Adventures in Editing

Ok, this is a bit geeky, but luddite as I am, I've managed to splice a couple of different takes together from different angles. I was going to hold back on posting on every little trip I made to Mymbyr, as it may get monotonous. This bloc, however, is dear to my heart.

Happy Feet is a F6B+ in the Feidr Fŵ cluster. Its fair to say its a marmite route (big G never even pulled on), and if it was another foot above the ground it'd be ace. Back dabs aside, its just big grin harmless fun, and really difficult to describe. Hence trying this vid.

Hopefully you get the idea. Shortly after this I tried hard-ish on the other prominent bloc of this cluster; The Heel Keel 6Cish and gave myself one of those flip top finger type f'lappers that ended play. Fortunately its half term next week, so no climbing anyway...

....And I may have spotted another obscure boulder field...

Laters

Business Time

The initial thing that drew my eye when scoping out Dyffryn Mymbyr from the road that first time was this big towering thumb of rock. That turned out to be rubbish, however, the second thing was this big white slab...

This turned out to be very high and quite thin with a lovely texture. I knew Julian Lines had been exploring up here with Paul Higginson, so in my mind it became the Lines' slab (or should that be the Slab of Lines').

The Slab in the background, with Higg's wonderful 30ft slopey traverse in the foreground

10 years later and loads of fun down the line I finally took it upon myself to pull my socks up (Business Socks) an get it done. Comedy ensued as my highball abbing rope, while long enough for any sensible height highball, wasn't quite long enough when the only belay was miles up the hillside. So with the top half cleaned and played upon, I plopped off the end onto the mats to have a stare at the bottom half.

Fortunately for my nerves it went 1st go:

My guess is that its about 6B! with the crux in the 1st third. A really nice highball, and one for any slab fanatic.

My Second point of business was the Mighty 'Tashe Traverse. my name for the boulder, but Higg's problem. I'd climbed it from a sit in the middle, but the first half always bamboozled me. This time armed with Solutions, I managed as far as the first big move, but weakness crept in like damp. I switched to trying the sit from the middle again:

three bleeding moves from the end... Damn it, there's always something to come back for at Mymbyr...

See! I tried hard(ish)

Come and play.

I.N.S.P.R.E. May 2016

Like many, I was inspired by this pic on northwalesbouldering.com:

Bingo Wings (V7)
mystery crag?
(contact for details)

Sometime later Big G spilt the beans in this BOTM, it was over on the darkside of Mymbyr..

I should clear up the Darkside thing, its not that this side gets less sun than the other, its just it misuses the force, its full of bogs, and hides all its worthwhile boulders. I digress...

The issue Bingo wings had, was that at the time (pre CROW) it was a little bit tricky to access. couple this with the land owner enjoying a peaceful life, being based on a hill in the middle of the valley and always in earshot... Lets just say it was decided to let things lie.

Time moves on, CROW happens, Ioan Doyle shears the landowners sheep, and the frenzy of virgin boulder hunting has died down. By the time I started poking around on this side of the valley he was quite happy for me to pop through his farm (on foot) to go for a wander. This is the view from the last of his gates:

And this is the best way to get to the Bart Stone...

It keep off the worst of the bog, avoids this:

And wanders past this attractive slopey traverse

The Bart Stone rears into view..

Artists impression....

The next three are a selection of warm ups...

So I'd come all this way (all of 20 mins from the car no less) to visit this ill frequented purported classic. I've just had 2 months off resting my shoulder until I was sure it wasn't buggered, just before that I'd climbed my hardest outdoor bloc, also 7A+. So naturally I assumed it would be a goer.

What I found was a massive slightly overhanging block of dolerity sandstoney stuff. the problem broke down into a dyno for a pinch (from a hanging start off an obvious jug), a big rockover, and a lurch for the top.

So a layoff followed by trying to equal your highpoint with a power based ( short intensive) bloc. This was always going to end well, wasn't it?

The two sections I managed

Powerful, simple and elegant moves, what's not to love? I needed to change to my solutions for the rockover, but my power is still a way off returning, and when it does, I will return also.

Approach- So park near RAC boulders and walk through Garth farm ( the one with the campsite). Please ask permission to do so as you meet them, they are really nice people who don't want hassle, so be polite and always shut the gates. They're not keen on crowds so small posse's I reckon. Follow the track, round the right, past the weather station and down the other side to the last gate. The piccy at the top should now make sense.

Wellies are a must for the above approach...

Enjoy! (not too loudly)

Je Suis un Cubist

Today was supposed to be just a shunting day, however, after considering a few pad placement options, I'd talked myself into dragging up both highball pads once more.

Conditions were mint (no sleet) and after sufficiently recovering from the uphill bog slog, I set about my 10 min pilates warm up (the joys of solitude). This was followed by the three easier lines on The Cube, which I filmed as only one had been documented before:

Manly Groove F6A+/B

So called as, even now with the patio, its still a bit of a chute of pads. That and I may be about as butch as Jack Whitehall..

Aerial Assault F5+

 Previously known as the warm up slab. Play the vid nice and loud to enjoy with me the experience of RAF pilots "showing off".

Backside Arete F5.

A Companion to Frontside Arete, and the easiest line. This was the FA, hence the frequent pauses to grind away the lichen. The names refer to board riding styles.

All this prevarication gave way to a bit of faffing with mats. I found that if I ignored the first section of climbing, I could protect the rest by turning the mats sideways. More discoveries followed as I abbed in to clean and chalk. Basically, there was an easier sequence, provided I was willing to trust friction and body tension. That and the mats needed to move across another 20cm.

I flicked the rope out the way, moved the camera, had a word with myself, and did the deed:

The Bertlemann Slide F6C!

I had considered other names (Callibarial for instance) but this trick was sufficiently old school for my taste.

