Penmaenbach climbing

Crag: Penmaenbach, Conwy
Routes: Agent Orange (f5c:led), Jefferson Slab (f5c:sec), Multicultural Slab (f5b:led), Helvic Wriggle (f6a:sec)
Cold and clear this bank holiday, so we headed for an efficient, ultra-brief trip to Conwy, walking to the crag from Sychnant at 4.30pm. I'd never climbed with Peter before, surprisingly, so we began with a couple of easy bolted routes on the upper tier, both of which I've done several times before. Agent Orange is nice, however, and a little steeper than most of the climbs here. A cold northerly blew, but I felt that some newly bolted routes near the main slab, lower down, would give more shelter (and I'd never climbed on this level before and fancied doing something new on this crag where I've done everything else in range). Most of the new routes look very scrappy, but they prove a little better in reality, and I quite enjoyed the slanting, disjointed f5b which takes a series of sloping walls and ledges to gain a vague left-slanting crack which leads to the top much further left. The 6a is a tad overgraded, but starts steeply then has a few technical moves to gain more disjointed wall and ledge action. Not too bad, but we were hungry and keen to enjoy a couple of pints in the Albion, so headed back to Sychnant in glorious crisp, clear evening sunshine: tremendous crystal clear views of the Orme.