19-21 July 2024
What a trip – 24 attendees for a great weekend at the Blaen-y-Nant Farmhouse in Trefriw.
THURSDAY
A group of us left MK early on Thursday to make the most of the weekend and dodge as much traffic as possible. Team Freelander with Greg, Bex & K1, team CRV with Matt, Emma, Nat & JP, and Dave, Malcolm and Adam bringing up the rear. Team’s CRV and Freelander managed to link up just past Birmingham with the help of the walkie talkies and after a quick lunch stop, made it to the hut in the early afternoon. The approach to the hut was twisty and narrow but well worth it and arriving at the hut we found it in excellent condition and with breathtaking views. Most importantly, no phone signal, hurrah!
The hut’s website holds some wonderful hand drawn guidebooks, detailing some of the crags a short walk away. With the weather holding well we decided to venture out to find said crags but after quite a circular trek, returned to the hut to fire up the fire pit and get some dinner going. It would seem that the local crags are quite overgrown and need some bush whacking to enable us tourists to find them. Dave went for a quick cooling dip in the local lake and we were later joined by Alan, K2, Neal & Tom.
FRIDAY
K2 and K1 had an early start to get over to Ogwen to block lead all 8 pitches of Grooved Arete on Tryfan (HVD) with K1 seconding.
Lee & Naomi headed for Marian Bach, as Lee recounts; “The path in question took a couple of attempts to find and it clearly was not regularly used and had become overgrown, almost to point of being impassable. I eventually emerged covered in scratches and stings from brambles and nettles having only had shorts and a t-shirt on (Naomi was more sensible). The crag itself, while a little overgrown had excellent climbing and we had the place to ourselves. We climbed 4a, 5a, 5b and 2 5c’s. I also top-roped a fiercely overhanging 6a but took several hangs to get up it.
Matt, Emma, JP, Nat, Greg, Bex, Adam, Laura and Rob headed to Bodychain for some sport climbing. This crag was also hard to find and we went somewhat wrong when we took a left at the garden gnome shrine, when we should have gone right. After walking behind and over the top of the crag, crossing a high stone wall in place of a broken style, we eventually found it and climbed down to the base with the help of some thoughtfully placed staples. This is a wonderfully maintained crag with the route names thoughtfully written on slate tiles at the base of each route.
SATURDAY
K2, Neal, Tom and Nick went to Clogwyn Bochlwyd. K2 led both pitches of Chimney Climb (S) in the rain with Nick seconding. Neal and Tom were able to bail when it started raining but must be given credit for waiting in the rain to make sure Nick and K2 were able to complete the climb safely. Afterwards they headed over to Plas y Brenin to climb on their indoor wall.
Lee & Naomi had a leisurely start and after driving in the direction of the slate quarries it became increasingly wet so stopped off in Llanberris for some shoe shopping coffee and cake. They then headed to Beacon for some indoor climbing. They managed to visit fairy falls in Trefriw on the way back to the hut.
Alan, Dave, Loz and Gill went for a 13.5 mile hike along a superb ridge close to the hut. They hiked up and down seven rocky summits/trig points, through (and in one case into and across) several boggy areas and pools. The seven summits were Crimpiau (475m), Craig Wen (548m), Moel Ddefaid (570m), Craiglwyn (623m), Creigiau Gleision (678m), Creigiau Gleision North Top (632m) and Y Pincin (264m). Total elevation gain across the whole distance was 828m, not bad!
Testing the depth of one peat bog pool Dave had an unexpected swim and his brand new bright orange shorts took on a slightly more “peat-bog” colour. Luckily it was a very warm day and there was no risk of hypothermia, although he did have to wring his socks out several times on the rest of the hike.
On the way back to the hut they visited the Plas-y-Brenin bar for well-earned refreshments.
