UKC

I’m mulling over picking one of the routes on Idwal Slabs to solo.

Accounting for ease of route finding, fun, how polished, how easy is would be to exit near the top, how busy it might be and not too challenging (maybe just Mod or Diff), which routes should I look at?

In reply to afx22:

I like soloing long routes in the easy grades, but I wouldn't tend to recommend routes to strangers since the stakes are high.

It's also very personal. Some people are more comfortable soloing cracks - unambiguous route finding and the security of jams. Some people hate polish but I like it for soloing as then the rock's clean and you know you're on route. For me, clean rock and decent footholds are what I want for soloing - but everyone's different. 

In reply to Jon Stewart:

This. I’d also suggest that Idwal slabs are not the best low grade solo option, partly because the holds are more rounded/insecure and partly because it’s so busy. Much better options on the are abound. At risk of being guilty of the above myself… I’d recommend Cneifon Arete, which is on the climbing/scrambling border. The difficulty is steep but not sustained and on massive, reassuring feeling holds. It’s busy, but easier to stop and/or overtake on.

In reply to afx22:

Why do people keep starting threads like this? To be very blunt: if you can't work it out yourself, you shouldn't be soloing.

In reply to afx22:

An obvious choice is Ordinary Route at about diff. You shouldn't get lost on the route itself but more care is needed finding the descent. A rope is handy to ab here. Not recommended if it's raining though.

In reply to Slackboot:

if you need to ab to get down the normal descent on the Idwal slabs then you should not be soloing, let alone in the rain....

In reply to nniff:

Maybe you haven't done this route?

I quote from the Rockfax description:

Descent or continuation - Either carry on up the Direct Start to Senior's Ridge or descend via abseil or exposed down-climbing into Senior's Gully. © Rockfax

Abseiling is a much easier option here.

In reply to Jon Stewart:

Thanks for the reply.  All good points - the sort of thing i was hoping for in the answers.

In reply to ianstevens:

Thanks Ian.  I’d looked at Cneifon Arête many times before but the fact that it was shorter pushed it down the To Do list.  I’ll move t back up, cheers.

In reply to C Witter:

I can work stuff out for myself (or at least I can follow the guidebook and use the experience I already have of the valley) but I didn’t see the harm in asking.

In reply to afx22:

I don't recommend Sub-Cneifon Rib....mostly straightforward but with much harder, insecure crux bits

And its not really that good. 

In reply to afx22:

I have soloed ordinary route in walking boots and rucksack in Winter when nobody else was in sight (so no having to pass people) but I recommend against it as despite being easy territory it is quite polished and you could slip unexpectedly, in which case there's no ledge to stop you. I'd recommend against it. Other routes are even more polished. It's just not good solo territory!

In reply to afx22:

Of course, absolutely no harm in asking! (But as others have said, I think it's unlikely that a climber would recommend or encourage anyone soloing a route; it's a very personal decision that you have to take for yourself. A friend of mine once recommended that I solo a severe in South Wales, but when I started up it, he was terrified something would happen to me [though it was well within my abilities] and kept shouting at me, "profitofdoom! That's enough! Why don't you reverse it and come down now! Enough!)

In reply to ianstevens:

The Cneifion Arete is a grade 3 scramble, I don't climb (never have) but solo it quite happily in B1 boots and 28L pack, so a safe recommendation as I'd expect any rock climber should be more than happy up there... ?

@OP, it's a 20 minute route, so best paired with Idwal Staircase/Buttress. But Dolmen Ridge is my favourite grade 3 in Ogwen so I'll put that out there

Maybe look at Hawk's Nest/Shark Buttress, it's a 3+ so perhaps more interesting for a rock climber? I haven't climbed it though, the guidebook description put me off.

In reply to afx22:

Fair enough. Are you sure you're set on Ogwen? I hear Freerider is a decent solo. Otherwise, anything and everything in Ogwen is solo-able, and I tend to think the best link up the Slabs is: Tennis Shoe, Rampart Corner and Continuation Crack - all on clean and solid rock.

In reply to nniff:

Absolutely. There's no possible way I could recommend soloing Ordinary Route to anyone who felt wary of soloing the normal descent. I've done the latter probably 50 times. I've never contemplated the former.

Martin

In reply to afx22:

I agree with Jon Stewart's comments about recommending routes to solo, and your logbook seems to be completely full of bouldering, which means that technical difficulty isn't the issue, but things can feel very different with a couple of hundred feet of fresh air below you.

That said, if you are looking for something technically piss easy with no route finding issues, won't be busy, and has an exhilarating a big drop, then have a look at Atlantic Slab (Grade-3).

Don't screw it up though.  In contrast with bouldering, if you do fall off it you will at least "have the gratification of falling through a thousand feet or so of magnificent scenery", as EA Baker put it. 

