Munich DAV North Wales Meet at Ty Powdwr
By Alan Little
31st August to 8th September 2013
Alan Little (ex KMC), Andreas Holzner, Daniel Heyes, Iva Bartunkova, Michael Röhricht, Niklas Stöckmann, Yvonne Haass
Saturday: the team wasn't complete until three in the afternoon, so we headed out for a few quick routes in the quarries, including Looning the Tube and The Burning.
Sunday: Dinas Cromlech. Noah's Warning, Dives/Better Things (superb top pitch) and Sabre Cut were the team's first experience of proper trad climbing. They were impressed with the crag but less so with the weather - dry but cold & windy - so we adjourned to Vivian, where The Dervish was too scary so we did Last Tango instead.
Monday: Castell Helen. The team's first experience of sea cliff climbing. They were - contrary to expectations - more impressed than freaked out (Nick wanted to go straight onto Red Wall and was stopped only by a shortage of belay volunteers) so the next day ...
Tuesday: Wen Zawn Take 1. Arrived in the morning to find Gogarth foggy and damp, so adjourned to Holyhead Mountain. King Bee Crack, Bruvers, Breaking the Barrier and several nearby VS's.
Wednesday: Tremadog. The Team wanted to visit the site of Stefan Glowacz's onsight of Strawberries. Routefinding hilarity in the Bwlch y Moch jungle ensued. The route climbing was less hilarious. This was probably the only day of the week when the weather was warm enough for mountain crags, and Tremadog was uncomfortably hot. Adding insult to injury we finished too late for the ice cream shop in Beddgelert.
Routes done: Christmas Curry/Micah, Shadrach, Merlin Direct, The Fang.
Thursday: the keen faction got an early bus up the Pass to do the Snowdon Horseshoe. The less motivated drifted up to the quarries somewhat less early with thoughts of a redpoint attempt on Heading The Shot, but after a couple of warm-up routes it rained so we did Snakes & Ladders & Tunnels instead.
Friday: Wen Zawn Take 2. Mass ascent of Britomartis, topping out just as the first squall of a big rainstorm hit. Proper sea cliff adventure.
Saturday: Rain. Caernarfon Castle.
For six of the seven members of the party this was their first ever experience of trad climbing - although everybody had done "alpine trad" Dolomite style clip-ups on rusty pegs before, and a some also had experience of Saxon and/or Czech sandstone. Nevertheless they felt being completely responsible for one's own protection including main belays was a big deal. But they adapted well: Andreas for example led HVS on Gogarth on his second ever day of trad climbing, and I doubt if many British climbers can say that.
The weather was dry for most of the week but, sadly, not really warm enough to enjoy the glories of the Welsh mountain crags. But the team were much impressed with Gogarth, and two of the guys have said they definitely want to come back and do more trad climbing, so follow-up trips to Pembroke or the South West (or Pabay/Mingulay???) look like a distinct possibility.
Many thanks to the KMC for the use of Ty Powdwr, and for the friendly welcome extended by James and the F&RCC meet on the first weekend, and Emily and her friends on the second weekend.
