UKC

Im off to the Ogwen Valley at the weekend and palnning on taking on "grooved arete". I'm pretty new to this rock climbling / scrambling only got 3 rope climbs under may belt ( FPR, Idwal & Cneifion arete ) My leader as left me the choice of route and a I fancy "grooved arete" Am I biting off more than I can chew?? love a challenge thro!!

In reply to snakes77:

The three routes you've done in prep are a good choice as you're main difficulty is route finding. Do not underestimate the Knight's Move pitch though. If the weather is poor be prepared to change your plan.

In reply to snakes77:

You say "my leader has left me the choice", in which case you will be seconding? If so, go for it and enjoy!

It's a popular route so expect queues.

In reply to snakes77:

Get up there as early as you can possibly do, then you'll have the route to yourselves and in the morning sun. Its a great route. Enjoy.

In reply to snakes77: Thought at first you were talking about the classic 8a+ at Kilnsey. Maybe next year eh...

Andy F

In reply to snakes77:

if you have a good forecast then maybe do a route or two on little tryfan, then head over to do GA for the rest of the day. As said above route finding is one of the main difficulties, we managed to get slightly off route.

In reply to Morgan Woods:



Sounds like a sure fire recipe for a benightment unless the leader is pretty experienced and efficient!

In reply to snakes77:

This was my first lead. Great route but I second the slight concern over Knights Move particularly if the weather is pants. Good luck!

In reply to GrahamD:

err why....do a single pitch route a.m. then get on to something longer for the afternoon. on a clear day now you will have light until at least 8pm.

but i would pack a headtorch ;p

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Would be more sensible to do it the other way round though. Or if they have more time they could drop off the other side of the north ridge and do a route or two on the milestone.

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Just that a lot of inexperienced parties DO run out of time on GA. As to why, late starts and faffing I guess ?

In reply to Morgan Woods:

until about 9.30 in fact

In reply to snakes77:

The kinights move? lol. The crux is the pitch right before the knights move.

In reply to Silum:

Agreed. Knight's move is pretty straightforward but feels fairly exposed.

In reply to PondLife:

Out of interest, the very last pitch, I stepped up onto a large block and led off from there, was this the correct way up, there seemed to be 2 or 3 different ways up all looking very v diffy.

Paul

In reply to Paul Trueman:

where you top out the penultimate pitch there is a blunt arete and a block belay just to the right on a large ledge. the next pitch goes up from approx where the block is, might well have stood on it to get started.

In reply to Max_01:
oool, we done just that.

In reply to snakes77:

Get up to the route early, unless you like queues - and even then be prepared to switch plans to do something else. If you go up in the afternoon the crowds may have left, but you might run into someone. I had to ab off once because we didn't know quite how far we'd got and the party in front were having an epic - despite an efficient retreat it was dark before we hit Tryfan Bach.

In reply to snakes77:

Forgot to say that it's a pretty amenable route with nothing overly technical on it, so there's no reason - other than the bank holiday - to give it a shot.

In reply to snakes77:

its not much harder than fpr, Go for it!

In reply to snakes77:
I'll add to the advice of getting there early. It took Pondlife and me 7 hours from the car and back (is that right mate? It felt like that at least). There were 2 parties ahead of us and they were slooow.
The pitch before Knight's Move is more fun, but I'm not sure about harder.
Have fun!

i was there last bank holiday... got there about 10am. was behind a que of about 10 groups. didnt finish till dark cuz of the damn southerners in front takin ages. good route. knights move is the easiest part... dont understand why everyone goes on bout it

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Surely safer to do it the other way round from a benightment point of view.

In reply to Al Evans:


Definately. I think the idea was to use Tryfan Bach as a confidence-builder en route to the main event. This does have some validity.

In reply to snakes77:

Sorry to be the pessimist, but I would say dont even bother on a bank holiday, unless you like standing on belay ledges for 1 and 1/2 hours at a time.

There are quieter venues with quality routes at the grade you want - the Moelwyns? or close to Tryfan, Carnedd y Ffilliast.

Dont get me wrong - GA is a beautiful route - but try to savour it on a midweek or similar rather than the bank hol;iday circus.

Good luck and enjoy what ever you do.

In reply to David Hooper:

Agreed.

It's a great route but there are other quality easy routes on the East Face of Tyfan. Eg Gashed Crag, Arete Climb, First and Second Pinnacle Ribs.

Why not spread the load and go for some of these instead?

In reply to adamki:


Nae offence like, but I dont understand why anyone would que behind that much traffic.

In reply to adamki:

Because it asks totally different questions to the rest of the climb in a great position? If you don't understand the joy of it then you have no poetry in your soul.

It's pish easy though, granted.

In reply to psd:

Anyone aiming to go out next weekend? as in the 16th May? Trying to ascertain queue length...... Also, any FAQ type tips? any particular gear one might need not in a normal rack?

In reply to martyn_hhhh:

If I WAS planning it I'd hardly tell you so you could get there ahead of me!

Normal rack is fine.

In reply to adamki:

The move is easy but the exposure feels quite fierce for someone who's new to climbing. I don't know of many other V Diffs, if any, where there's such exposure, though I'm sure there are loads. Hell, it's a big, long, famous mountain route with a bit in the middle that can make your heart flutter.

In reply to sarah79:

Terrace Wall Variant felt a bit scarier to me.