In reply to Slackboot:

It's hard not to appear condescending, but I think I first did that descent in 1977 in a pair of plimsoles, and a score of times since, I suppose.  In no way is abseiling an easier option when you're soloing in the first place.

In reply to afx22: just lead Tennis Shoe with a partner and do the descent together by scrambling or abseil. This should give you enough information to decide upon whether and what to solo

In reply to nniff:

Just relaying my experience of when I did it recently. The line was obvious though not being familiar I had to look a bit harder for the descent. I had a rope with me which allowed me to abseil. Which seemed quick and easy. I remember thinking at the time that I wouldn't like to do it in the rain as the water must come down the main line like a drainpipe. That's all.

In reply to afx22:

What are the anchors like there? It's never occurred to me to abseil, and to be honest I always think of that as the last resort, not the first.  No matter how efficient you are, it takes time to set something up safely, and too many things can go wrong, sometimes fatally. 

I can see that a guide might regard it as the most efficient way to move a group of clients, and a novice team might be too intimidated to attempt the down-climb (although I would worry that they had the experience to set up the ab) but anyone else capable of leading routes on the Slabs (and certainly anyone contemplating soloing them) should be capable of the downclimb. If their companion is too nervous then just rope them down first.

In reply to tagscuderia:

Depends which book you read. Some give it G3, some Diff - either way, it’s great to move up without being encumbered by a rope. And that was my point above - I’m only going to make safe recommendations, so low grades and positive holds.

If you take 20 mins I’m guessing you stopped for lunch - I think my PB is around the 8 minute mark (Admittedly in running shoes with basically no pack).

In reply to afx22:

Groove Above is the good Idwal boulder problem

In reply to afx22:

Route finding for any of the routes on the Slabs is easy. Pick a grade to suit, and off you go.

Don't fall off.

In reply to afx22:

Theres a lot of quieter but good easy climbs and scrambles here https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/glyder_fach-494/#maps

In reply to afx22:

This is sobering footage.

Idwal Slabs is not a good place to fall from, particularly if you are soloing.

youtube.com/watch?v=1m2HJpGtv70&

In reply to Howard J:

There are some big spikes and it's very straight forward to rope someone down: with people who are unsure of themselves I belay them down off a munter on a spike, strip the sling and rope once they're in the gully and scramble easily down myself. Adds 5mins of faff but not much more. Abseiling directly off the right spike usually works but the rope can get snagged.

The scramble is about moderate in the dry, but someone has vandalised it - presumably because it is polished they scratched a lot of the polished rock in an attempt to "roughen" it, so utter incompetence is obviously not unknown.

In reply to afx22:

Firstly this is not a recommendation, merely musing about an outing I had on Idwal Slabs that may increase your pre-knowledge.

I once (and a quick look at my log has just horrified me that it was 30 years ago) soloed up several routes on the slabs (Hope, Tennis Shoe, Charity) and avoided the nasty descent by soloing down the Ordinary Route. 

Whether this is ok will of course depend on this being sparsely occupied and you being prepared to wait if necessary.

The routes were very polished then, they can only have got more so.

The top pitch of Tennis Shoe is by far the nastiest thing I did that day - very polished, less positive holds, in an exposed position, felt very serious in contrast to all the other stuff on the slabs. The Direct Start to Tennis Shoe (which I also soloed on that day), although significantly technically harder didn't feel as scary as that top pitch which was the only bit that I realised I would never think about repeating un-roped regardless of how well I was climbing (I didn't actually ever have the opportunity to solo repeat any of these and I'm too much of a punter now).

The other thing I remember is how tiring on the legs 450' of easy slab climbing is when soloing - something that you wouldn't notice when roped because you stop every 150' to belay, etc.

In reply to Martin Hore:

Back in the day, when times were quieter, Ordinary Route *was* the descent... 

In reply to Michael Hood:

Doh!, 1982 is 40 years ago not 30. Less brain cells left than I thought ☹️

And another thought, if you're not 100% sure about soloing on the Idwal slabs, then do some of the easy slab routes on  Clogwyn y Tarw (The Gribin Facet), same angle but feels less serious (you still mustn't fall off) and it's almost on the walk into Idwal anyway.

In reply to Michael Hood:

It was polished and nasty in the 1960s when I first led it - no means of protecting the crux moves in those days. It was probably one of the most frightening leads I have ever experienced. Interestingly the one and only time I have ever literally slipped off without warning was during a solo climb (swim?) up the Ordinary Route during heavy rainfall about 20 yeas ago. One second I was standing in a comfortable position, a split second later my foot and hands came away from the rock, and I was sliding. Fortunately I slid into a niche about 15 below me and was able stop the slide with a fist jam before my momentum was too great, but it was close shave.

In reply to Michael Hood:

I came to exactly the same conclusion last time I did it.  I've soloed it several times but the last time I had a very odd, but very clear, feeling that I shouldn't do it again!  Something to do with that insecure final reach for the jam under the summit block, the level of polish and the huge drop just to the left I suppose.

