UKC

I've heard of people climbing at Gogarth in winter but how warm does it have to be for this to be sensible? For instance, metcheck is suggesting 6 degrees in Holyhead today and it might be similar at the weekend. Clearly sunshine and light winds would be essential.

Any other suntrap suggestions? Perhaps the slate quarries?

The other options are Peak bouldering (not very exciting) or Scottish winter (quite far from Birmingham for a weekend).

In reply to Misha:

Look at guide book for dates of first ascents, think a lot were done in winter.

Some bays are sun traps just like Tremadoc.

In reply to sutty: Yep loads done in Jan/Feb, 'The Super Calabrese' was done on Jan 29th 1987 and was at that time the hardest route on the crag!

In reply to Misha:

Yellow Walls and Rhoscolyn can be very sheltered. I did The Sind in January; the day before we were on South Gully, Devil's Kitchen. Wind direction is important, it was blowing a hoolie in the S. Stack car park but I overheated on the route. The Met. Office is currently forecasting a N. Easterly for Saturday which would be ideal.

In reply to Misha: Not sure about Gogarth, if its a still day then yes should be fine but obviously the wind could have a huge factor.
Can sometimes be climbing in t-shirts at tremadog during feb so give it a go, should be fine. Many of the butresses there are sun-traps. Just have a look at erics which face has most sun and then choose a route from there. Enjoy.

I've heard of Paul Pritchard and Johnny Dawes (?) spending some time new routing on Gogarth in winter while bivvying in the South Stack toilet block. We're not that hardcore though... (Not sure where this came from - Deep Play? Haven't read that one.) Still, if the sun is out and the winds are light and/or blowing over the top of the crag, sounds like it might be feasible.

In reply to Misha: There is a South Stack toilet block, sounds like paradise. We used to bivvy in the old air raid shelter(or whatever it was) or the roofless ruins of Castel Helen before iot was rebuilt.

In reply to Al Evans: We used to dream of an air raid shelter.....

In reply to Al Evans:

you were lucky....i used to dream of bivvying in an old air raid shelter ..
there were six of us at gogarth.. we slept in an old shoe box in middle of swamp using discarded crisp packets as sleeping bags..but we didnt complain

In reply to colina:
An old shoe box?! Luxury!

In reply to colina: Lol, very funny

In reply to Will Hunt:

Don't forget the crisp packets as sleeping bags. Who can afford to throw them away?

In reply to colina:
Crisp packets? You were just being soft - Bonatti used to sleep out on his balcony in winter to harden himself up for cold bivvies. I'm intrigued by this bivvying in the toilets now - I wonder if it was described in Deep Play (haven't read it), or perhaps the guy who told me about it was getting something confused, or else I'm muddling up what he told me. I'll try to clear this up. Still not sure what to do at the weekend though.

In reply to Misha:

The dossing in the bogs is in Deep Play. It wasn't Johnny but someone else. There's a picture in the CC guide of PP doing Salem hunched deep into a duvet, which was done during this session.

Gogarth's an excellent winter crag. As feasible as anywhere else, depending as has been said on wind direction.

jcm

in reply to Misha: was at holyhead today and it was chilly, ok with the sun out, but once in its pretty cold and the rock even more so.

In reply to Misha: If we can climb here in Guernsey on seacliffs in winter then Gogarth is definitely feasable on nice days. Just make sure you've got the blood flowing in your veins before jumping on a route.

The toilet bivvying is apparently described in The Totem Pole.