Energy Crisis

Before anyone gets too excited I didn't do Energy Crisis yesterday but I did expirence one!

Al low down on Park Lane/Doomsville.

After deciding Rhoscolyn would be too wet we all headed to the Upper Tier. Alex led Park Lane/Doomsville in one long pitch. I'd lead it 5 years previously on one of my first visits to Gogarth so wasn't fussed about leading it. Seconding I was impressed with my seventeen year old self, it would have been a big lead for me back then.

The Strand next. My lead. The Strand and I have a colourful history. I first tried it back in 2007 on the same day I did Park Lane/Doomsville. Pumped silly after that and an ascent of Central Park (a pumpy HVS) I got to a tricky move at two thirds height and ran out of juice.

My next attempt came in first year. I  got spat off after committing to a lay back sequence a mid height.

Understandably nervous I set off. Trying to get into the Burdakin mantra that it's just a bit of fun and nothing to serious. The climbing on the strand is never difficult, but it is steep and is sustained. Thankfully it is well protected by good cams and wires, but good rests a few and far between.

Tom Everett cruising past my high point on the Strand.

Slowly I climbed my way up. Placing gear, committing to sequences and trying not to get too pumped. It all seemed to be going to plan and I climbed past my previous high point eventually. By this point I was pretty pumped and I didn't have much left. I stood around for ages in this semi rest, pretty tired and pretty scared. I managed to fiddling in an okay Rock 1 above my head. I just couldn't fathom what to do next. I tried saying take but Al was having none of it so I continued upward in the knowledge I was near easy ground. I tried to talk myself into taking the fall by telling myself it would be fun, but my brain was having none of it. Two moves later my leaden arms managed to place a good nut. I grab this and screamed at Al to take in. All very undignified but a good learning expirence overall. Hopefully fourth time I won't have an Energy Crisis!

Al then cruised up the Strand on my gear, apparently it is a very good sport route, before wandering over to Energy Crisis. Al had been on this a couple of times before and been bamboozled by crux,  but had always down climbed to preserve his onsight. It took him a few good goes climbing up and back down the ground before he committed to the top. Good lead mate it was very impressive to watch.

Mason trying not to have an Energy Crisis.

Back at the bags we faffed around a bit trying to decide if to do another route. DMM Rob recommended Crowbar a one star E1 so headed for that with no expectations. We found an excellent corner climb, sustained, well protected and only a bit dusty: a poor man's Emulator. It's a pity it only get one star and isn't in the selected guides, it's well worth doing. Get on it!

It's Hardd climbng in the wet.

It was wet everywhere in Wales yesterday, but undeterred Burdy and I headed to Hylldrem. This venue isn't quite as permadry as some would make out, but it was the driest venue going so we got on with it.

Me just below the crux on Hardd.

Gwen and Livingbone had arrived just before use and had shotgunned Hardd the classic E2. While we waited for them Matt tried the Wildebeest. He gave it a good few goes climbing up and down before falling off. Thankfully by this point Gwen had reached the belay so I racked up for Hardd. The climbing was straightforward to begin with until a old peg is reached. I faffed around for ages trying to work out what to do next. Most of the key holds were dry and eventually I managed to get up to undercuts with a good cam by waist. From her perch Gwen was able to talk me across into a bridged position. I managed to rock my weight over, "where's the runner?" "Oh there isn't one yet." came the reply. Soon more gear and holds arrived. The climbing is steady away from this point but quite strenuous. Cheers for the beta and support Gwen!

The next pitch was piss wet and apparently 4b. It felt quite exciting! What a great route: fantastic climbing and a route finding masterpiece. The quintessential nineteen sixties lines of least resistance. Climbing the first ascent must have been outrageous.

Livingstone going for it on his attempt on Wildebeest.

Back on the ground Livingstone was having a burn on Wildebeest. He got a bit higher than Burdy before taking a whipper onto a 'booming' flake with a cam either side. Thankfully it held.

