Saturday, February 27, 2010

Tremadog climbs

Crag: Craig Pant Ifan/Craig Bwlch y Moch
Routes: Scratch (VS 4b,4b:led p.1), Shadrach (VS 4c,4b,4c:led p.2), Grim Wall (VS 4b,4c:led p.1)

First time on rock since September and, as such, quite good going - particularly as it was raining heavily when I left home. To knock off three classic routes in a February afternoon was satisfying: an unexpectedly good day and a real bonus (particularly given that I actually wanted to climb snow gullies on Clogwyn y Garnedd)! We started on Pant Ifan, where I led up the scrappy and wet initial slabs of Scratch to a short crack before a delightful slabby traverse to the belay. Inevitably, technique/footwork was rusty after this cold winter as I followed Vic up the layback crack in light drizzle, before another traverse across the slabs gains an easy jamming crack to finish. Good varied route. After a snack at the car, we moved across to Bwlch y Moch and did The Brothers start to Shadrach: a polished off-width. I then led an easy but lovely second pitch, Shadrach proper, up the slab on sharp holds (in warm sunshine!) before following Vic up the short crux step off the big flake to a nice direct finish. Grim Wall was then irresistable. I'm pretty sure I've done this before - I definitely remembered the first pitch, a romp across a series of juggy flakes. The top pitch is superb, absorbing, quite intricate and unexpected, easily the best climbing of the day. A little mantel gains good holds and a traverse left to a groove. Then splendid steep moves on big flakey holds straight up the rib. A classic Tremadog day, with all of Snowdonia in drizzly/snowy clag except this micro-climatic coastal strip.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Dash in the Dark fell race

Race: Llandegla Dash in the Dark race 2 (4m/750ft)
Time/Position: 28:35 (2nd from 25)

Found myself leading this race after the first few zig-zags. A novel experience, to say the least, but particularly so given the wonderful conditions of soft snow and (obviously) complete darkness. A young lad stayed with me, and we pulled away on the long climb to the Black Grouse hide. I gained a few more metres on him during the descent, but he finally pulled past me as we raced along the flat wall at the end of the lake. My fourth running of this race, always great fun, and I followed the route I'd always done: wrongly, as it turned out, because I missed a 200m long new section at the far end of the lake (as did the leader, whose light I was following). I admitted my error as soon as I found out (after talking to others) but was let off as I was nearly 5 minutes ahead of third place, and the whole event is very relaxed and informal.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Sandstone Trail run

The timing of this was not ideal, but I felt the need for a longer hilly outing before next Sunday's half marathon. Since doing the 17m Sandstone race a few years ago I've been intending to run the rest of the trail - but have only done small sections. Today I started in Frodsham itself and gave myself an hour to get as far as I could, before turning back. A steep climb leads from the town up to Beacon Hill (good views of the snow covered Pennines and Clwydians) before a very pleasant rocky path heads SW along the crags to Woodhouses Hill then south below Alvanley cliff. Boggy going in places: I fell at one point, emerging with just a few cuts. The route then heads south through Manley (where the Helsby half emerges) before entering Delamere Forest. I emerged at Barnes Bridge after 55 minutes: that is, the finishing point of the race. The return run was hard going at times, with heavy hail showers.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Cwm Clyd

Crag: Cwm Clyd
Routes: B Gully (wI/II:sol), A Gully (wI:des), C Gully (wII:sol)
Peaks: Y Garn
Area: Glyderau

Even by recent standards, this was a frenetic pre-breakfast outing up and down three gullies in less than 90 minutes before the weather closed in. Remarkably, this was my first visit to Cwm Clyd for 19 years. In January 1991 Tim and I climbed Banana Gully as our first ever winter route then got lost on Glyder Fawr through careless navigation, descending into Nant Peris: a classic youthful error! Although I've done the ridges many times, winter and summer, I'd never been up the other gullies. It's a lovely little cwm (good choice for a solo day), easily reached by a steep slog from Ogwen, and the weather wasn't as bad as I'd expected as I started up the snow slopes at the back of the cwm. The snowline is very high now, 750m, and it felt mild today. That said, conditions were still good, fresh snow on solid neve, as I left the uniform slope of A gully to enter B gully. An early chockstone was easily turned on good solid snow and turf to the right, before lovely cramponing up gentle slopes led to a slight steepening near the top. Shallow but well defined: a nice route. The mountaineering flavour meant a visit to the summit seemed appropriate, before locating A gully (not easy in thick mist) and enjoyably descending its gentle slopes to the mouth of C gully. This is deeper than the others, twisting and atmospheric, though even gentler than B for most of its length. It twists right and contains a bit of ice and a few chockstones before emerging on gentle snow slopes. I was pushed for time, so downclimbed it rather than topping out, so I could jog down from Cwm Clyd back to Ogwen by 10.30am. Quite heavy snow as I descended (and rain lower down).

