Cwm Glas climbs

Peak: Crib Goch
Crag: North face
Route: Reade's Route (HVD: led p.2)
Crag: Ettws Isaf
Route: Little Benjamin (S: led p.1,2)
A pseudo-Alpine day of modest mountaineering in the corner of Eryri which gets closest in appearance and ambience to parts of the southern Alps (albeit not all that close!). Alwyn and I started early, under glowering and unpromising skies, making good progress up towards Cyrn Las. Didn't feel any after-effects of last night's race, and we cut up the Gennog stream SE to gain Cwm Glas Uchaf east of the lake and thereby make the walk-in as brief as possible. It remains one of the remotest climbs in North Wales, though, and took over an hour to reach by this route - which is more logical and satisfying than via PyP. The buttress looks steep and imposing from the lip of the cwm, but this is an illusion. We scrambled up wet scree and easy rock to a stance at the bottom of Crazy Pinnacle gully. Alwyn led the easy first pitch up a long rib. This gave me the crux: up a surprisingly steep flake crack to good holds and a ledge. Then comes the famous pinnacle. Rather an anti-climax in terms of the position, as it's not very high up! It is great fun, though, with easy climbing to the top of the pinnacle followed by the stride across to the face. Wet rock gave me food for thought here, as the crucial foothold was slimey, but a side pull soon gains a big jug and a cosy stance. Alwyn finished up the enjoyable groove in a splendid position to gain the ridge amidst hordes of tourists. The crowds then rather ruined the mountaineering vibe as we crossed the crest of the ridge to Crib Goch summit, although at least we had the North Ridge to ourselves. Stuck to the crest (my 20th crossing?) with good scrambling throughout: an excellent and appropriate way to complete and descend from a mountaineering route. Found all the shortcuts through the crags to emerge near Ettws Isaf, and decided on a whim to do Little Benjamin - which is very obviously the line of the crag. It turned out to be an excellent little climb, another unheralded mini-classic. An awkward steep start up an off-width crack soon eases to gain a ledge, before a shuffle left leads to another steep crack on positive holds to the bay. I was enjoying the route so much I led through to the next pitch, traversing left up a huge juggy flake to gain a pinnacle in a good position. The climb is so well protected, however, that I ran out of gear: we were using a light rack given the nature of the day. So I brought Alwyn up before completing the second pitch up to another flake, followed by a fine slabby finish over the nose. A lovely climb, clean, varied, interesting and sustained at the gentle standard throughout.