Chichicapac Film

Hamish has just finished editing a great little film on our expedition to Peru last summer. It's not too long and give a good flavor of what the climbing was like on the first ascent of the S Face of Chichicapac. Enjoy...

Cleaning Tremadog, talking, bouldering and Big G...

Three assignments, crappy weather and the arrival of Felicity (my new road bike) have prevented me from getting out over the last couple of weeks. Friday came and went and at last my last assignment of the year was handed in.

On Saturday Duncan, Gwen, Ollie and me drove to Tremadog to take part in the BMC clean up festival. The weather was pretty crappy when we arrived, but undeterred Duncan and I donned full waterproofs and head up the start of Christmas Curry towards Grotto. As I reached the bottom of the route of the route drizzle turned to rain and the crag into a waterfall. I decided that ground up cleaning Grotto in these condition would be a bit much so headed up the original finish to Christmas Curry, which was interesting in the conditions. Thankfully as I topped out the clouds cleared and the sun came out. Dunc seconded and did a bit of gardening to the top pitch. He lowered me down Grotto which need a good clean. I then top roped back up it. It will be a nice climb when a few rains have washed all the dirt away.

Dunc training for Alpinism on Christmas Curry.

Extreme gardening on The Neb.

The sun had been out for a few hours now and the crag was drying up nicely. Duncan and I were keen for the Neb/Broken Edge combo. However a shower of rocks indicated that it was still being cleaned do we decided to look elsewhere. We were a bit flummoxed of what to do and were heading towards Vector (which we’d both done) when I remembered Daddy Cool/The Sting, which neither of us had done. I nipped up the easy first pitch. Duncan then set despatched the tricky second pitch, which has an interesting move through a roof, without difficulty. I then scampered across the 5a traverse pitch to the base of Sting corner, Duncan found this surprisingly difficult on second.

Duncan getting perplexed by pitch 3 of Daddy Cool/The Sting.

The Sting corner was my lead. It looked hard and I was sorely tempted to whizz up the perfect hand jams on Reinetta instead, but if you don’t try these things you’ll never get up them. At this point a voice shouted up from the road that we had half an hour until the raffle started. I up climbed and down climbed the strenuous, but safe corner a couple of times, before cocking up my foot work and slipping off. With the clock ticking I swallowed my pride and aided my way out. Dunc seconded it clean and reckoned nearly 6a.

I’d be asked to do an evening talk about my BMC sponsored trip to Peru last year. Having never given a lecture before I was pretty nervous about it. I’d run through it a few times and had a good idea of what I was going to say. The talk seemed to well received and even the joke I made about the time I found a dead body went down okayish.

We spent the rest of the evening getting pissed on free beer and watching Miles say progressively more horrendous things before crashing out in the bunk house. The next morning we woke to rain so after breakfast at Eric’s we headed home. Back in Bangor the sun came out so we headed to Braichmelyn boulder for a bit of light entertainment. I flashed the V1 and V2, but could get anywhere on Central Wall (I reckon if would go at A3 of C4!) At least Ollie couldn’t get anywhere on it either! Duncan crushed it after a few goes before dispatching the sit start first go!

All those scriptures and self flagellation prevents Ogwen Cottage's resident monk from sending Central Wall...

The domain of heroes...

Gwen said she was mad keen for the Assassin so on Monday afternoon we headed to the Main Cliff with Matt and Polly. I gave the burly first pitch a good few goes before admitting defeat to the steep holdless crack. Gwen walked up it without issue! I seconded the pitch ok but had to frig it a bit to get the runners out. At the base of the crux it was clear that there was no way I’d be leading that one so I handed over the lead to Gwen, who cruised the pitch. I'd not climbed at Gogarth for a while but sitting on the belay looking out to sea I remembered what I love about the place so much. I managed to seconded it without too much trouble but I definitely don’t have the composure to deal with the scary run outs at the moment. Good lead Gwen but put more gear in next time!

Gwen ready to assassinate...

