Saturday

On the Saturday the climbing contingent (Pete and Roland and myself (Patrick)) headed for the Llanberis Pass. Typically by the time we arrived all the parking at Pen y Pass and the lay-by at the Cromlech Boulders were full so we ended up at the Farmers Field car park just down the road. We then proceeded to slog back up the to our chosen crag; Dinas Bach. This is not one of the better known crags in the Pass and one can see why, it did have the advantage that it was not that crowded though (like we were the only ones there!). The crag had been selected because it had a couple of short Diffs on it and these seemed ideal for introducing Roland, who had never climbed before, to the vertical world. The lad himself seemed less convinced and kept on trying to persuade us that he suffered from vertigo.

We started of on Ash Tree Gully with Pete leading the first pitch. Pete then belayed both Roland and myself on separate ropes so we could climb together. Having cracked the first pitch I then led off for the top up a bit of classic vertical gardening (yuck!) and then brought the other two up, with Roland still protesting that he suffered from vertigo. He did manage it though.

For the second climb we decided to tackle the other Diff at the crag; Flake Chimney. This turned out to be quite an entertaining line up a 15 metre tall detached flake followed by a further 15 metre pitch to the top. Roland decided to sit this one out and to photograph the proceeding instead. Pete gallantly offered me the lead. I decided to climb the route as a single pitch and having got to the top of the flake proceeded upwards suffering from increasing level of rope drag. The first pitch up the slab did seem to be hard for the grade; maybe Stiff Diff or Very Stiff Diff would have been more appropriate. The problems started when Pete decided that the route up the flake was too easy and he would try a bare slab to the right of it where he managed to get level with the top of the flake before deciding to abandon the attempt. We had lots of fun abseiling down to retrieve the gear then climbing up the 'easy way down' to recover the jammed ropes that had refused to pull down.

We headed off back down to the Cromlech Outcrop to grab a couple of first ascents of a particularly polished little number.

To round off the day in traditional fashion we popped into Bets to do a bid of gear shopping where Roland, warming to the climbing scene, managed to spend a large but undisclosed amount on a waterproof top. Good man!

Sunday

On Sunday I teamed up with the three Ninjas (Sophie, Dave and Sim) who had arrived the night before. They had in mind a couple of easy climbs up the East Face of Tryfan, which all sounded quite innocent at the time. We arrived at the lay-by on the main road and headed off up towards Heather Terrace, the starting point for the routes. It must have been and odd sight; three super fit Ninjas and this wheezing old bloke heading up the side of a mountain. Fortunately the Ninjas seemed to detect when I was about to go into terminal cardio-vascular meltdown and would pause just long enough for me to recover before setting of again at a 'steady pace'.

For the climbing I was teamed with Sim whilst Sophie and Dave climbed as a second pair. Sim and I took Overlapping Rib Route (First Pinnacle Rib) whilst the other team took Pinnacle Rib Route (Second Pinnacle Rib). We agreed to meet at the Pinnacle by the Yellow Slab where the two routes converge. We hurtled up the three pitches to the Pinnacle with Sim leading. The other team had overshot the Yellow Slab and had to down climb to join us. This was my first exposure to alpine style climbing and it took a bit of time to get used to the idea of minimal gear placement! I regret to say that I wimped out of Sim's suggestion that we 'moved together' as this seemed a step too far. By the time we got to the Pinnacle I was beginning to get the idea though and lead the Yellow slab and the following pitch placing virtually no gear at all. Both teams finished off up Thompson's Chimney where the Ninjas had fun jumping from Adam to Eve in gale force winds.

Sophie suggested that as it was still early (no doubt due to not having wasted any time placing protection during the climb) that we drop down the south side of Tryfan and pop up Bristly Ridge to Glyder Fach. This was achieved with me being only marginally terrified at the start of the scramble where we seemed to be a bit off route and half way up a cliff with a large vertical drop and no protection at all. The view from the top was stunning. The Ninjas frolicked on the boulders and surfed 'The Slab'. To round off the day we headed east and descended back down to the road.

All in all excellent. A totally excellent time.