First day of North Wales winter

Over the last few weeks the winter conditions here in North Wales have been fantastic, with regular snow and cold temperatures meaning that most routes have been in decent condition. With this in mind, I have been trying to get out as much as possible and so far I have managed to tick off a handful of brilliant North Wales classics.

First off was a trip up to the ever reliable Cwm Cneifon, with its vast array of routes spreading through the grade range from easy grade I's up to the baffling grade X on the face of Clogwn Du, there is something for everyone and with a fairly short walk in its a firm winter routing favourite. After a early start and walk up past Cwm Idwal into the Cwm with the two Tom's, we decided to get our winter season going with a ascent of Tower Slabs, a grade II/III on the left hand side of the Cwm.




Clogwyn Du looking good from Tower Slabs.

It really was great to be moving on snow and ice again after what must be at least two years away from winter climbing for me. At first I felt uneasy and tentative on my feet, with my crampons feeling very alien on the good quality ice. But with every pitch climbed I began to feel more at ease with moving with tools and it was a joy to be out on the ice.



Tom leading the crux pitch of Tower Slabs.



Tom and Tom looking psyched for winter climbing?

With the 3 pitches of Tower Slabs passing by quickly, we topped out as a group at mid-morning and were greeted by a fierce wind at the top of the crag. Looking around for shelter, we hunkered down behind a few boulders and had a drink, bite to eat and discussed our plans. With us all keen to do another route, we decided to descend back down into the Cwm and see what looked good and was free from traffic.

Looking around the Cwm we quickly settled on Hidden Gully, a grade II 3 star route at the left of Clogwyn Du. At only 120m long it wouldn't take long to climb and having built up some confidence on the previous route we all decided to solo the gully. As we walked to the base of the route, we joined the trail of footsteps that lead up to the narrowly cleft in the crag and worked our way up the base of the route.

The going was good and fast and before long we had made it to the crux of the route, a short vertical rock step that required two good axe placements and a good heave hoe up onto you feet. With this quickly despatched, we all continued on up and topped out onto a busy Cwm Cneifon rim.



A busy day at Cwm Cneifon.

With the wind still blowing strong, we quickly decided that descending via the Gribin and back towards Idwal would be the most interesting route down, providing shelter from the wind and bringing us right back to the car.

Once back down, it was time for the obligatory post routing bite to eat at the Moel Siabod Café and a chance to decide what was next on our ticklist.