UKC

Quietest BH Monday in North Wales ever?!

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 jezb1 06 May 2014
I went and soloed a couple of easy routes on the Cromlech yesterday afternoon in dry but windy conditions (write up on my blog).

Not one other person climbing on the crag that I could see. There were a few people on the Grochan and Wastad, but not many. I thought it was going to be heaving!

Where was everybody?!
 ianstevens 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

Cheese rolling and knob throwing? Or maybe the millions that were out Easter weekend all bombarded somewhere else.
 lithos 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

ogwen
 spearing05 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

Gower
 wynaptomos 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

Not sure what time you were there but I drove through around midday and it looked busy with all the parking spots taken but came back around 5 and was also surprised at how quiet it was.

The weather forecast was for rain to arrive around lunchtime and although it didn't actually start until evening it may account for this.
 adam06 06 May 2014
i did first pinnacle rib on the east face of tryfan yesterday.. didn't see another sole... other then a few people on little tryfan!
Though it was very windy and cold! even went up to the summit and came down the north ridge.. no one except sheep!
 Red Rover 06 May 2014
In reply to adam06:

I had the east face of tryfan almost to myself on Saterday but I didnt start till 7.30 pm so that might have had something to do with it.
 TMM 06 May 2014
In reply to adam06:

> i did first pinnacle rib on the east face of tryfan yesterday.. didn't see another sole...

Good to see people are taking their discarded footwear home.

 Kevster 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

I noticed this last year and the year before.
Bank holidays, perfect days for the classics in North Wales as I assume everyone avoids them thinking there will be ques.

Having said that, I thought Pembroke over easter was quiet too given what it has been like in the past.

Or, maybe, trad is less cool and Wales less fashionable. I hear Font was chocker again. As I don't boulder, I'm loving it!

In reply to jezb1:

It's probably because it was so windy! You wouldn't have caught me on a crag in the pass yesterday.
OP jezb1 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

Warm wind though!

Was there 1400-1530.

Not moaning though, it was nice to be have the crag all to myself!
 David Alcock 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

Simdde Ddu.
In reply to Kevster:

The idea that trad is not 'cool' is so sad (and misguided) as to be pitiful. More and more the word cool seems to mean 'pretentious, superficial and vacuous'.
In reply to Kevster:

And lazy.
OP jezb1 06 May 2014
In reply to David Alcock:

I have never heard of that crag, looks awesome, will check it out soon!
 Kevster 06 May 2014
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Funny how I use a word which I wouldn't use in spoken conversation much. Probably best not degenerate the thread into why trad in places appears to be deminishing.
Avon was a bit windy over the weekend, but didn't stop me getting the gear out, or getting slight sun burn.
In reply to Kevster:

OK, maybe best for another thread some other time (can't poss start nattering now!) But jezb's point seemed to me to express a sense of bafflement about that very subject.
 Ramblin dave 06 May 2014
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
> The idea that trad is not 'cool' is so sad (and misguided) as to be pitiful. More and more the word cool seems to mean 'pretentious, superficial and vacuous'.

I guess it demonstrates the transient nature of fasion that this catastrophic fall from coolness has happened in the last 12 months, then:
http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=552759

Seriously, though, I'd guess that most people decided to play it relatively safe in weather terms and went to the coast.
Post edited at 15:03
 d_b 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:
I was in N wales. Not on Cromlech though, as it's practically a roadside crag and therefore bound to be mobbed...

Oh.

Also, I think a lot of people were scared off multi pitch stuff on monday by the forecast, which turned out to be out by a few hours.
Post edited at 15:11
 Dave Garnett 06 May 2014
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
> (In reply to Kevster)
>
> The idea that trad is not 'cool' is so sad (and misguided) as to be pitiful. More and more the word cool seems to mean 'pretentious, superficial and vacuous'.

It isn't that it's not cool, the problem is that it's (a) outside, (b) not bolted and (c) multipitch.
 Ramblin dave 06 May 2014
In reply to Dave Garnett:

> It isn't that it's not cool, the problem is that it's (a) outside, (b) not bolted and (c) multipitch.

Cornwall was heaving over Easter. If there were bolts or a roof then I didn't notice them.
 lithos 06 May 2014
In reply to Red Rover:

> I had the east face of tryfan almost to myself on Saterday but I didnt start till 7.30 pm so that might have had something to do with it.

we did a scramble on east face Sat, every easy classic route up there had a queue on it, usually 4 teams deep. This was around midday - crazy busy
 StuLade 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

Yo Jez, eerily quiet eh?
OP jezb1 06 May 2014
In reply to StuLade:

Seems they were all in Ogwen! Weather was better than forecast too, that was probably the main reason I guess.

