Highlights of the rest of the week were having a nice boulder down the
Pass with Neil Gresham, a great day on the Lleyn with him Mark Reeves and Llion
Morris, Neil Gresham repeating the ‘king of the pass’ challenge and repeating
Chicama on Trearddur Bay with Neil Dyer.
   Having driven back up from London having only been in Wales 2 days before
Neil Gresham was psyched for the Pass challenge. I met up with him down the Pass
for a great day bouldering and hangout and with Reeves and Llion in tow we
headed down the Lleyn the day after as Neil hadn’t been down there before and
was keen for some sun having been shivering up the pass the day previous. 
    We repeated Dan McManus’ fantastic route The Apprentice on Porth Ceiriad,
E7 6b. Starting more or less off the beach it follows a crack system with quite
good gear and holds which appear just as you need them, combined with some of
the best rock on the Lleyn I think it’s destined to become a classic. I think
it’s best to do it in 1 pitch just in case a loose hold comes off and you wipe
your belayer out. Reeves and Morris put up a new route up some choss and Reeves’
dishevelled look when we met them after it told the story of their climb well.
We finished the day climbing Cripple Creek on Dorys and the views back towards
the snow covered mountains were spectacular.

On the Saturday Neil Gresham was off to try the Pass Challenge with
Robin Thomas and myself and Neil Dyer headed down to Trearddur Bay to look at
Chicama.  I’d watched Tim Emmett on
his first attempts on the line in 2003 and was impressed that he led it with
pretty minimal pegs which were of dubious worth and also did a tricky looking
DWS to get into the start which would definitely get your arms going. Tims jump
off the top into the gap was also terrifying stuff. I was also impressed with
Hazel Findlays speedy ascent as most of the moves seem to be big reaches between
good holds and Hazel is only ~4 ft 7 . Hazels psyche and Pete Grahams pegging
skills were the main reasons some of us ‘locals’ got interested.
 
  I’d been down it once with Hazel but it had been wet and a little uninspiring at the time.
This time it was dry and having lowered down and warmed up on the upper wall I did it
 from near the bottom first go but with arms that felt a bit baked from the previous days.
Neil hadn’t climbed since being in America last year but still looked like he
could have climbed it without his feet! I went down once more to assess some
gear and sequences and belayed Neil again. The hardest climbing is to gain the
halfway mark where a good shakeout and cam are had before pumpy steep climbing
beyond. Being 45 degrees overhanging and tidal gives the climb an intimidating
nature. I thought I’d give it a go as it seemed reasonably safe with the current
in situ stuff although the start has a poky feel to it and it has a hard move
off a ‘crescent’ sidepull high up which would make for an exciting fall. Neil
built a belay on the slab left of Treacherous Underfoots crack and I climbed up
to place the first key cams and wires and down climbed to Neil for a breather.
Clipping the first peg I found an easier method for the next bit and the rest of
the climb went smoothly although I did feel tired on the crescent move. We
stripped the gear and headed for ice creams. 

   
That evening Robin Thomas dropped by with news of Neil Greshams success
on completing Jerrys roof, Lord of the Flies and Central Ice Fall in a day. As
they were coiling the ropes at the top of the ice route they heard a loud roar
and when they reached the base they discovered the top 2 pitches had collapsed.
I thought Robin was pulling my leg at first. I’m pretty sure my robust friend
Chris Guest who climbed it the day before must have destabilised it in his
passing. It was great seeing how Neil was stoked for the climbing in North Wales
again, although with the sobering climax Neil must have felt he was back on the
Indian Face. Good skills Neil and Robin.

Luckily 9 days off work coincided with some of the finest weather North
Wales has seen in some time making the area into a ‘Little Chamonix’. A
recommendation by Calum Muskett of the quality of Stevie Hastons route Harmony
on Craig Dorys led to a visit there on Saturday to escape the bank holiday
crowds. After a warm up on the beach boulder and a lengthy belay for Sophie I
managed to top out on yet again a stellar route by the Haston/McGinley team,
definitely owe them a pint. The route felt like a trickier version of the Great
White on the White Tower of Mother Careys in Pembroke but with pumpier climbing
before reaching the thin crux high up. Care is needed on the first roof but
after that the gear is quite good (take plenty of cam 2s) and this climb
deserves more attention together with its next door neighbour Tonight at Noon
one of the better protected E6s in North Wales.