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Abergele border league

Race: Abergele 5 miles (border league race 4)
Time/Position: 28:39 (19th from 233)

Good conditions and route for fast times (calm, cold, flat). Still, this was an encouraging performance which gave me both a 5 mile PB and my first ever top 20 finish in the league (after 23 or so BL races!). Started off quite fast, nice running along the seafront towards Old Colwyn, then picked up some places on the little hill through the caravan park and finished reasonably strongly. Only my second outing in the league this season.

Monday, February 08, 2010

Cwm Caseg

Crag: Cwm Ffynnon Caseg
Routes: Col Route (wI:sol), Elen Gully (wI/II:sol)
Peaks: Yr Elen
Area: Carneddau

I've been looking for an excuse to visit Ffynnon Caseg for many years - arguably the remotest lake in north Wales, and one of the most isolated cwms. Exploring the gentle snow gullies is really the only thing you can do up here, so the prevailing conditions of perfect neve above 700m made it the obvious choice, particularly as this was a solo day. Prospects were very bleak as I walked through Ciltwllan above Bethesda in the murky pre-dawn drizzle. A sharp snow shower, the clag right down, made for a dark, dank start up the boggy lower cwm (last visited as I struggled through the brutal final leg of the Carneddau fell race over Gyrn Wigau a few years ago). The walk-in is about as long as it gets in Wales, but genuinely atmospheric, particularly alone. The valley twists to the south, then climbs to a hidden valley below Cwm Bychan before a final rise to the fabulous Cwm Ffynnon Caseg. After a snow-free valley, the cwm was (as I'd hoped/predicted) a bowl of iron-hard neve, the lake frozen solid. An obvious snow-holding area, 750m up and north-facing. The clag was right down, making it hard to identify potential routes upwards, so I took a bearing from lake to bwlch and went for the conservative option of Col Route. Just a gentle snow slope, which felt quite Alpine in the conditions (partly because I couldn't see the top) and curves to the right above a small buttress. I moved into a shallow gully next to the steeper buttresses and emerged on the nice ridge path to the top of Yr Elen. An enjoyable mountaineering-style ascent, so I continued in the same vein, navigating down to the NE ridge in thick mist. This ridge is Alpine in tone for about 50m(!) before almost immediately petering out into scree slopes. At the bottom, I traversed left into another gully line which I took to be Elen Gully (but which could have been anything: descriptions are fairly meaningless and redundant here, it's just a place to enjoy the scenery and atmosphere). This gave an enjoyable sprint upwards on perfect neve, through a narrowing before emerging near the summit. Back down to some flat boulders above the lake for a wonderful scenic solo breakfast - unsurprisingly, saw nobody all morning. Long walk out, but back in Bethesda before 11.30.

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Nick Beer 10k

Race: Nick Beer 10k (Llandudno)
Time/position: 37:37 (19th from 540)

A gentle easterly breeze was a help for the climb around Marine Drive, which goes on for almost 5k. Hazy sunshine for this most scenic of road races, with wonderful views down the cliffs to the sea, but a distinctly average performance from me. I went quite well on the climb (19:20 at 5k), then started to pick up a few places as we entered the West Shore, but again my lack of a sprint finish cost me: four runners went past in the final 200m. Possibly slightly tired: did the Famau run on Friday night, and two speed sessions last week. Still, a nice trip and a well organised race. I was 12 minutes quicker than the last time I did it in 2002, when M was a few weeks old and I was somewhat sleep deprived! Out of the prizes this time: 5th v35.