Adam Rib, Craig Cwm Du

Crag/Peak: Craig Cwm Du, Mynydd Mawr
Routes: Adam Rib (HS 4b:led p.1,4)
Broke the long afternoon journey to the Caernarfon hinterland with an idyllic coastal run from Aber to Llanfairfechan and back. Blue sky, deep blue sea, a cooling onshore breeze. After a picnic, I headed up meet Vic at the obscure but superbly situated village of Fron. I couldn't remember coming up here before, but the views of Nantlle and Llyn are tremendous, especially on a day like this. We had decided to take advantage of the heatwave by going for those high, north-facing crags that need weather like this - always satisfying to grab these 'prizes', rather like winter climbing in that sense. We parked at the quarries and walked along the fine level path above Llyn Ffynnhonau to gain the main Mynydd Mawr ridge. We should have just contoured into the cwm at this point, but looked to maintain height and quickly ran out of descent options as the crag just becomes too steep. Cue an infuriating detour all the way to the top of the crag and down rubble and heather slopes further east. An enormous waste of precious time and - more importantly - energy, as we were intending to head to Cloggy first thing tomorrow morning. Once there, Adam Rib is fairly easy to identify: I'd been up in this remote cwm once before and have wanted to do the route for years. It is one of the classic low-grade mountaineering routes in Snowdonia, and clearly visible from Caernarfon and surrounds. It gives a lovely route in a delightfully peaceful location. It was all bone dry and warm as I set off up the messy first pitch with the sun sinking over the ridge. Even this had pleasant moments, a long 40m scramble with some steeper sections up the rib line. Vic went too far left on the next pitch, but I thought it was a lovely piece of gentle climbing, up the left wall of a deep groove to a subsidiary rib, then a juggy traverse across to the stance. As Vic was now diagonally above me, and completely off route, I fashioned a belay with the limited gear I had and he continued to lead upwards towards the real line, depriving me of pitch three! After a delicate traverse across to get his gear, I moved back to the juggy crack left of the main rib, then a few loose pinnacles to the saddle belay below the final pitch. This is steep and narrow: the crux of the route, so it was nice to be able to lead it especially as the low sun lit the rib as we climbed upwards. I crept up the right-hand side then pulled leftwards onto the rib in a superb position. The rock needs careful handling here, but the 4b crux is very short and the position above is excellent as the rib flattens out whilst remaining narrow. Then a beautiful walk down from Mynydd Mawr, along the ridge in superb clarity of evening light, with a long corridor of sunlight over the Irish Sea and Llyn. A couple of pints in the Railway in Porthmadog followed by pizza on the terrace.