Wales, again...

Seeing a James couldn't make it the weekend of easter due to a back injury me and him headed out this weekend instead. For easter we planned to go and play at Gogarth; 1, because James has never been before and 2, because I really wanted to go there. I met James at Dobbies Garden world on the way past Shrewsbury for the normal pick up. We got to Llanberis pass for about 6ish which gave us loads fo time to snag a route in the Pass before it got dark. We hopped on Phantom Rib (VS 4c) on Carreg Grochan. It's a 4 pitch route that takes a fantastic rib on the second pitch and you can absiel off. This suited us down to the ground. Seeing as we'd be heading to Gogarth in the morning and James hasn't climbed outdoor much over the last year it was something good to start on.

I've done Phantom Rib before, well the first 2 pitches at least about 3 years ago with Dan and Toaf. We bailed off it. Why I can't remember. What I did rememer was seconding the first pitch and thinking that I never could have lead that. That feeling came straight back as I jumped onto it. In reality the first pitch went fine, as did the second after I found my way. The third pitch belay was awesome in the evening sun on a cramped sloping ledge but it helped iron out any problems with our stance and rope management. I think I did the final pitch wrong as it didn't feel right, but I got to the abseil station fine and brought up James. Here we ran over abseiling and I chucked off the ropes... straight into the crack I'd been keeping them out of the stance of the third belay. Down I went to sort it all out. We found ourselves enjoying a quiet pint nowt more than 30 minutes later in the Vaynol Arms.

As for sleeping arrangement this weekend we'd opted for the cheep option. Sleeping under the cromlech boulders with an early start to dodge Old Rosie. James had never bivied out before but I assured him that all would be ok it wouldn't rain, we wouldn't freeze to death etc etc. I snuggled down in my sleeping bags reading "Nineteen Eighty-Four" before sleep comsumed me. What did saturday hold for us, well an early start for one thing and a brew at the car because we'd realised that we'd gotten up too early for pete's to be open. We could have skipped Pete's but this was still a holiday as well a climbing weekend. Breakfast at Pete's which now included black pudding (something I'm a huge fan of). Then to Holyhead and Gogarth.

We went to the port first and got the highspeed ferry times and tide times before we set off and parked up at the country park, somewhere I've not walked in from before. I think I prefere walking in from here as it's a nice walk up through the quarries and then over into the piece and quiet of the sea cliffs. After a bit of a navigational error on my part (the same error I made before infact) James found the right line down the the staging point for our chosen routes. I wasn't taking James onto the Wen Slab because the scale of the damn thing is so scary. We'd opted for Britomaris or one of the VS's round that region. I was so nervous as I set up the abseil. I was trying not to let how apprehensive I was to James. With the abseil rigged there was nothing else to wait for and off I set.

The abseil was fine, though I'm buying a static line for future use. Bouncing around in space isn't cool. I found the start of Britomaris and realised that our plan to do a VS to start wasn't going to happen. Again the scale of everything had got me and Britomaris was our only route out. I was now fighting in my own head. The route looked so steep and the start so hard because we hd a high tide, there was no way we could do this. I yelled that I was off the rope anyway and James started his descent. As he arrived he turned and said "How can you be so calm down here?". It was then I realised that I was only worried on my own, with James there I knew we'd do it. So ropes flaked, belay built off I went, trying the protect the start for James as best as I could.

Brit takes a diagonal rising crack line, on a series of jugs, but it is relentless. It's not a slabby route and there's not hands off rest at all. I'm a pretty quick leader even on HVS terrain normally but today I was climbing slowly and methodically making sure I didn't pop off a foot hold or slip. I placed gear as best as I could. Everytime I unclipped something from my harness I was paranoid I'd drop it in the ocean. The belay crept closer and closer. Eventually I got there and stared in dismay at the options for anchors. In then end I settled on 2 old pegs (tested) a size 2 HB offset and decent size 1 wire. I just didn't inspire confidence at all. The stance was cramped and sloping too.

James started climbing when I yelled. He'd been out of sight the whole time and belaying on yelled commands and watching the rope. As he climbed I stopped worrying about the belay and began to appreicate what a nice day it was. We had sea kayakers paddling underneath us looking up at us like we were mad (they're not far wrong) and the occasional seal swimming around beneath us, it's really an awesome place to be. James joined me on my sloping ledge and we set about sorting the ropes, re-racking the gear so I could head off. the next pitch set off along what was easier terrain (4c) but a gearless traverse. I was gone about 8 metres around an arete before I found the exit groove. It proved easy enough and I belayed to protect James across the whole traverse, something that he told me he was grateful of. He topped out with a look of happiness and relief. We congratulated ourselves on surviving and eat some food whilst basking in the sun. It really didn't matter what we did for the rest of the day, both our rat's were fed for that moment.

We packed up all the gear anyway and headed off back inland hoping to sneak in another route in the pass. We did actually manage to find a space in the layby byside Dinas Cromlech so up there we went. We dived straight onto Saber Cut (VS 4c) and I took both pitches. There was a couple of lost lads on the second pitch of Sabre thinking it was the finish to Dives/Better things (another excellent route) so me and James had a chance to relax on a ledge, talk to the other climbers and generally whine to each other about being held up. It was a nice evening topped off by a quiet pint in the pub and crashing back under the boulders.

Another early start to beat Rosie, which we managed again but only just. We'd jumped out of our bags, bundled into the car and zoomed spitting distance down the road to park below Grochan. We ended up walking to the crag with our mugs of hot chocolate to save time. The weather was so good and I've actually hardly done any climbing in Llanberis Pass I thought that we'd stay there for an easy day. We nipped up to do Nea (VS 4b) which would take us to the same ab point as Phantom Rib. The first pitch was probably most enjoyable taking a wide groove that required lots of bridging and using your body. The final pitch was the most exposured with very little gear on 4b climbing. Even though it was well within my grade I did feel a little unless on it as the rock isn't perfect. I trailed my one rope to protect James across the traverse. We abseiled off to find that people where only just arriving and starting to climb at the crag, what I delight to have bagged a route so early.

The downside to this was all the VS's had just seemed to fill up completely leaving us lacking in options. We wondered round a little till I found the groove of Brant Direct (HVS 5a). This would be the hardest route of the weekend, and we'd finish off up Brant (VS 4c). The groove line looked like it would have awesome climbing in so I attacked it with gusto. I'd carried my sizes 3 and 3.5 cam with me all weekend and I finally placed them on this route. Infact the pitch took a whole host of gear not to mention a massive range of techniques! Hand jams, finger locks, lay-aways all with copious amounts of bridging thrown in to allow for a rest. What a great pitch and one of the best I've done at the grade in Wales. James really enjoyed it, especially after confessing that he couldn't bridge and couldn't jam! He seemed fine on it. We finished up Brant which I thought was a little contrived in it's line but was a nice finish to the weekend.

The abseil off is probably the most interesting thing. You have to be pretty careful not to get your ropes stuck, which I what I managed to do but then James swung them into a crack. They were James ropes at the end of the day and they came free easy enough, but it just reiterated how easy it would have been to get them stuck. We abseiled off the second abseil (my first multipitch rappel) and decided to call it a day. It was early afternoon and we could have got another 2 routes in probably but we'd hammered a hard weekend as it was... then James suggested we stop off at the Rhug Estate for Ice cream. What a great idea?

So a weekend at Gogarth and Llanberis pass is perfect weather. I didn't climb the hardest grades, or the fastest but I definatly had to most fun of the past few weekends I've been away climbing.