Blog Posts in Category: North Wales

Gogarth Climbing

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Rock Climbing Short Link

As a climber who claims to love sea cliff climbing, there was one major sea cliff in England & Wales where I have yet to successfully climb. About three years ago I had a bit of an epic on Main Cliff which resulted in having to abseil into the sea. It has been high on my list of destinations to return to, but it just hasn’t quite happened. Due to the weather crapping out in Snowdonia, after a brilliant day on Lliwedd we headed over to Gogarth for two days of sea cliff climbing. Day 1: Lighthouse Arete Direct, Castell Helen We had a chilled out start to the day due to having had a long day the day before, which was followed by a few whiskies due to it being my birthday. The morning was lovely in North Wales so it was a shame to have had a lie in while it was sunny, but we enjoyed a chilled out breakfast in Capel Curig before heading to Gogarth. Due to the forecast being for rain, there being strong winds at the carpark and me being a bit ill, we decided. Read the full article…

Birthday Adventure on Lliwedd

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Rock Climbing Short Link

Many times while walking the classic Snowdon Horseshoe I have looked across from Crib Goch at the impressive cliffs of Lliwedd and have been drawn to them due to their scale as the shady cliffs tower above Llyn Llydaw. You don’t have to read far into the climbing at Lliwedd to realise that it is far more than a multi pitch crag, due to a combination of it’s size, the rock and it’s location in the mountains it seems to attract far more than it’s fair share of epics. I headed up to North Wales with Becky for my 25th Birthday weekend, and armed with a good forecast following a dry day we decided to head up to Lliwedd to have an adventure. Instead of opting for one of the more popular 12 pitch easy routes, we headed for a 5 pitch E1 called Terminator, followed by a 180m diff up the final arete of the face. I knew route finding was likely to be a problem at some point on the face so had planned to make sure I read the guidebook lots on the walk in while inspecting the. Read the full article…

Stag Weekend in North Wales

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Rock Climbing, Walking Short Link

It’s been a while since I have written a blog post, which is more due to the shear volume of climbing I have been doing, rather than the lack of climbing. I have been having an excellent season and have been making good headway into E2 and am now looking forward to the rest of the season. Last weekend I was due to head up to North Wales for a friend’s stag do, and given the nice weather three of us decided to head up a day early and do a mountain route in Snowdonia. We decided on Grooved Arete and were pleased to discover that we were the only people on the crag when we arrived in the morning. The weather was fantastic but very warm and humid in the sun which made the approach pretty warm. I lead the entire route to save time due to thunderstorms being forecast in the afternoon. The route was fantastic with lots of interesting pitches, although there was a surprising amount of polish which was a bit of a shame. The standout pitches for me were the second main pitch, the third main. Read the full article…

Western Gully – Black Ladders

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Winter Climbing Short Link

In an attempt to make the most of the brilliant conditions up in North Wales at the moment we took Friday off work and headed up for a long weekend winter climbing in North Wales. It was great to only spend 4hrs in a car and be at a winter climbing destination, rather than the normal 9 hours it takes to get to Scotland. Today we headed up into the Black Ladders to climb the classic Western Gully, a route which Nick had unfinished business with. After a reasonably leisurely start we set off just as it got light and made the seemingly never ending walk up towards the crag. Not knowing much about the conditions of the Black Ladders we were pleased when it came into view and was suitably white. Eventually we got to the base of the crag and had to make the long slog up the approach slopes, which was incredibly tedious thanks to unconsolidated snow on top of rocks. Eventually we arrived at the base of the climb and geared up. In an attempt to save some time we started by soloing the easy initial. Read the full article…