Chris and I spent the weekend climbing a couple of classic ridges in Snowdonia, along with an icy gully for a bit of variety.
On Saturday we got a respectably early start, and were among the first of many parties to climb Sargeant’s Gully, a grade II route that I backed off a few weeks ago with James. On reaching Cwm Glas we had a bit of a route-choice crisis, and after considering pretty much everything within view we decided on Clogwyn y Person Arete (II/III,***).
Copyright Haydn Williams 2009.
After battling up the (allegedly easier) west gully through a horrible chimney, we got onto the ridge proper. While Chris led everything and I struggled with remarkable regularity over the first few pitches, we watched a quite ridiculous number of people going up Parsley Fern Gully. At one point I counted 12 people in the bottom half, with another three stood at the bottom! Anyway, the arete provided more than enough sport for the two of us. We joined the ridge on Crib y Ddysgyl and took the Pyg Track back down, complete with steep snow at the top of the zig-zags – I’ve since heard talk of a cornice forming on it at one point over the weekend!
After meeting some friends in the pub on Saturday night, we had another early start on Sunday morning, this time deciding to check out Cwm Cneifion.
Copyright Haydn Williams 2009.
Feeling a little tired, we opted for Cneifion Arete (III,***), and promptly ignored the guidebook, choosing a more difficult single pitch to start (maybe not entirely intentionally). After that we moved together for a bit as the ground eased, although higher up the climbing got harder again as we were forced back to the crest of the ridge. A little easier than Clogwyn y Person, I thought, in that the climbing was still sufficiently difficult to be challenging, but I didn’t feel anywhere near as likely to fall off! Maybe I was just getting more confident in dealing with rocky stuff in crampons…
Copyright Haydn Williams 2009.
An attack of apathy when faced with Y Gribin led to a hasty retreat to the car, with the threat of a boring weekend successfully staved off for another week.
Good pics. Do winter ascents not count toward your “Scrambles in Snowdonia” Challenge?
rgds
Andrew
Yes they do, but I forgot to update the page! Thanks for reminding me. :)
I also think Cneifon Arete is easier than Clogwyn y Person Arete…at least the route is more obvious anyway!
Fortunately Chris led the whole of Clogwyn y Person. We came up against some horrible looking slabs that he had a decent go at, but had to work around. Other than that, the route-finding wasn’t too difficult, it was just hard climbing for a numpty like me!