Hidden in Plain Sight

Today I got to take my lovely wife out for an adventure at Nant Gwrtheyrn. We were blessed by blue skies, and as the sun peeped over Craig y Llam, we were met by the Seal Family:

I actually got to photograph them this time, they're living by the Open Project for September, so you might need to be sensitive there, although they we'rent too bothered by us, and we moved on to the far end anyway.
I had been curious as to what lies beyond around the corner, a little light soloing later (its rehab you know...) I found this:

the landing?

the top out

It Appears an awesome DWS spot, in the old sense of the word. I will definitely be visiting once warmth returns to Wales.

There's Treasure Everywhere!

Open Project of the Month - November

Having confirmed the mythical status of bouldering on Carnedd y Filiast, I once more quested into the woods and riverbeds to bring you this:

The Whale of Galedffrwd

Or should that be a Carp as its freshwater? Galedffrwd translates roughly as the hard stream, and it certainly has its fare share of bedrock, as well as these lovely smooth erratics, nothing else as useful as this though.

The fishy juts out over the torrent with its snout over white water..

The side however is above a bedrock shelf. a spotter to steer will keep our intrepid boulderer dry.

(best to pick a dryish period though...)

Finally the scale. Here is my hand firmly grasping the starting jug. This is the incut triangle seen in the middle of the previous piccy.

Standing on the top.

Its the top that its all about, and makes this boulder pretty cool. Its not a small boulder and below the starting jug its undercut and almost completely devoid of holds.

Basically its all top out, lovely smooth holdless font top out. Its surface is extremely tactile, almost animal in substance and I found myself giving it a good rub and slap. Think heels, drags, press downs and piloerectile locomotion....

This boulder is located off the Tai Duon road out of Mynydd Landegai. Best to park near the top of the hill, don your wellies and wander down to these chaps:

The Holly and the Ivy (well it is nearly December) carefully hop the fence and squelch down to the stream and the Whale.

Enjoy

Neverfall November visit

Its still there.
It seems quite high, but at least the landing is flat...
(ok I'm bricking it and quite happy to complete my physio rehab first)

Some Photo's:

Nice angle, nice flat landing pad, easy exit.... Just a bit High 

The new improved top out is friendly enough to wander down now in my trainers, the holds of the easy line and the finishing jugs catch the eye...

As does the height (half buried chair for scale).

Think I'll take my time on this one..

We can rebuild him. We have the technology.

So last week, arms a bit niggly from a few snappy pops of Porth Howel, my car wouldn't start. an afternoon of pushing the beast round Deiniolen left my shoulders further ravaged. The day after I was back behind the drill at work and I was sure it was time for a rest. Too late. Opening a door was all it took to send me swiftly through the pain portal.

Ooops.

Fortunately, the Beacon has an in house Oesteopath Belinda Rae. I was able to shuffle in in agony, and walk out in relative mobility and comfort. This isn't the end of the matter, I still have a lot of physio to do, and my shoulder alignment needs serious sorting to give me a frame to build myself up again.



We can rebuild him. We have the technology. We can make him better than he was. Better...stronger...faster



The important thing is to maintain motivation, I may not be able to go out and crush, but I can keep exploring, and I may take some keen wads out to some of my select venues. Two more Open projects to launch, Then next year will be the year I actually send some of them (all of them Dammit! lets be ambitious).

So Back to this week, and I went in search of the mythical roof of Carnedd y Filiast. I though I spotted this 4 years ago, when out on a fruitless search on Fronllwydd. Having no camera, I filed it to my memory and left it there to fester. This seemed like an ideal opportunity to tie up this loose end.

Sunny Filiast on the approach, good forecast for this day...

Enery sink needs an overflow, the Marchlyn Mawr Reservoir has a big one, keen followers will have noticed the Open Project for May is non tidal, Good News. Clouds? odd...

Ahh. I must ignore all Forecasts for North Wales....

Fortunately, I managed to squeeze under this rather diminutive boulder, and amused myself imagining I was and inch tall and climbing it (rather reminiscent of the Bone People buttress)

On the top of Carnedd y Filiast. Veiw like this might persuade me to walk  a bit more...

I think this is the Macguffin that drew me up here. It does overhang, the landing isn't terrible, but does it make you want to drag a mat up here?

A slightly cloudier, less sunkissed recreation of the view that triggered this jaunt. Another example of Craine's 1st Law.

So one less hillside to wander, only a couple of thousand left.

Shoulders back..