Half way through the crux. First you have to hop your foot up using the arete and this crimp:

Then suck it in and stretch over to guppy the arete. simples.

Following this I tried to get up the Frontside Arete again. However, either I was too bushed, or its a bit harder than I thought(or graded). Basically it needs some traffic. Here's a topo:

Red: Frontside Arete F6C+/7A!

Orange: Gleaming The Cube (still a project)

Yellow: The Bertlemann Slide F6C!

Purple: Manly Groove 6A+/B!

Blue: Backside Arete F5

Green: Aerial Attack F5+

I'm not sure if Mymbyr will make it into the forthcoming bouldering guide, but I've been coming here for a decade now, and it continues to give me pleasure. I'm also surprised how few others have ventured up here. Please visit and correct my grading.

Enjoy!

#PatioGeek

So The Cube has been a source of psyche and frustration for a number of years now. Recently, with irritating shoulder problems forcing a bit of a lay off, I turned my energies to improving the landing...

Well it couldn't be much worse could it? Apart from crocodiles and punji sticks

Less a landing, more of a series of collisions

I've got quite into dry stone platforming; the patioing of  boulder landing sites can often result unsightly jumbles. However, if done right, they can blend into the landscape, and even be quite pretty (or rather, handsome). The Cube's patio took 6 sessions. I built up a retaining wall, backfilled, knitted in the next level of retaining wall, backfilled, levelled off with a spirit level app on my phone (strapped to a laser pen), and finally tarted it a bit..

The initial retaining wall

The next lot are the finished product..

And here's the patio geek himself.

My pilates sessions have been going well, and Eirian has encouraged me to return to climbing with lots and lots of warming up. Last time I climbed at The Cube the landing looked like this:

What a difference 6 cubic meters of stone makes.

Incidentally all the stone was taken from adjacent piles of stones on the hillside. Its rather like Crafnant, and not a place to drop your keys. I don't advocate patioing in natural areas which require more than just moving things around. Spadework might be okay in the quarries, but not out on the hill.

Needless to say, that once I'd dragged two pads, the abb and climbing gear up the hill, it started to snow. After sitting it out 10 minutes under the roof, I set up and dropped in regardless.

I'm going to need more pads. Spotters would be nice too... and being warmer.... and less sleet.

I think the next game will be some cheeky shunting. I've had almost 2 months off, so I've a fair bit of form to recapture. The platform feels quite narrow from to top, but I think this has more to do with the slant of the top slab, and the very far away-ness of the pads. Anyway, any extensions will require a fair bit more stone, and might overwhelm the environment.  I had a good feel around on the rope (before my hands froze), and the sequence I was using on the snow day seem to be the way forward. However, I'll need some gains in hip flexion, core and fingers to latch the next 2 finger micro crimp.

Time for some new distractions..

Until next time..

I.N.S.P.R.E April 2016

So it was a sunny day, and I'd just finished shift and had to run an errand in Llanberis. This humble hotchpotch of a village was home to me for a number of years. When the twins were born and adventures were restricted, extremely local rock was valuable. Thus begun my search and eventual siege of Moose's Wall. Revisiting the wall today, finding the moss returning, spurred me to do a bit of scrubbing in the hope you folks may enjoy it too. 

First discovered by Mike "Moose" Thomas, Matt Anthoine, George Smith et al in the early nineties, this bouldering venue had the big five, appreciable difficulty, clear lines, good height without being deathly, good landing(important in the pre pad days), and short approach(15secs from the car).

However, its relative dificulty combined with height for the pre pad era, meant it dropped out of favour as new venues were discovered. It got forgotten, moss moved in, and it went myth-ing...

Scroll down to 2011, and developments amongst the Bends crags and Clegir boulders dredged Moose's wall back to the collective memory. Needless to say, we couldn't find it, and it was up to the G to show the way in this BOTM.

After G remembered how to get there, I popped down and got busy with a brush and secateurs. l found it to be a delightful, if unforgiving crag, being either cracks or crystals and pebbles to gain ascent.

The classic of the crag is The Biggun; a F6B! crack which unlocks via a series of sprags, fingerlocks, and sublime hand jams.

Myself on The Biggun, courtesy of northwalesbouldering.com

I went on to clean and climb the remaining established lines, and after a helpful chat with Moose, lay seige to, and eventually climb the last remaining line; Something, Something Darkside F7A!.

Back to 2016, and 5 years later, I don't think the wall has had a lot of traffic. This is a shame, as its a great venue, and The Biggun is proper class. I only had an hour or so, so I concentrated on the Biggun, although it really needs finishing off with a bit of chalk to abrade out the last of the moss. I couldn't resist another drop to unearth Darkside again. It was definitely a highpoint for me at the time as thin wall climbing is by no means my forte. Again, a proper chalk is required to bring into condition.

Nice rounded top out!

The Biggun

Sprags and locks!

The wall is waiting for you.

Enjoy!

Quick Patio Hit

So since the visit to Tosheroon, I have mainly been working, wrangling the boys, sitting up at 4am with the girl, and following the commands of the wife. So it was with much excitement that I escaped work early today for a play. As I'm still waiting for an action plan for the dicky shoulder, Mymbyr was todays choice, for a swift bit of chucking rocks. Suffice to say, The Cube's patio is beginning to take shape:

The retaining wall was still in place from last visit, so I was able to back fill to get it all level. In reality this meant pulling a rock out the adjacent pile, rolling / chucking it over, dodging the massive boulder I'd dislodged, stabilising the slope.... and repeat. Mymbyr is basically a pile of rubble with a turfy skin, hence it drains well, and occasionally swallows your leg.

The work left to do, I'm about half way there.

An artists impression of the finished article.

I love my gloves.