Meanwhile, Matt, Emma, JP, Nat, Greg, Bex, Kieran, Adam, Malcolm, Laura, Rob and Georgia tackled Snakes & Ladders in the Dinorwig quarries. We were fortunate that the terrain sheltered us from the bulk of the bad weather but we didn’t complete the whole course and got rained off after lunch.
The start of the course is a short walk from the bus terminus and saw us to descend into Dali’s Hole and then cross through the hillside into California. This is where the infamous chain hangs for all those brave enough to climb it. Matt made it up first with a few aide rests (thank goodness for fifi hooks!) and then set up a haul line for the group so that we could assist everyone up, one way or another. We sheltered in the cave from the worst of the rain and then exited back out into Dali’s Hole for the abseil. This had become very wet so we decided to use the full length of our static to rig an improvised Tyrolean to lower people away from the wall and away from the slick slate face. Next was the letterbox sized hole that leads onto Australia, we all squeezed through here and complete the scramble up the scree face to the first level where we stopped for a bite of lunch.
We then found the rustiest ladder in Wales, which is the next part of the official course. With a belay setup we all made it up this without any issues. Though we weren’t quite prepared for the second rustiest ladder in Wales, which was the next part. This one is split in two, and requires the participants to step from one to the other, standing on 3 lengths of rebar, all the while bouncing about and flexing in the wind… An improvised belay from the top of the ladder had everyone up safely. We decided to call it a day here and walked down the miner’s path back to the car.
With everyone home safe and sound, all be it very wet, we scrubbed up and headed out to The Old Ship for a great meal, whilst some stayed to cook. We concluded the evening with a very competitive “Sling Game”, introduced by Lee, where by pairs stand on a chopping board and have to pass a sling from their heads to their toes without stepping off the chopping board. The sling got smaller and smaller which caused some very memorable laughs amongst the group.
SUNDAY
K2 returned to Ogwen with Neal and Tom. Linked Hope (VD), Lazarus (S) and The Arete (VD), altogether 8 pitches on alternate leads.
Lee & Naomi went to the Llanberis slate quarries intending to do A Grand Day Out which is a 6 pitch link-up that starts at the bottom tier of Australia and snake its way all the way to the top, however after a bold first pitch, found that both of the anchors had been de-bolted so decided to abandon this adventure and just do single pitch climbs in the Sidings area. Due to a mistake in the Rockfax guide, the 5a warm up climb ended up being 5c instead, a delicate slabby problem on small feet and crimps. They then did Polar Express (5c), a long route that traverses all the way across the big slab, where Naomi put in a fantastic effort seconding this, keeping her head despite facing some big swings on crux sections of the route. They also climbed Ivor the Engine (5a) and Choo Choo (5c) and finished the day with The Railway Children (6a) which was an excellent and challenging technical route featuring smears, high feet & big rockovers and some very blank sections.
Alan, Loz and Gill climbed on Little Tryfan. They did one multi pitch straightforward climb, Little Tryfan Arete (Difficult), which has two 26m pitches. Alan led, Loz followed on one rope, undoing and re-attaching the second rope to Alan’s gear, and Gill followed on the second rope taking out all the gear. It was a most enjoyable easy day prior to the journey home. After the climb they went to Plas-y-Brenin for a dose of essential caffeine for the drive back to MK.
Dave & Malcolm managed a quick lake swim before brunch and heading home.
Matt, Emma, JP, Nat, Greg, Bex, Kieran, Adam, Laura, Rob and Georgia headed to Betws-Y-Coed for a cooked breakfast at down under and then down to the river for some more Tyrolean/zip line fun.
After finding a lovely spot down by the river where we could cross via the bridge, we set about constructing a Tyrolean and tensioning it with a 5:1 system. This afforded us much fun and everyone zipped across the river with complete style. Some nearly got their bums wet but we all left nice and dry in the end. Afterwards we all headed for the border and made it back to MK late afternoon. A really great trip with lots of varied activity and fun had by all.
Great trip and some quality climbs. And some extensive abseil practise!