In reply to Alan James, ROCKFAX:
> After at least 3 abortive attempts Tuesday 2 March saw a successful ascent of the complete winter girdle of Lliwedd. The route was climbed by Dai Lampard and partner (name not known) in perfect clear conditions. 26 pitches in all but no word as to grade at present.
After 17 years the girdle finally gave in. Started in 1986 with Nig Bonnett (16 pitches coming in from the left on a rising traverse)
1990/91 - 3 attempts with Bob Wightman - once from the col on the left,11 pitches. Once from the right hand side (11 pitches) and once when we had to go back to work because Bob had left his rope behind. 16 pitches with John Gladstone (possibly 1996) again coming in from the right.
Climbed this time using very different tactics - traditional start from the Vaynol at 11-30pm - bivvy on some god forsaken windswept col to the east of Lliwedd - forgot the brew tackle and the food.Shared half of a half karrimat with Geoff.Woke up fifteen minutes later attempted to warm some water - set off over the top of Lliwedd and down the west flank. Forgot where the line started / did one pitch then climbed back to the top and descended further down the west flank to try again. 23 pitches later we back at reach the bivvy site where we had left some kit. I looked around to see Geoff just finishing a 3 litre bottle of coke. He hands me the condensation in the bottle and says " I thought you'd have asked if you were thirsty"
We wore flexothane one piece construction suits instead of Goretex and moved together quite a bit. We had very good visibility which probably made all the diffence. We have always been caught by darkness in the past.
The route does follow a very obvious line once you are on the face, but in bad visibility route finding is a nightmare. The 5th pitch is probably the crux, getting into slanting gulley. There are some other good bits dotted along the way,the route is about 3000ft long.
If you want a grade then the best we can do is .....long!