This was not actually an official Smog meet but 4 members were staying in a hut in the Llanberis pass for the weekend so it was close enough.

On the way up in the car, Simon said 'I've got a bright idea for tomorrow as the forecast is so good'. So, having gone to bed at 1am, we got up at 6.30 to try to beat the queues for Main Wall, a classic Hard Severe, on Cyrn Las. Richard ∓ Tony decided to give this a miss and go straight up to Clogwyn Y Ddysgl later.

It was worth an early start as there was only one party were ahead of us. By the time we were half way up there were another 5 or 6 parties at the bottom waiting or looking for something else to do. Most people seemed to carry a small rucksack but we opted to leave ours at the bottom and go back down to them.

Denise climbing Main Wall at Beudy

The climbing was brilliant - one of the best Hard Severes I've done. After lunch, we moved on up to Clogwyn Y Ddysgl and waved to Tony and Richard on Fallen Block Crack. We thought of doing the Ring, but then Si saw the crack of My Best Friend and couldn't resist it. We did a combination of this route, the Ring and Nunc Dimittis, depending on whether the pitches looked more feasible, protectable or interesting, and emerged on the scramble up Clogwyn Y Person arete. Descending this in rock boots seemed easier than I remembered, having climbed it in big boots with a rucksack.

We decided to call it a day and left Tony and Richard half way up Nunc Dimittis having abandoned any idea of eating in the pub that night. They eventually turned up at the hut at 10.30 pm.

The next day we went up to Elidir Slabs in brilliant sunshine again. We started on The Janos, the other 2 went to do Corrugated Cracks. This was another good route, although the description was a bit difficult to follow. Belays were taken where we could find enough gear rather than when described.

The other 2 seemed to have split opinions about Corrugated Cracks - Tony said he was glad he'd done it - because he wouldn't have to do it in the future. Richard said it was a wonderful experience and recommended it to us (and grinned). We didn't do it. We had a look at Armour, but it was starting to run with water now the sun was off it, so we headed down to Elidir Tower to take a look at Laxative, another VS, as the others did Janos. This proved to be an excellent climb, the 2nd pitch on interesting rock in a very exposed position with sparse protection - a great finish to the day.

Last Updated: 13 Oct 2005	© Slough Mountaineering Group	contact us