We left Aberystwyth (late) at 5pm on Friday night in the
rain and travelled to Gwern Gof Uchaf campsite in the shadow of Tryfan. We set
up the tents on delightfully muddy ground and headed straight for pizza and a
pint at the creatively named ‘Gallt y Glyn’ pub in Llanberis. It was too dark
to see the supposedly fabulous scenery we were driving by on Pen y Pass but the
sheer volume of pizza soon drove that from our minds.
Everyone managed to drag themselves up at 7.30 on Saturday morning to grey skies and drove
straight back to Llanberis for breakfast at Pete’s Eats - as ordered by James
Latus. This is *the* place to eat in Llanberris for all climbers and walkers, their
fried breakfast is undoubtedly epic! It defeated both James Latus and Henry but
all the food was neatly polished off by the other scavengers on the trip in the
end. We had a nosey around the climbing shops (Look at all these things I can’t
afford!) and picked out a nice matching ensemble for Rob in all shades of
orange, complete with matching spade.
We zipped back to the campsite, suited up and strolled over
to Little Tryfan for our first climbing experience. James L taught those of us
who were inexperienced the basics of safety gear while Harriet and James J got
into their matching His ‘n’ Hers harnesses. The weather was still fair at this
point and we were all very excited. First we navigated Little Tryfan Scramble
with a little rope support on the tricky parts, all accompanied by the
unwavering advice and support from James L (despite him getting left and right repeatedly
mixed up, we did all make it). Secondly, we mastered the figure 8 knot and
climbed a short way up the rock face with belaying support from other members
of the group. Everyone did really well.
After lunch back at the campsite we took on Tryfan’s North
face, with intermittent outbreaks of ‘Gangman’ Style. Half way up we saw the
first signs of SNOW! This produced a lot of excitement from Rob, who coming
from Cornwall had not seen any for 2 years.
Nearing the top, snow started to fall making it much more
interesting to navigate the rocky ground. On the descent, darkness arrived and
after walking through a bog, climbing down the side of a waterfall and saving
two lost other people who had been caught out by nightfall we made it to the
road and eventually the campsite by 7pm. This meant then heading directly to
the pub for another meal of epic proportions!
Being pretty exhausted, we all simultaneously and yet
separately agreed to have a lie-in when the alarm went off at 7.30 the next
morning, meaning nobody was up until 8.30 – although there was a little
romantic staring action between James J and Rob in the tent and everybody
agreed that sleeping next to Ami’s feet was the least appealing option next
only to having your own feet snuggled by Ami! It had been raining through the
night so we decided to modify our original plan to head up Tryfan via Bristly
Ridge and across the Glyders. We packed up the muddy tents, leaving the
campsite looking like the leftovers after a festival weekend (think: mud), and
ate breakfast standing around the cars in clothes damp from the previous days’
excursions.
As a change from the original plan we headed over to Llanberis
slate quarries to go for a wander around Dinorwic quarry in particular. James L
showed us some of the hidden secrets of the quarry with some amazingly
difficult climbs including a really deep hole which may or may not be named The
Lost World.
Then time for our second climbing excursion of the
weekend, at the Bus Stop quarry and top roping a climb of which we all (except
Ami - the chicken) more or less made it to the top of. This was an afternoon of
firsts for all: including James L who had never been belayed by a Tigger
(played by Henry in his onesie) and Harriet, who boldly chose to forget an
expensive pair of gloves at the site, only to be tracked down later by some
helpful climbers who picked them up – thanks, again, to that memorable tiger
onesie!
James Latus
was a great teacher and taught us all a lot, and made sure nothing happened to
anyone. Especially (most importantly) showing us where all the good pubs in the
area are. – James J
We learned a
lot and James L was an unwavering font of enthusiasm and information. He kept
all our spirits up and this weekend couldn’t have happened without him! - Ami
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