Gwen starting up the bold crux of the Assassin.

Gwen at the top of the crux pitch of the Assassin. You don't want to fall off here!

We finished the route and wandered back down to bags. I was pretty easy, but Burdy was mad keen for another route so we all ran down. Burdy dispatched Stimulator in style, while I cruised my way up Emulator. I had seconded it a couple of times before and always found tricky so I was pretty chuffed to lead it. The day finished in the dark, which always the sign of a good days climbing.

Me using my big legs to their full advantage on Emulator!

Kilt Rock and Diabaig

Amazingly I managed to convince my mother to lend her car for a week. Even more amazingly she agreed that I could drive it to Skye. So on Monday morning after a weekend of hard work Duncan and I set off North. We stopped in Glasgow to collect Jimmy the Greek and kept on going. The roads got smaller and smaller and after what seemed like an eternity arrived at Glenbrittle. It was raining.

Road tripping!

Duncan reads the guide book whilst Jimmy fantasizes about sharing a portaledge with Hazel Fitty...

I've been winter climbing Scotland plenty of times, but I've only ever done two rock routes north of the border so I was mad keen for anything. The weather was set to clear at 4am so optimistically we stayed put hoping that we'd still be able to send the Cuillin Ridge. Unfortunately it didn't and after a very wild night we awoke to snow on the ground.

Snow stops play on the Cuillin.

It had now stopped raining but was very windy. I managed to persuade a reluctant Duncan and Fingers that Kilt Rock might be worth a look. We arrived to find it in the sunshine, but it was still incredibly windy. Undeterred we donned all our clothes and abseiled in.

Kilt Rock - Grey Panther climbs the groove up the centre of the crag.

Our chosen route was Grey Panther a classic E1 and one of the easiest routes in Extreme Rock to boot. I was really psyched to lead Grey Panther as I'd seconded and fallen off quite a few routes in the book, but had never lead one clean.

Nervously I set of up the route. It's a big 40 metre pitch of sustained bridging and jamming on perfect rough rock. Thankfully blessed with good rests and with more runners you can shake a stick at (I placed 20!). Thankfully the pitch went smoothly and I was soon belaying Duncan and Fingers up. We then headed to Portree to warm up and escape the wind.

Dunc and Jimmy on Grey Panther.

Dunc near the top.

My mum wasn't pleased when I returned the car in this state.

The snow on ridge hadn't cleared so we decided to leave that for another day. We got back in the Car and zoomed off to Diabiag. This tiny coastal hamlet is one of the beautiful places I've ever been. We found somewhere to doss and spent a chilly night spooning together in our summer sleeping bags!

Diabaig in all her glory - The Pillar takes the prominent slab.

The next day we Duncan lead the Classic E2 The Pillar. A perfect 45metre long slab pitch with good but small and spaced gear. A good lead in the freezing conditions!

Cold rock and cold hands - Dunc on the Pillar.

We then headed rounded to the Main Crag where Jimmy lead the brilliant HVS Route 2. I then had a go at Northumberland Wall the crag's other classic E2. I couldn't work out how to climb through the overlap and wasn't prepared to commit to collection of crappy wires I had placed.

Jimmy leading Route 2.

Me on Northumberland Wall just before I backed off.

I then climbed Route 3 (E1 5b) as compensation. It wasn't great to be honest - a one move wonder with a reachy crux. The top 5a pitch was good fun though with a few moves of steep jamming.

Beautiful people in a beautiful place.

I had to be in Edinburgh the next day to collect some skis we're borrowing for Alaska (Thanks a million Anatom!) so we drove East. The plan was to do a couple of routes at Creag Dubh, however arriving in Aviemore there was snow on the ground so we enured another cold night before heading back to Glasgow the next day.

In short Scotland and Scottish rock climbing is amazing and I can't wait to go back for more!

