Gogarth Climbing

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Rock Climbing Short Link

As a climber who claims to love sea cliff climbing, there was one major sea cliff in England & Wales where I have yet to successfully climb. About three years ago I had a bit of an epic on Main Cliff which resulted in having to abseil into the sea. It has been high on my list of destinations to return to, but it just hasn’t quite happened. Due to the weather crapping out in Snowdonia, after a brilliant day on Lliwedd we headed over to Gogarth for two days of sea cliff climbing. Day 1: Lighthouse Arete Direct, Castell Helen We had a chilled out start to the day due to having had a long day the day before, which was followed by a few whiskies due to it being my birthday. The morning was lovely in North Wales so it was a shame to have had a lie in while it was sunny, but we enjoyed a chilled out breakfast in Capel Curig before heading to Gogarth. Due to the forecast being for rain, there being strong winds at the carpark and me being a bit ill, we decided. Read the full article…

Birthday Adventure on Lliwedd

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Rock Climbing Short Link

Many times while walking the classic Snowdon Horseshoe I have looked across from Crib Goch at the impressive cliffs of Lliwedd and have been drawn to them due to their scale as the shady cliffs tower above Llyn Llydaw. You don’t have to read far into the climbing at Lliwedd to realise that it is far more than a multi pitch crag, due to a combination of it’s size, the rock and it’s location in the mountains it seems to attract far more than it’s fair share of epics. I headed up to North Wales with Becky for my 25th Birthday weekend, and armed with a good forecast following a dry day we decided to head up to Lliwedd to have an adventure. Instead of opting for one of the more popular 12 pitch easy routes, we headed for a 5 pitch E1 called Terminator, followed by a 180m diff up the final arete of the face. I knew route finding was likely to be a problem at some point on the face so had planned to make sure I read the guidebook lots on the walk in while inspecting the. Read the full article…

Stag Weekend in North Wales

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Rock Climbing, Walking Short Link

It’s been a while since I have written a blog post, which is more due to the shear volume of climbing I have been doing, rather than the lack of climbing. I have been having an excellent season and have been making good headway into E2 and am now looking forward to the rest of the season. Last weekend I was due to head up to North Wales for a friend’s stag do, and given the nice weather three of us decided to head up a day early and do a mountain route in Snowdonia. We decided on Grooved Arete and were pleased to discover that we were the only people on the crag when we arrived in the morning. The weather was fantastic but very warm and humid in the sun which made the approach pretty warm. I lead the entire route to save time due to thunderstorms being forecast in the afternoon. The route was fantastic with lots of interesting pitches, although there was a surprising amount of polish which was a bit of a shame. The standout pitches for me were the second main pitch, the third main. Read the full article…

Easter Weekend in Cornwall

Alastair BegleyRock Climbing Short Link

After a brilliant but long winter have been looking forward to it warming up and allowing the rock season to start. After missing the few warm weekends we have had in late March I was beginning to get frustrated, but thankfully a good high pressure system arrived in time for the Easter bank holiday weekend. I headed down to Cornwall with the Avon Mountaineering Club for the annual easter trip. There was a good group of people down for the weekend which made for an enjoyable social weekend. On the first morning I headed to Chair Ladder with Rich, wanting to continue from my successful season last year I jumped straight onto Excelsior, a multi pitch E1. The second pitch was my lead and standing at the bottom it looked pretty intimidating, but as soon as I started it all came back quickly and I enjoyed the brilliant and sustained pitch which turned out to be the crux of the route. The rest of the route went easily with Rich making light work of the committing move around the overhang on the third pitch and I quickly climbed the very bold and. Read the full article…

Smith’s Route & Tower Scoop

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

After three days not getting out due to lots of warm weather and rain I was pretty keen to get out for another day of winter climbing despite the slightly dodgy forecast. I was out with Jason from Peak Aspect today and it was great to be out with an experienced winter climber having done a lot of guiding less experienced friends over the past few weeks. The past two days of rain caused a significant thaw and it wasn’t forecast to cool down until the early hours of the morning, due to this we decided to head up high on Ben Nevis in the hope that anything that might have refrozen would be there. The day started pretty badly as it was raining when we got out of the car which meant a sweaty walk up to the CIC hut in gortex and I somehow managed to forget my camera. As we were walking in the rain eased up and the weather cleared up from the west which produced some fantastic views back down the valley and towards Ben Nevis. Ben Nevis seems to have coped fairly well with the thaw and all. Read the full article…

Traverse of An Teallach

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

The traverse of An Teallach is often described as the best ridge in mainland Scotland, this description put a winter traverse of An Teallach high on my to do list. However, due to An Teallach being so far north west and wanting a good weather day for the route it had so far escaped my attention. With a ridge of high pressure across Scotland and far too much snow on Ben Nevis to go climbing we decided to head back up to the North West. As the weather was improving throughout the day we decided to have a late start and accept that we would be finishing in the dark. There was snow down to the valleys, which while is pretty isn’t always great for making quick progress. Thankfully with the good quality stalkers track we made good progress despite the snow and were soon on the mor below Sàil Laith. The conditions on the walk in were fantastic with lots of sun and blue sky and views which just kept getting better, however we were walking towards a very cloudy An Teallach with the hope that the cloud would lift as. Read the full article…

Hidden Chimney

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

We were after a short day today due to having a big day planned tomorrow, and only having a brief weather window in the morning. Due to this we stayed in the Cairngorms and headed back up to Coire an t-Sneachda, we were aiming for Hidden Chimney as we wanted to climb a slightly easier route than yesterday to ensure that we could climb it quickly. The weather on the walk into the coire was fantastic with the sun, although the wind was bitter and for the first 20mins I was pretty cold and wishing I had an extra layer on. Thankfully we were soon in the sun, and having to work harder in the slightly soft snow and the walk in became very enjoyable and after an hour we were gearing up below the Mess of Pottage. There were a number of other teams ahead and behind us, and we were hoping that no one else was heading to Hidden Chimney as it seemed that everyone else had the same idea and had headed to the Mess of Pottage. Thankfully as we arrived at the base of the route it became. Read the full article…

The Haston Line

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

After two days of ignoring the forecast to head east, we finally gave in and headed to the popular northern corries of the Cairngorms. After a late start we made good time up into Coire an t’Sneachda, we had brilliant views on the walk in and the snow conditions underfoot were fantastic, with a solid layer of neve with small amounts of wind blown snow on top. The wind picked up as we entered the coire, in fact we were both nearly blown over at one point! We geared up behind a rock and headed up the scoured approach slopes, were were glad to see that the other parties in the coire weren’t heading for the route we had in mind. There were a number of teams heading for Hidden Chimney but we had The Haston Line all to ourselves. The route is given III, 4 but at least in todays conditions it felt more line IV, 4/5. The first pitch was a long pitch up an obvious ramp, with two main sections. The first being up a small chimney and the second (crux) being up an awkward but very well. Read the full article…