Few shots from Monday http://www.jbmountainskills.co.uk/news/route-of-the-week-no-2
 Dave Garnett 06 May 2014
In reply to Ramblin dave:
> (In reply to Dave Garnett)
>
> [...]
>
> Cornwall was heaving over Easter. If there were bolts or a roof then I didn't notice them.

That's where all the proper climbers were then!

Actually, it seems not just to be a phobia about putting gear in. I walked from Cressbrook to Miller's Dale a couple of weeks ago. It was a nice sunny day, crags all dry, and there were quite a few people about but they were all lying on pads under Rubicon wall and Raventor. Not a single bolt had been clipped.
 Jonny2vests 06 May 2014
In reply to Dave Garnett:

> It isn't that it's not cool, the problem is that it's (a) outside, (b) not bolted and (c) multipitch.

Nonsense.
 The Potato 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

dunno still a lot of A-holes in caravans on the roads though

Climbing wise I was surprised too, was at Dyserth castle trying some sport routes and there was hardly anyone there either
bill briggs1 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

I think the reason the Cromlech was quiet on BH Monday is the early parking of cars in the pass layby's by Snowdon walkers who catch the Sherpa bus up to Pen y Pass . They are usually full by 9 am and the walkers save the £10 parking fee at Pen y Pass.
 alooker 06 May 2014
In reply to bill briggs1:

carpark by the cromlech was full by then but further down it was quiet. Sat/sun were full as expected but monday was definitely quieter than expected, perhaps it's because the weather ended up being better than forecast that it was surprising
 Bulls Crack 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

All doing cr*p easy sport in the slate quarries?
 Dave Garnett 06 May 2014
In reply to Jonny2vests:
> (In reply to Dave Garnett)
>
> [...]
>
> Nonsense.

I wasn't being entirely serious, I don't suppose the N Wales regulars can all have forgotten how to do it; the parking and the weather forecast probably had more to do with it.

Sadly, I was at Stanage yesterday, which also not as busy as you might have thought for a Bank Holiday and a good forecast.
 Jim Nevill 06 May 2014
In reply to Dave Garnett:

My wife's theory is that the early May bank holiday is always quieter being close between the school term end Easter and the (potentially) warmer late May break. Seemed to be so on the M40/M6 journey to and from a reasonably quiet Lakes.
 mbh 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

I can't speak for Carn Gowla itself, but I ran around St Agnes Head once during the Easter holidays and it was heaving, then twice since then and it was empty.
 HappyTrundler 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

I went to Gogarth Main Cliff on Saturday, good weather, good tides, Bank Holiday weekend, wondering if I would be able to get on Gogarth....surprise surprise not a single other team at the cliff, about 3ish a couple of other lads arrived....sad, for one of the best sea cliffs in the UK...
 jas wood 06 May 2014
In reply to HappyTrundler:

Similar for us on the Sunday ! 4 teams only on the whole of Main cliff, long may it last!!
 caradoc 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:
Stanage and Bamford seemed pretty busy to me at the weekend but that might have been average, I don't go up there so much these days.
In reply to caradoc:

No doubt full of 'cool' people with bouldering mats strapped to their backs, quite content to stay at home rather than discover more exciting crags?
 Dave Ferguson 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

carn dearg buttress was quiet too, only 2 of us on the crag on saturday, I guess stanage might have been busy.
 stratandrew 06 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

Our team of three got on Grooved Arete first on Monday but there didn't seem to be hoards of folk about and we finished it in 4 hrs at 3.15pm Weather actually very pleasant. Lliwedd was even better on Sunday - just one other team on the whole crag.....but mostly i agree with the OP - normally the popular multi-pitch venues are mobbed on a BH in Snowdonia.
 John H Bull 07 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:
They weren't at Trevor Rocks, unless 4 is a crowd. It was a tad blowy mind.
 Jonny2vests 07 May 2014
In reply to Dave Garnett:

> Sadly, I was at Stanage yesterday, which also not as busy as you might have thought for a Bank Holiday and a good forecast.

Good! About time we spread out a bit.

 Neil 07 May 2014
In reply to jezb1:

Well, we were out on the Rhinogau, and strangely didn't see another climber. But I did see a small dab of chalk on an under cling. So someone had been out at some point.

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