My watch vibrates. That came fast, I think. Then the excitement sets in and I switch on my cot light. I start getting dressed quickly, today is the fucking day, the time is fucking now! Dressed, I start packing my sleeping bag in its stuff sack and put it on my pile of bags, this morning is all about efficiency.
I open the bunk door. The sky is clear and the air is calm, finally things might be going our way. Crossing the small country lane I enter the kitchen to cook the team breakfast. A big pan of porridge and many mugs of tea are in motion as CJ walks through the door, we swap and I head to pack the last of my things away. I find Nat dressed in jeans when I get back to the room, not the attire I was expecting. “I didn’t sleep at all last night, I’m no good for the hill today” she says “6 hours of driving isn’t going to happen if I climb first”. Gutted for Nat we re distribute the shared equipment back to its original owners and pack the car.
Massive bowls of porridge and peanut butter consumed, we lock up the barn for the final time and say our goodbyes. Nat heads south on the long drive back to Cornwall, we head east into Eryri national park and the Ogwen valley. It starts getting light as we near Pen y Pass, in the half light it looks like there is a dusting of snow on the tops. Is it a twilight trick? I can’t be sure, I note to keep looking on the drive into the Ogwen. Pulling into the carpark at the bottom of Tryfan there is definitely light snow on the peaks around us. Not much we can do about it now, CJ’s crampons still lack the extension bar for his size 13s. We resolve to keep being adaptive as the day goes on, the theme of the trip.
After 3 days of very high winds and torrential rain we are in luck, our plan for the day is Rowan route on Milestone Buttress onto Tryfans north ridge, down the south ridge onto Bristly ridge and finally down the Y Gribbin before driving back to Leeds. It’s a big day, the classic ‘Get something done’ mentality when you’ve had poor success previously. Temperatures are cold, the 5 pitch route will be done in gloves on a damp ish slab, hopefully it won’t take too long and eat up all our time.
We set off across the short boulder strewn field, the flat rhyolite slick with last night’s rain. Trying not to think about how the climbing is going to be we press on. It’s 0815 as we flake the ropes and gear up at the base of Rowan route (D 92m), we made it before sunrise. Final checks and I move onto the slab in the grey dawn light. Avoiding the rib in favour of the slab with gear placements to the right, I ration my hardware. This first pitch is 22m and my scramble rack is thin. The rock is excellent quality, the cracks seem crafted for nuts, if the foot holds were dry it’d be a very pleasant outing. I move cautiously, this is my first lead in 3 months and a wet slab with a skinny rack and approach shoes isn’t an ideal start even if it is with grades in hand.
I see the first stance above me, a large block with a good sized ledge, I traverse left back towards the rib. There is a perfect vertical crack leading to a rounded top out. I place a nut with my last quickdraw and try to climb on. It’s difficult, slick with water, the final move requires a big rock over with little for the hands if the foot slips. I climb down to a large foothold and consider my options. Left is empty space and right is featureless slab. I look at my rack, placing a nut as high as I can at the top of the crack. I move my final quickdraw to clip into that. At least if it goes wrong it’ll be minimally wrong. I repeat the sequence a few more times but can’t trust that rail foot. I climb back in frustration, this is not the start I was hoping for. Psyching myself up I try a new tactic, stacking my feet in the bottom of the crack and squashing them higher than before the slick rail is less of a high foot. Quickly removing the bottom crack foot I push up onto the foot hold and grab the rounded top. It is not the reassuring hold I want, I keep pushing on the right foot trying to get my centre of gravity over and intowards the rock. I smear the remaining foot onto the wall and snatch for what looks like an edge further back, it’s marginally better. Pushing and pulling with more effort than I’d expected I mantle over the lip and stand up. Exhaling hard I see there is a fixed rope around the block, clipping into this I bring CJ up quickly. Despite his increased height he struggles with the crack too, I give him the stacked feet beta and he swans the move.
Flaking the ropes and swapping gear I double check the route on my phone. A nine metre pitch followed by another nine metre pitch? I’ll link those together if I can. Pulling back onto the slab I transition to some broken block ground and the spike of the next belay, putting a sling over it as a runner I continue on. The next part, a corner is sopping. I scout around and see a large groove running right to left towards the next ledge. I start up it, trying not to get wedged in it as it narrows. I straddle the outer lip and move onto the face of it. The hands are good with adequate feet, shame there isn’t a crack to put any gear in. I shuffle left towards the safety of the spike, I realise I’ll have to stand on this lip at some point to gain the necessary height. I put a sling around the spike and make the slippy move up, passing the spike it wobbles ominously. Remembering to check features before trusting them I get to the ledge as the sling pops off the spike. I make a belay and pull the ropes. Now commences a lot of shouting back and forth between CJ and myself talking through the route I just took as there is no gear to follow. He manages it well and stops to fix the rope drag that my lack of spike runner has created. We have a moment to admire the scenery, the snow tops and clear views are incredible.
I once again leave the spacious ledge for face climbing. It’s great climbing with one tricky move requiring similar nerve to step up on damp rock. After that CJ can’t pay rope out fast enough, it’s basically walking. I find a large block and securing myself I fight the drag and the remaining rope up. I shout to CJ but no reply, sighing I continue to slowly shout “ON BELAY”. Mercifully we don’t have to resort to rope tugs as I hear “CLIMBING” and the rope slackens. We’re reunited soon and pack the gear away. It’s scrambling from now, if we get the rope back out things have gone wrong.
Surging off uphill we gain height rapidly, traversing left onto the north ridge of Tryfan. We quickly arrive at our sticking point from the other day where some interesting rock steps are made more engaging by conditions. With our knowledge from the previous day we surpass them with less issue than before. Interestingly the difficulties subside and we charge up. We see few above us. One lad we meet coming down. I ask what the conditions are like, “It’s not too bad, increases as you go up” he replies in a thick UK accent I could not place. Suspicions confirmed we proceed cautiously. Passing the canon stone the snow is consistent now. It’s not consolidated and can be scraped off with ease but it slows the pace.
We keep climbing, passing ill prepared groups without gloves or sufficient layers for the conditions. This isn’t a dangerous place like the big mountains but if you don’t respect it your chances of accident only increase. One man is struggling at a rock step, this is clearly reaching the limit of his comfort zone if not beyond. We give him some pointers and he mantles over the step. He’s not wearing gloves, I ask if he has any? He replies that here in his bag, I give him the abridged Stu McAlesse adage on cold hands ‘When your hands get cold you don’t think’ and he routes around in his bag for them. Hoping to improved someones day, we press on.
Just like that, we’re at the summit. More surprised than anything else, we stroll to the Adam and Eve summit stones. Opting not to attempt the leaping across photo today we settle for a summit shot from a passer by. Looking over to Bristly ridge it looks to have much heavier snow than Tryfan, the ridge has large vertical sections that aren’t fun to downclimb in summer. Chatting to some other parties at the summit we conclude without crampons it’s not a goer. Still buzzing from what we have done it’s easy to turn down the south ridge for home. It’s a shame to not continue the traverse but it’s not going anywhere and will be more fun in spring or later when we can move more securely. Coming down we meet many parties asking about conditions all excited to get out for the first day in many. Arriving back at the car we change out of our sweaty layers into new clothes and let our feet dry out. Tucking into our sandwiches as the car pulls out of the Ogwen for home we look up at the peaks above us. I think back over the morning, that was a good day.
UK Mountaineering is around 70% trying and failing, 20% mediocrity and 10% the best stuff that is imaginable
Longs Law
IBEX Performance 