Iron Crag

Thursday was another scorcher. Duncan and I got up early and set off hitching to the Lakes. We got a sweet lift with trucker from Bangor to Queensferry. The guy was good craic and gave us both a Stella from his fridge - Hero. After a while stood at Queensferry we got a lift to Lymm Services. The hitchers grave yard. We were there for 2.5 hours with no joy so ended up getting a taxi to Warrington Bank Quay and a train to Penrith. I've ended up bailing from Lymm on a few occasions, if anyone has any tips or a pair of trade plates I can borrow they'd be much appreciated.

Iron Crag - left hand buttress

In the ideal world we'd have headed to Scafell on Friday, but we had other stuff to do as well so headed for Iron Crag. This single pitch venue, 40 minutes walk up an idyllic valley near Thirlmere is probably the best crag in the Lakes not in the select guide. The left hand buttress is a perfect for those operating at E1 to E4, the middle buttress is unfortunately choss and the right hand crag is reserved strictly for wads with a brace of three star routes from E5 to E9.

I first climbed at Iron Crag with Pete Hill last year. We did a cool E1 Granolthic Groove followed by Marshall Law, which has a steep short first pitch then a long second pitch that traverse a crack, very reminiscent of Atlantis, True Moments Freebird. 

The second time I visited I climbed with Luke Hunt we climbed Steel Band an excellent E2 that runs parallel with Marshall Law. Luke then lead Marble Staircase (E4 5c), which I managed to second by the skin of my teeth.

On the third occasion, again with Luke, we raced up to the right hand crag after an afternoon on Swirl Crag. Luke racked up and went for it up the stunning overhanging groove of Western Union (E6 6c f7c). He gave it a really good effort before taking a long fall when his foot slipped. A superb effort and definitely one of the most impressive pieces of climbing I've witnessed.

Dunc chilling out in the sunshine on the walk in.

Keen for some stress free single pitching Duncan and I headed up, in the sunshine even the long slog up the scree slope didn't seem too bad. Dunc set off up Solidarity another ** E1 that climbs a groove to the right before joining Granolithic Groove. The route was a bit dusty and the climbing felt good value for the grade.

DC low down on Solidarity.

I've been wanting to climb Hiddenite (E2 5c) for a while. It is one of the best lines on the crag following a steep wall on the right hand side. I'd heard it was hard for the grade with a bold start so after racking up I set off nervously. Thankfully the bold start was easy, gear and more easy climbing up a groove lead to the meat of the pitch. After fannying around, sorting out runners and climbing up and down I psyched up set off up the wall. The climbing was excellent on positive edges I got two reasonable runners followed by a good cam. The overhang loomed above. I girded my loins once more and climbed trickily up to the good holds on the overhang. The climbing was strenuous so I continued past fiddly gear to jugs above. Pumping now I desperately fiddled a wire behind some crystals, shock out and pushed on, well aware that I was dangerously close to taking some big airtime. I clawed my way over the top psyched and chuffed.

Hiddenite - Dunc pulling through the groove there was no way I was stopping to fiddle in gear there!

Dunc shaking out on goof holds above the overhang.

Duncan then had a go at Amabalite (E4 6a) he climbed the tricky looking start groove. He then had to commit to a mantelshelf onto a small ledge with the gear well below his feet and no sign of the next runner. Unfortunately, the little hero managed to convinced himself that the gear wasn't good so came down. I abseiled down to retrieve the gear and there is a good runner a couple of moves above the ledge and I don't reckon the gear Dunc was convinced was going to rip is too bad either. Get on it!

Duncan climbing up the tricky initial groove on his attempt of Amabalite.

In the summer time...

The last 6 days having been hot, scorchingly so for March. I finished my assignment on Friday and headed to Lligwy beach for a barbeque to celebrate Duncan's and Burdy's birthday.

The assembled cast of heroes and choppers on Lligwy beach.

My mum came down for the weekend so we spend saturday bumbling around the slate quarries looking at the 'industrial archeology'. Nikki and I nipped to the summit of Elidir Fawr, which is very majestic with great views of the Glyders and down Ogwen.

