The hotly anticipated, late spring trip to the Rucksack Club hut at Beudy Mawr in the Llanberis Pass was organised by Oli B and we were fortunate to have sole occupancy of the hut with 13 club members attending. The preceeding period of good weather was expected to break down over the weekend, however, fortune favoured the brave and the conditions remained near-perfect for the duration of the trip. Beudy Mawr Hut is within easy walking distance of a multitude of climbing crags as well as offering limitless routes for hill walking and scrambling so there was no need to drive further afield after we had arrived.
Several car-loads were able to set off early on Friday morning and arrived at Beudy Mawr before lunchtime. After arriving at the hut Dave M, Dan S and Stefan I scrambled up Llechog Buttress, a pleasant grade 3 route. Their circular route was completed by following the mountain railway line up to Gyrn Las and descending the grade 1 scramble back down to Blaen-y-Nant in the Pass of Llanberis.
It was great to see Oli T with us on this trip. He teamed up with Oli B and Wes H for two routes on the nearest crag, Craig Ddu. Zig Zag and Yellow Groove (both VS 4b) were climbed before tea-time. Derek W and Martin P went a little further around the corner to tackle The Wrinkle (VDiff) on Carreg Wasted and Rose M with Jenny P climbed the Rib then Rib and Slab (VDiff) which was just around the corner from Oli, Oli and Wes. Rose and Jenny found the published down-climb to be quite unnerving on steep, dry grass slopes to the side of their route. There is at least one abseil point just to the right at the top of the climb and in certain conditions abseiling may be a better option. Dave M and Emma W used the abseil descent on Saturday.
Steve W and Emma W arrived at the hut in the early evening and in good time to head along the road to join everyone in the Vaynol Arms in Nant Peris. Ewart P arrived a little later to make up our complement for the weekend. The food in the Vaynol Arms was good, the beer too. The best of the weather for Saturday was expected in the morning so a sensible evening was in order, ready for a relatively early start.
Derek, Ewart and Martin had a mountaineering day in mind as part of their training for an alpine adventure later this summer. Their route went up into Cwm Glas and onto Clogwyn y Ddysgl to climb The Parson's Nose (Diff). The continuation took in a further scramble along the grade 3 Clogwyn y Person Arete to the trig point on Crib y Ddysgl. The descent was via Gyrn Las. Steve and Oli T joined the group of three on their venture but climbed The Gambit Climb (S) prior to regrouping on the arete. When on top of the ridge all were very pleasantly surprised to witness a flypast by a vintage Messerchmitt 109 taking a close look at Yr Wyddfa summit and its crowds of people.
Oli B and Wes had a couple of climbs on Dinas Mot in their sights for Saturday. West Rib (HVS 5a) was their warm up and Super Direct (E1 5b) was a satisfying finale. Well done! Rose and Jenny opted for a climb on Dinas Cromlech. The six pitches of Flying Buttress (VDiff) were confidently negotiated and gave plenty of time for the pair to have a swim afterwards. Dan and Stefan wasted no time in climbing Crackstone Rib (S 4a) and The Wrinkle (VDiff) on Carreg Wastad. A sterling effort with good route-finding and tactful queue avoidance which gave Stefan a good head-start to get back to Beudy Mawr and into the kitchen where he was voluntary head chef for the evening.
Emma and Dave M started their day on Rib and Slab, abseiling from fixed gear at the top then taking a walk up to the side of the crag to Drws y Gwynt. The corner-crack of Little Sepulchre (VS 4c) was climbed next and Cracked Wall (HVDiff) to finish the day. The final section of Cracked Wall was considerably tougher than suggested in the guidebook. UKC has interesting comments from previous climbers.
Everyone made it back to the hut before the rain arrived in earnest. A successful day had been had by all and there were still hopes that Sunday would be fine if the rain passed through. Stefan, helped by Dan, prepared the meal for everyone and although we all had a good appetite we couldn't finish off all of the fantastic veggy curries that Stefan had created. We remained in the hut for the night and gave some thought to our options for Sunday without having a totally clear picture of what the weather would bring. Emma had to leave for home after the meal.
As it happened, the rain moved through and although not perfect everywhere, the slate was drying so some climbing was possible. Everyone was mobilised in the morning and the hut thoroughly cleaned, tidied and left in good order. It makes things so easy when you have a helpful crowd. Rose, Wes and Jenny opted to make their way home. Ewart went for coffee and to spend more money on climbing gear in Llanberis before a short walk and then home.
Oli B, Oli T, Martin, Derek and Steve had a pleasant, short day climbing sport and trad routes on the slate at Bus Stop Quarry. Dan, Stefan and Dave decided to have a chilled out morning and took a walk around the slate mines to explore the other climbing areas before setting off for home.
The trip was great. We were blessed with very good conditions following a long spell of dry weather which opened up pretty much all opportunities for climbing and scrambling routes. Everyone got busy with their plans, all levels of ambition were covered and everyone had a success to talk about at the end of the day. Well done all! Big thanks go to Oli B for organising the trip, to Stefan for working his magic in the kitchen and to everyone for being there, contributing and making the weekend so worthwhile.
It was a lot of fun! Look forward to the next one!
Cheers!
Dave M
Great report Dave. I must find my Ann Summers harness for the Langdale trip! 😀