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Lliwedd - Winter Girdle

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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.
James Jackson 03 Mar 2004
In reply to Alan James, ROCKFAX:

Was Chris Tan not on the team?

Any photos at all, sounds impressive!
In reply to James Jackson:

I am trying to get hold of a photo. Don't know who was on the team but if anyone does then please update via this thread.

Alan
dai lampard 11 Mar 2004
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!
sg 11 Mar 2004
In reply to dai lampard:

top effort, well done! was thinking about this (having read alan's post) walking along the pyg track at the weekend. does it need lots of good ice in many places? not that I'll be trying it myself in a hurry!
Geoff hibbert 11 Mar 2004
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.

The partner was me Geoff Hibbert. I think the route was 23 pitches with a few tricky bits but, in the main, a pleasant outing. Grade very long.

In reply to Geoff and Dai:

Thanks for replying to the thread and giving your account. I have just updated the news item.

Alan
chris tan 12 Mar 2004
In reply to dai lampard:

Nice one mate! Looks like another Lliwedd classic to try tick.
nb 12 Mar 2004
In reply to dai lampard:

What colour were your socks.Were they flexothane as well.!!
Horse box for sale in this weeks auto mart, will ring you tonight.
Martin Mandel 25 Mar 2004
In reply to Geoff hibbert: long time no hear!! good effort.
martin
Bob, unregistered for some reaso 25 Mar 2004
In reply to dai lampard:

You should be at work Dai. I am

Bob
 Colin Wells 26 Mar 2004
In reply to Alan James, ROCKFAX:

As a point of interest, does this girdle take a different line to the double winter girdle done by Geoffrey Winthrop-Young, George Herford and George Mallory in 1913?
Stephen Reid 30 Mar 2004
In reply to Colin Wells:

Intriguing! - is this in some old journal Colin? Oh, and were they climbing leashless?!
 Colin Wells 30 Mar 2004
In reply to Stephen Reid:

Winthrop Young goes into some detail in his autobiography 'Mountains with a Difference.'There is also a photograph of Herford and Mallory reclining against the wall of the Pen-y-Pass Hotel taken after their girdle(s) reproduced in Alan Hankinson's 'The Mountain Men' (p.139.) There is clearly a lot of snow about.

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