Tryfan climbing

Peaks/Crag: Tryfan (East Face)
Routes: Grooved Arete (VD:led p.1,3), Belle Vue Bastion (VS 4c,4b:led p.2), Linear Climb (S 4a:led), Gashed Crag (VD: led p.1,3), Bubbly Wall (HS 4b:led)
A bit of a trip down memory lane, as it's been 20 years since I last did the classic mountaineering routes of Gashed Crag and Grooved Arete. The day had a bit more than that, though, and was a very satisfying outing. Some mist and black clouds as Mick and I slogged up to the Heather Terrace, both of us still a bit tired after Saturday's tough race and a 10k recovery run yesterday. I led the first pitch of Grooved Arete, which goes up a very polished corner before taking steeper cracks up to easy slabs. The second pitch is better, culminating in a lovely delicate groove. The route was obviously even more polished than it was back in 1991! I led a scrappy third, then we moved together for another 50m pitch, finding the most continuous line up broken rocks to the base of Terrace Wall but sadly missing the best upper pitches of GA. There was a good reason for this, though, as neither of us had done Belle Vue Bastion before, and it is a wonderful line up the imposing front of the steep Terrace Wall. Easy climbing over blocks leads to a short groove, before a tricky move on little positive pockets gains a curving narrow slab. Neat moves up this to the Grove of Bollards, a fantastic place with mist swirling around and intermittent views down to Ogwen. Superb rough rock throughout this route, a huge contrast with GA's polish. I led the spectacular but easy second, with its famously photogenic traverse above the void to gain a groove and mantelshelf which leads to easier climbing. This section was mossy and wet, however, after several weeks of unsettled weather. A fine climb, low in the grade with only one tricky move, marred only by its brevity. We descended North Gully, then I led Linear Climb - on the left of Terrace Wall - after a brief lunch. This was slightly disappointing, not helped by the fact that it was wet and dirty. A nice groove goes up to a small roof, good moves left avoid the roof to gain a slab, then steep moves on flat holds lead to another groove. I climbed above the belay for a few metres and brought Mick up. The rest of the second pitch looked pointless - a wet, mossy scramble, so we traversed off into North Gully and enjoyed scrambling down Little Gully back down to Heather Terrace. It seemed very likely that our next target, Munich Climb, would be soaking, so we did the other uber-classic Gashed Crag instead. Again, 20 years since I did this and, again, it was even more polished than I remembered. We romped up the route in just over an hour, though, really good fun. I led the long first up surprisingly steep and polished cracks, while Mick merged the thin grooves up to the 'Gash' with the polished chimney, a notorious thrutch. The chimney is particularly awkward with big sacks, which is what we both had, and I had vague memories of Tim and I having to dump ours and come back for it later! Fine alpine climbing up the easy ridge led in two pitches to the final wall, where I decided to lead the alternative (much better) finish up Bubbly Wall. I had no memory of doing this before. An awkward scramble up to a wet crack precedes an exciting sequence across the left wall on small holds to gain a small arete and then the upper wall. This has lovely rough pocketed holds, as the route's name suggests, but was wet and mossy in places today. Nothing too troubling, though, and a fine way to finish on the South Summit in atmospheric mist. Well over 1000ft of climbing today, I would have thought, which was nice after such an inactive summer in rock climbing terms. We jogged down the south ridge to the stile, then down the scree to the Cwm Tryfan path. More gentle running down the cwm below the increasingly mist-shrouded East Face back to Ogwen.