Like you, I've had some great days soloing up and down the slabs.  Even so, with no offence at all to the OP, I feel uncomfortable recommending it.  Soloing on the slabs was also the only time I've used my one-handed bowline tying skills when I asked for a toprope on an unexpectedly wet section (I would just have had to do it if no-one had been above, but it seemed sensible).   Soloing is the best fun - until it isn't.

In reply to afx22:

I'd recommend getting some trad experience, before soloing. Learning to climb trad is a wonderful experience in itself with a good partner. Before climbing a diff solo I'd want to make sure I was absolutely rock solid with that grade on a rope. Of course for a 7a boulderer the difficulty is well within your limits but the exposure particularly when soloing is, I would recommend, something to be worked up to. All the best anyway, don't want to sound too negative, just suggesting one way of doing things.

In reply to kevin stephens:

Hi Kevin, I’m not a trad climber.  I’ve lead a few routes and seconded many more with friends but it’s not something I enjoy so much.  I focused on scrambling for many years then switched to bouldering.  I was just looking for something way, way below my technical ability to do on a rest day after bouldering.

In reply to afx22:

Cool. The major difference between scrambling and soloing routes on Idwal Slabs is the degree of commitment, lack of ledges and potentially irreversibility. I wouldn’t recommend soloing anything on Idwal (irrespective of grade) until you have experience of leading long (as opposed to extended boulder problems) trad routes. Hope this doesn’t sound elitist as I have a lot of respect for highball boulderers; it’s just horses for courses

In reply to kevin stephens:

Understood.  I have plenty of experience in the mountains and single pitch scale stuff), so consequently feel like my biggest risk would be a route finding error.  I’m always wary of grassy sections too.

But consensus seems to be that Idwal may not be the best choice.

In reply to profitofdoom:

That must have really helped keep your mental focus while you climbed. Does he also yell "You're going to die!" at people whenever he sees anyone looking nervous?

In return, next time he seconds you just call down to him at some point "Errmmm look: I don't want to worry you or anything, but FFS under no circumstances... whatever you do... keep climbing but just don't put any weight on the rope OK" then refuse to explain why you said that and go totally silent for the rest of the pitch and them smugly announce "Fooled you!!!" when he gets up to you. That will surely further cement your bond of trust with each other

In reply to ianstevens:

"If you take 20 mins I’m guessing you stopped for lunch - I think my PB is around the 8 minute mark  (Admittedly in running shoes with basically no pack)."

8 minutes, hmmm... I've never actually timed it, as I do regularly stop for lunch/snack/quaff sloe gin high up on the arete; if you have it to yourself, what a spot! So I'll have to get back to you with a PB

I'm never in a rush in the mountains, last time on Cneifion I even managed a late afternoon snooze, so that was deplorably slow!

In reply to Trangia:

When sheep think they're goats.

In reply to afx22:

Have you thought about somewhere like Little Tryfan Slabs to get your eye, bit less exposure... 

In reply to george sewell:

Hi George, I’ve done Little Tryfan a few times, as a link up when scrambling the east face of Tryfan.  

In reply to Trangia:

Crikey! I tried to rescue a stuck sheep at Agden Rocher years ago. As it wouldn't reverse the muddy ledge near the top that it had got itself stuck on, I resorted to building a bridge from my boulder mat and a couple of logs over a gully to allow it to reach navigable ground (didn't have a rope with me and wasn't sure I had time to track down one or the farmer). The sheep was having non of my sturdy blue bridge, just didn't trust it, so it leaped clean over the gap, guffed the landing and toppled down the cliff. It fell 5/6m rolled on landing and bashed into a tree. Thankfully it picked itself up and walked off apparently unharmed to join it's new lowland herd. I swear it looked embarrassed as it turned to me as it walked off. Next  time I'll put the bugger on belay before encouraging it to leap off a cliff!

In reply to Holdtickler:

There was a poem, can't remember who wrote it, and Googling is giving me nothing relevant. Seems the right moment for some poetry <stops to wipe solitary tear>

I think that I shall never see

A beast as stupid as a shee

p

In reply to afx22:

The walk down at Idwal Slabs is an accident black spot.

In reply to afx22:

I had a good few years of mountaineering, but not a great deal of rock climbing experience when I decided to solo there. I had the goal of doing faith hope ad charity, but got bored after two of them and didn’t bother with the other. Got the rope out for tennis shoe, and was glad I did as that’s a big step up from the others in terms of security.

Enjoy, and hope it’s a quiet day when you go there. Your biggest adjective danger can be people…

In reply to Smelly Fox:

No, I think your biggest adjective danger is autocorrect 😁

In reply to Michael Hood:

Haha oops! It’s the bane of my life honestly 😂