Aspirants Meet – Ynys Ettws September 2016

Nine aspirants and eleven members arrived at Ynys Ettws during Friday evening; the forecast was good but by 10pm it was raining! Single malt, strong beer and good wine seemed to deal with any concerns about conditions on the ‘morrow…

Saturday dawned cool and cloudy in the Pass and most teams predictably opted for venues outside the mountains and by mid-morning I thought that everyone had headed off to Tremadog or Gogarth. Optimistically one team opted to try and climb on Cloggy, but thwarted by mist and damp conditions they returned to the Pass. Meanwhile in Wen Zawn, with one of the hosts a little under the weather, a dignified retreat was made from ‘Dream’ via Concrete Chimney and Holyhead Mountain and then, on the way back to the hut, Llanberis slate was given a blast; not bad for a crook climber Kevin! This is just a selection of the routes climbed: Wind (Holyhead); Breaking the Barrier; Black and Tan; Holy, Holy, Holy; Looning the Tube; Scratch; Grim Wall; Meshac; Tony’s first E1 of the year Northwest Passage and, as Andy had brought the set of mega-cams he had to make use of them – Fear of Infection. I’m not shy about adding that the weird move on Creeping Lemma had me stumped and as I sat there thinking how I could contrive to scrunch myself up and step across the impending void in control, much to the amusement of Andy and Tom, gravity took over and I inexorably and ignominiously slid off the ledge laughing.

By about 8pm everyone had reassembled in time for a delicious and convivial dinner, something that we all look forward to and which typifies these meets. The weather had been brilliant, with warm and dry conditions experienced by all of the teams and the hut was alive with crag chat.

After dinner, not satisfied with their days climbing and having travelled from London wanting to make the most of the dry weather, aspirants Tom and Shane decided to take advantage of the full moon and clear skies to nip up ‘The Gates’, returning back at 2am. Headtorches were eschewed in favour of moonlight but they soon discovered they couldn’t see the footholds and resorted to artificial light sources. Abseiling into a dark void proved to be the scariest part of the adventure – I say well done them!

Sunday dawned and promised to allow climbing in the Pass. With teams on all of the low level crags another productive day was enjoyed. By now Kevin had recovered and with teams settling down, increasing confidence meant that the boats were pushed out a little: Super Direct; Wind (Grochan); Nea; Brant Direct; Spectrum; and a spirited and persistent assault on Stroll On were just some highlights.

Many thanks to our member hosts for supporting this meet, it really is appreciated and we couldn’t offer this meet without your support. Thanks to Sharon for providing really tasty food and making the catering much easier. Thanks also to all of you who purchased CC and FRCC guides. And finally thanks to everyone for mucking in with cleaning and recycling. You all seemed to have enjoyed your weekend – I certainly did!

Steve Scott – President