Tremadog climbing

Crag: Craig Bwlch y Moch, Tremadog
Routes: Christmas Curry (S:led p.1), Treemudrock Finish (VS 4c:sec), Valerie's Rib (HS 4b:led p.3), Tro (HS 4a:sec)
After yesterday's torrential rain, today brought warm spring sunshine. It seemed likely that the mountain crags would be wet, so reliving a few old easy favourites at Tremadog seemed a logical, if unimaginative, option. I was extremely rusty, having not climbed properly for many months, so kicked off with the first couple of pitches of Christmas Curry. I first did this just over 25 years ago, in February 1992. An easy chimney leads to a few moves left up a steeper wall to the belay (merging the first and second pitch). Having previously done both the normal finish and the completely different Micah finish, Vic led up the central Treemudrock (Plum Duff) finish for a change. This is a fine and under-rated pitch, steep and very direct. The final crack is quite sustained at the upper end of VS, but the rock is superb: solid and unpolished, with just a bit of vegetation given its lack of popularity. A mixture of jamming and bridging, with the odd use of small face holds, allow for a reasonably smooth ascent. The day was now almost hot, so we nipped down and across to the direct start of Valerie's Rib in an attempt to knock it off before lunch. Another route I have done several times before: the direct start makes it quite a bit longer and leads via slabs to the crux traverse which leads right to a stance at the base of the main rib. The traverse is always a tad delicate, but the rib gave its usual delightfully delicate climbing: lovely in the sunshine. I led the scrappy final pitch up  a series of wet walls, before we descended for lunch at the van. We finished with the good single pitch of Tro, at the far right of the crag: also done before. As its name suggests, this is a neat route for the time squeezed, which we both were, as usual. Superb clarity of light as we drove back through Snowdonia.