On Sunday the clocks went forward (Hurray!) and I went cragging in the Pass with Mark Reeves who I'd bumped into a few times before but had never climbed with. I wasn't too fussed about what we climbed but mentioned I hadn't done Overlapping Wall, so we headed to the Wastad.

Mark Reeves on the first pitch of Overlapping Wall.

Me pulling through the crux on Overlapping Wall. Photo: Mark Reeves.

I'd done the first pitch of Overlapping Wall a few years previously but it got dark before I got a chance to do the main pitch. Mark had done the route many times previously so was happy for me to lead the crux. I climbed up to the overlap got a couple of runners in and tentatively went up and down a couple of times before committing to the bold and quite pumpy crux sequence. Thankfully the climbing is in balance and a good nut appeared before too long. Another tricky sequence followed and then it was pleasant romping to the top.

Next came Elidor which Mark recommended as more of the same. Again I got the crux pitch, which involved another pull over an overlap on funky holds, perhaps not quite as tricky as Overlapping Wall.

Old Holborn next the first route I ever did as a Bangor Student. I can vividly remember struggling through the crux, an innocent fresher, desperate to impress and Burdy in his blue Ron Hills seconding up still pissed. Mark's never done it. I lead the first pitch, which goes well until I get lost. A few minutes of faffing and I'm back on track and at the belay. Mark cruises the pitch and soon it's my turn I cock up the crux and end up swinging on the rope. The top pitch is tricky, more bold 5a rather than the straightforward 4c the guide suggests, thankfully it doesn't require too much thought. I'm keen for a route on the Mot to hide from the heat, but Mark's feet are killing so we call it a day.

Nikki is on nights this week and decides that climbing is more fun than sleeping so we headed to Ogwen to enjoy the sunshine. We swung leads up the super classic Grooved Arete on Tryfan, which was brilliant and lived up to the hype. The Knight's Move pitch is especially good. At the top we leaped from Adam and Eve before heading back to the car.

The East Face of Tryfan

Nikki leading Grooved Arete.

Nikki high up on the route.

Nikki, Adam and Eve.

That even I climbed Wrinkle on the Wastad with my Mum (who doesn't climb) and her husband Ian (who does). It was good fun and Mum did really well.

Mum and Ian on Wrinkle.

On Tuesday we headed to Lliwedd and climbed the Classic Rock tick Avalanche, Red Wall, Longland's Continuation. It was good fun and felt very alpine. It was so hot that the crag was bone dry (rare at any time of year and unheard of in March) and we climbed in tee shirts. The last pitch is a cracking little slab that tops out right on the summit.

Lliwedd - Dark and Gloomy

Nikki climbing towards the sunshine.

Tall Mark and I got up early and headed to Cloggy today. We were first at the crag and it was bone dry (well as dry as it ever is). Jelly Roll was the order of the day. I tried to persuade Mark to lead the Drainpipe Crack as I'd lead it before and hadn't enjoyed, but he'd seconded it before and also hadn't enjoyed it, so I dutifully set off. I wasn't as bad as I remembered, quite leg pumpy with lots of face holds. Thankfully you don't need to use the damp crack. Mark lead the second pitch, which continues up the crack before stepping left and traversing across the top of Indian Face. This pitch is steeper than it looks and I found it tricky to second, a notch up from the Drainpipe Crack.

Cloggy in the early morning light.

Mark Freestone seconding the Drainpipe Crack.

Mark leading Jelly Roll Pitch 2 with the Indian Face only metres away.

Mark leading Jelly Roll Pitch 2.

Konrad Doyle leading the Drainpipe Crack.

I was now stood above Great Wall looking up at the steep imposing groove above. After some dithering I got some good runners in and bridged my way up the groove. The climbing was sustained, but thankfully the holds and the gear were both good and plentiful. After a welcome respite at half height it was more of the same followed by a series of final powerful moves into the finishing chimney. The exposure looking down the groove at Indian Face was jaw dropping. One of the best routes I have ever done.