Craig y Bere climbing

Crag/Peak: Craig y Bere, Mynydd Mawr
Routes: Angel Pavement (HS 4b:led p.1,3,5), Pinnacle Ridge* (D:sol), Sentries Ridge (D:sol)
Another one of those rather obscure mountaineering routes that has lurked somewhere in the recesses of my mind for 25 years or so. I was last up at Craig y Bere 12 years ago for a mass ascent (including Kate) of Sentries Ridge. It's a strange place, rather disconcerting with its crumbling pinnacles and shifting scree: hence the gap between visits. But when I climbed the Eastern Arete of Y Garn a couple of years ago, I looked again at Angel Pavement from the other side of the valley: it's a tremendous line, an obvious weakness which takes a linked sequence of slabby gangways to negotiate the most impressive and coherent section of the cliff. Quite humid as Mick and I walked in from Planwydd, mercifully dry after weeks of unsettled weather. A steep early climb leads to a good contouring path towards the unappealing looking first pitch. I led, finding it a tad better than it appeared. Not much gear, as expected, but no technical difficulty and it could actually be adequately protected with an inventive use of small cams. Scrappy ground led to slabs, then a short juggy wall to a grass ledge. All the rock needs testing, but most of the loose stuff has been shed over the years. Mick's second pitch was better, and very photogenic as he traversed out above Nantlle to gain a good clean slab. This gives interesting easy climbing and another long 46m pitch to a small ledge below the obvious wet overhang. I then led the crux third pitch, supposedly 4b. Damp slabs below the overhang lead to a tapering of the slab line as it narrows and steepens to form a rib. The crux moves are so brief as to be barely noticeable: a steep pull, with abundant gear (for once) leads to big holds and broken ground - emerging at another small ledge in a superb position looking across to the Nantlle ridge and over the rest of Craig y Bere. The fourth pitch takes a broken rib to nasty grass slopes then a shattered corner, while my short fifth was even more scrappy. Very much a climb to go to with a mountaineering head on: it does have a little whiff of seriousness for the grade, but is so technically simple that it just adds to the route. The climbing may not be especially satisfying, but it is a rewarding experience, and I proposed to continue the day in the same vein. We both descended a steep scree gully beyond the finishing pinnacle, exposed initially, then merely awkward. Mick left for home after lunch at the sacs, and I bombed up the first section of Pinnacle Ridge, finding it rather too loose for comfort. At the upper headwall, I sneaked off down a side groove and headed over to Sentries Ridge. Mick had taken most of the gear, so with a light sack I raced up the ridge in just over 10 minutes. I'd forgotten what a good scramble it is: one of the best in Snowdonia, marred only by its escapeability. I took the gendarmes direct, moving left over the gully for the highest, most crumbly one before realising my error and regaining the crest. Not particularly loose nowadays, certainly compared to Pinnacle Ridge. I ran to the top of Mynydd Mawr and enjoyed five minutes total peace before running flat out back to the car via the lovely curving grassy ridge above Craig y Bere. Great views down to Cwellyn and great downhill running throughout.