UKC

On my first vist to Tremadog with a climbing partner on Saturday morning, we thrashed around in the jungle for two hours looking for the start of Poor Man's Peuterey, before giving up. Can anyone help?

We went over the fence down the road from Eric's Cafe towards Tremadog where a sign by the fence says 'danger form falling rocks'. We headed up the rubble and into the jungle before heading left on a sort of path, down a couple of sets of wooden steps, before the path seemed to zig zag off up through the woods, which we took to be a route down from the top of a crag.

How would we identify that we were (i) on a named crag as per the guide book; (ii) identify at least one route to orientate by; (iii) identify the start of PMP? Thanks.

In reply to ianghogg: Which guidebook you using bud?

In reply to ChrisHolloway1: I havent got it with me, but it is the plastic covered standard version I bought at Leeds climbing wall about 3 years ago.

In reply to ianghogg:

yes, bit of a 'mare at 1st acquaintance isn't it.

I was lucky and got "shown around" by a local on my 1st visit.

stick with it; it grows on you!

more helpfully, there is a new guide coming out v soon which should be a huge improvement. With due respect to the authors, the last guide is rubbish at doing all the things a guide should do - like getting you to the foot of a route!

In reply to JonC: We did consider if was against the ethic of British Rock climbing to paint a discrete route name at the bottom of some strategic routes, to orientate by?

In reply to ianghogg:

yes it is - but there are scratches by most of them if you look....

In reply to ianghogg:

ps: if you can't wait for the new guide (seems to keep getting put back), the Ground Up selected guide does a reasonable job of getting you around the crags at Trem.

In reply to ianghogg:


You know you are at the right crag as there is a crag above you and you went left from Erics.

You identify one route by finding the route in the guide that starts from the set of steps

you find PMP by finding the longest queue on the crag.

In reply to ianghogg: I wouldn't recommend you to go if you haven't been before (he says helpfully). Your best hope is to find some other climbers doing a route. Seriously, though, Tremadoc is one of those places where a little photo in the guidebook of the starts of some of the routes would be helpful. In the absence of that how about UKC contributors putting such photos up on the crag pages? That would help folk with i-phones, at least.

In reply to ianghogg:

On my first trip to Tremadog, i resorted to the very unmanly technique of asking another climber where we were. Without that, I think we would have been lost in the jungle for days instead of hours!

The old CC guide is practically useless unless you know where you are already. The Ground-up selective guide is better, but in summer it's always going to be hard finding your route. One tip I was given was to work out where the butress you are after is from the road, before plunging into the greenery.

In reply to ianghogg: Sounds like you were in the right place, did you hit the vegetated bottom section of the crag? if so poor man's is towards the left hand end of this.

A tip for next time, check out the crag from the road so youve got something to aim for when you get in to the jungle. makes it much easier to find what your looking for.

In reply to Rog Wilko:


The mock ups of the new definitive guide (due any week soon...) had precisely that.

To the OP: As others have said, identify your crag from the road, then head to it, then find the route once at the crag. It does start to make sense eventually.

In reply to ianghogg: Hi Ian,

I did a detailed map for the Bwlch y Moch section of Tremadog in my new guidebook which is the spot most people seem to find most confusing:

http://www.rockfax.com/publications/books/item.php?id=156

For the section you visited: My book also has a full page photo topo for Poor Man's.. area and a general crag over view photo for that too.

It sounds like you were in exactly the right place, but just missed the start of the route, it is tricky to identify.

You can find the base of the striking feature of Silly Arete - which is a few routes to the right and work from that.

PMP starts up a groove and if you check out the grooves in that area it isn't too difficult to figure out - once you know you're in the right general area. It also has PMP scratched in to it - not a practice I am recommending, but it might be of help to you in this instance.

It is virtually at the far left of the climbable rock and the groove heads up to a large tree.

Good luck - excellent route.

Jack

Thanks,

Jack

In reply to ianghogg:

You'd have found a lot of routes in 2 hours?!

Locate from road, head up and the starts turn up - maybe not first time but shortly afterwards.

In reply to remus: We did walk up and down and look from the road, but still couldn't work out the crag from the guide book picture. Two hours later and a walk up a track to a now non existent Waldorf School, we did at least positively identify Two Face Buttress poking out of the forest high up, shame we can't do E grades. It was only a passing posty in his red van who eventually got us viable directions that took us to the Upper Tier.

In reply to ianghogg:

Numpty.

All I have to say to be honest!

Better luck next time and take someone who knows the place, or ask another climber.

In reply to ianghogg:


About 40 feet to the left of the steps, by a big tree root IIRC. I've always thought that the PMP scratchings marked the start of Borchgrevink though and are further to the left. The chimney on Pincushion (and its tree) are the dominant feature hereabouts, and PMP starts level with the left hand edge of the slabs on the left side of the chimney.

In reply to The Green Giant: Thanks to all for the helpful hints. Just a note to say the reason we did not ask another climber is that we did not see one. We had brekkies early and set off into the sunshine at 8 am. There was no one else around during the time we were in the jungle, in fact we did not see another climber till late morning.

In reply to ianghogg: Crags are confusing places, and Pant Ifan especially so. To find PMP you would be better off finding the start of Scratch/Scratch Arete, (these are easy to identify from the road, and you can more or less aim up the scree slope to them) then work your way along the crag identifying the start of each route until you get there.