The day after was a great day delving into a few different aspects of
climbing down the Llanberis Pass with Jim ‘Big Guns’ McCormac. The ‘Man of the
Pass Challenge’ was thought up by Neil Dyer some years ago involving climbing
Cascade, Jerrys Roof and Right Wall in a day. In January 2 years ago he did a
fantastic effort having climbed Cascade and Jerrys Roof in foul conditions Neil
scampered most of the way up Right Wall only to find verglas and snow on a ledge
leading to a big fall, a better tick than climbing it in my mind. Neither myself
nor Jim had climbed Central Ice Fall Direct and with clear skies it seemed
perfect conditions to try a Pass challenge as Dyer had thought up. Gareth Ashton
having been disappointed to have missed Neils effort the 2 years prior was keen
to come out and get some footage along with Neil Dyer himself.


    Being a Bank Holiday weekend we expected a crowd to be at the base of
Central Ice Fall when we arrived but we were delighted to be first on the scene.
The night before 2 friends and Pass/world climbing pioneers, Tim Emmett and Neil
Gresham had climbed 3 of the best ice routes in Wales starting on the Devils
Appendix and walking over to Craig Y Rhaedr to climb Central Ice Fall and
Cascade finishing at 4 in the morning. I was a little disappointed that the top
icicle still had lots of damoclean icicles and a txt from Tim saying watch out
for the top pitch ‘its fragile’ wasn’t great for the morning nerves. Another
friend Gareth arrived and made a swift solo of Cascade and when myself and Jim
arrived beneath the top pitch 3 friends, Jon ‘the Hobbit’ Ratcliff, Andy Scott
and Tim Badcock were perched at the first belay. I told them it would be like
being in Vietnam to be where they were and they said to do whatever I had to!
Shouting "ice" a great deal it was Andy Scotts whoops which let me know they
were enjoying dodging the pieces and were still thankfully ok. After cleaning
the bit to gain the icicle I pulled above and noticed the inch wide horizontal
fracture Tim had warned about. The route had 3 fantastic ice pitches and me and
Jim were made up. We got to the base at 11.20 and a handful of locals and Mick
Lovatt had arrived, unbelievably quiet, we weren’t complaining. At the Cromlech
boulder Clare Carlsen was a total star and brought our team a breakfast butty
each before we headed up to the Cromlech.

Arriving at the base with Jim I was disappointed to see big wet streaks
down the top of the Lord of the Flies and an ice chandelier which looked like it
could go and if it did could knock off the leader or injure the belayer. Dyer
comes up and being a legend pronounces he’ll boot the chandelier off and get
some shots from above. Tim Emmett (the ever stoked furnace) and Sophie arrive
along with ‘Fluff’ and Adam Wainright making the atmosphere pretty sociable. The
first ¾ of Lord were dry so I thought to do that and finish up the top of Right
Wall but reaching the girdle ledge I ask Neil if the top looks climbable, he
gives the green light and a few goppy moves later with some yells of
encouragement led to the top. It was the 4th time I'd led Lord of the Flies and
to be honest it felt as good as the first time. Climbing it reminded me of
Liveseys foresight, Fawcetts skill at climbing it in welly boots, Leos at doing
it by headtorch, Dave Thomas by soloing it and the first time I climbed it at
the end of a great week in Wales in 1999 with Colin Downer and Wesley Hunter.
During the week staying with Ken Thoms in Deiniolen we did loads of Welsh
classics, the Cad, the Moon,  Sexual Salami, Cardiac Arete, Silly Arete, Central
Sadness, the Dervish, Edge of Time, Weasels, and finished the week on Left Wall
and Lord. It was one of the best weeks of climbing I'd had at the time and doing
Lord was the cream topping of the week. Tim and Sophie bomb up Right Wall having
mentioned him and Leo had done it in trainers with a crap belay on the girdle I
was both impressed and disturbed by their antics.

We pile down to Jerrys Roof with Neil mentioning it should be a formality I
wasn't as confident having woken in the morning with painful aching strap
muscles and bingo wings from the Lleyn the day before. Jerrys is a problem I
must have done around 200 times or more and could do a few laps quickly when
fit. However I've gone from warming down on Statement of Youth to having to
redpoint it again in the course of a few months and ten goes later on Jerrys
things were not looking optimistic. Considering it was some poxy fun challenge
for locals I felt a ridiculous amount of pressure to get up it knowing I
wouldn't be trying the trilogy again nor would conditions necessarily come
together to allow it. After a 15 mins rest I managed to drag my sorry self up it
feeling considerably relieved. Tim Emmett comes down and having not done it for
years gets it done super quick. A burger fest at the Heights bar with most of
the people who had been out was a great finish to a day incorporating some of
the great types of climbing in the Pass. Thanks to Jim, Gaz, Dyer, Clare,
Hobbit, Andy Scott, Tim, Sophie and everyone else for making it an ace day.