a pair of short new routes at the right side of the main section of the Black Ladders. Trench Warfare VII 6 is a stunning and bold pitch up the open groove 3m left of the large spike on Forlorn Hope and just right of Sarajevo.
“This was a really good lead from Keith; there’s a grade 6 sequence at the top and there is no gear to speak of for this bit. I’d say it is a three star pitch, as good as anything on Hedd Wynn.”
Said Chris.
The lads also climbed Walking Wounded IV/V 5, another easier groove line to the right of Stari Most. The name is a reference to Chris who hobbled into the crag with a bad ankle, and then hobbled his way up the routes.
With the new guide (North Wales Winter Climbing) going to the printers today, Keith and Chris have gained the honour of being the very last entry in the book. The addendum section of the guide had been filling up on a daily basis over the last few weeks, with over 30 new winter routes added at various crags all over northern Snowdonia. Quite a start to a season that promises to eclipse even the very strong one of 2009/2010.
