Page 38 - 2018 AMA Winter

EXPEDITIONNEWS
EX CLASSIC ROCK
By Sean Mackey
I have a slight confession – I love tick lists. Some of my friends will cringe at my confession, but its true!
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Nothing gives me more pleasure than looking at the back of a climbing guidebook and trying to complete
all the routes listed in the ‘Top 50’ or ‘Must do routes’. It’s probably because I don’t have much of an imagination to put my own list together, but it has given mesomecoolexperiencesonthesome of the best classic routes (in some cases polished routes) in the UK.
Around a decade ago a friend bought me a book for my birthday in this knowledge. It was ‘Ken Wilson’s Classic Rock’ and I loved it. Wonderful pictures and descrip- tions of the best climbing routes from all over the UK from Diff up to VS 4c. Best of all it hardly anyone has completed them all. The entire book has 7.5km of vertical pleasure, 260 pitches and 225 stars in its entirety.
While I have been slowly plugging away at the list a plan formed in my mind a few years ago. What if I tried to do all the North Wales routes (21 multipitch routes and 2.4km of height gain/ a vertical PFA) in five days. From my research no one had done this before and it would be a real challenge. The mental aspect would be tough, but pushing myself physically for five days on long walk ins and on long routes would be hard and I honestly don’t know if I would be able to do it.
Al Topping and I decided to try the challenge over a week in Aug 18. Both of us are in busy roles and all the time we could get off work was a week. Therefore we started the challenge in knowledge that it was ‘all out’ for five days to try and complete. We didn’t manage to finish the list (the weather was against us) and we missed the total by three climbs. However, the challenge and adventure
was amazing and we sought out some of the best and most random pieces of rock in North Wales.
Day one was supposed to be a Ogwen extravaganza with Milestone Buttress and the east face of Tryfan as the objectives- Climb the two short(ish) routes on Milestone and then head over the top of the buttress and get onto Heather Terrace on the east face and the three long(ish) route on the East Face. We started the first route at 7am and by 9am we had finished both routes, but we were soaked to the skin and had been skating on polished holds in the driving rain. The day was off and we needed to re-evaluate the options and the weather forecast. Despite our best intentions climbing polished routes in the pouring rain was just a little too sketchy for us. After a quick discussion we decided to head to Tremadog (which was only damp) and get on ‘Creagh Dhu Wall’ HS 4b. If you haven’t done it get on it. What an amazing route that is away
from the crowds of Eric’s Café- The two times I have been there we’ve been the only users. We dispatched that in quick order and as the afternoon was due to be dry we headed to Llanberis Pass to make the most of the day.
The walk into Dinas Cromlech is a little steep and loose, but is the gateway to two of the best VDiffs in the country. ‘Spiral Staircase’ and ‘Flying Buttress’ are accessible routes with good climbing on solid rock. Each pitch on both climbs are excellent and places the leader in exciting position on good holds on one of the most revered crags in the country- what isn’t to like?
North Wales Classic Rock route locations
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