George Cave

Demo Route

An early evening rush with Ross to Demo Route after the rain cleared. Being a military man, he insisted we followed it up with Civvy Route, fortunately for his career he got the lead clean.

Chair Ladder

Ita had never been climbing outdoors before, so Cat and I took her in at the deep end with a five pitch tidal sea cliff route at Chair Ladder. We initially ab'd in to the wrong route, and then traversed across too low so by the time we topped out of Pendulum Chimney we'd finished seven pitches of climbing.

Ross and I finished on the Hard Rock route Bishop's Rib, although I fell off on a section helpfully described by Ross as "that was so easy, how did you manage to come off?".

Will 'o the Wisp

Proclaimed in the guidebook as "one of the all-time Mid Wales classic routes", we found the crag at Craig Cywarch in a rather damp, vegetated condition. Undeterred, and hoping never to need return to this Classic Rock destination, we set off of a team ascent and were pleased to see the route improve considerably after the first, dripping pitch. Overall it was a rather cold day, clearly illustrated by the chilling temperature inversion in the valley below.

Gashed Crag

Ross, Clay, Steve and myself spent our first day of New Year's week in Snowdonia and the cold, clear conditions gave us great weather for a team ascent of this classic Tryfan scramble. One pitch below the summit we were joined by the buzzing hulk of the Coastguard Rescue which hovered obligingly long enough to get some decent photos mid-belay.

Festvågveggen

Our final day on the islands, so I took it easy after a smashing week of Norwegian granite and perfect weather. Ross, Will and Clay climbed Lundeklubben (The Puffin Club) while I had a nap, after which Clay and I followed Ross up Skiløperen, possibly the most impressive looking HVS line I've ever seen.

Nordryggen

A brilliant alpine expedition up the north ridge of Vagakallen. The climbing varied between scrambling and exciting crack climbing (with a huge dirty chimney thrown in too) and after many hours of moving up through the thick cloud, we emerged to a stunning panorama of the surrounding mountains. The climax of the route, a leap of faith across the chasm, is quite something too!