UKC

Linking routes together is an obvious and fun way of having a great mountaineering day out. The technical term is an ‘enchainment’. Mark Stevenson spent some great days out in North Wales this April and describes some great enchainments that are possible there.


Read the article here: http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=435

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Quite interesting but going from Tryfan East Face (Grooved Arete) to Cwm Idwal (Sub Cneifion) seems a bit of a bizarre move!

In reply to Touching Centauri: and a hell of a long day out!!

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Just the sort of days I love doing. Hoping to get a 4 or 5 route link-up starting from Idwal slabs next month, and walking back over hte other side to the Vaynol campsite.
Thanks for some other good inspiration

PS - want to do the same for the Lakes??

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: fantastic i was just thinking of something similar for a bit of alpine training..

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

I've done:

# Dinas Mot, The Cracks (HS 5a), 90m
# Dinas Mot, Slow Ledge Route (VS 4b), 115m
# Diffwys Ddu (Cyrn Las), Main Wall (HS 4b), 140m

in a day - I wanted to do Gambit climb as well, but as we had driven up in the morning and had to drive back to respective families in the Midlands that evening we were running short of time.

One thing I might say is that if you are new to the climbs, doing it like this might detract a bit from the climbs. I hadn't done any of them before and to be honest I didn't really think either Main Wall or the Cracks lived up to the hype. I'm not sure if I had done them as 'the' objective of the day - it would have been different?

In reply to Caralynr:

Spent a week in the Llanberis pass last year with no car inspired the idea of starting from The Vaynol camp site, hiking over to Cwm Idwal (via The Devil's Kitchen) and doing the 4-5 route link up finishing on Glyder Fawr, before returning to The Vaynol.

As it was we'd done the hike laden with camping gear since we had planned to spend a couple of days in Cwm Idwal, and the hike through The Devil's Kitchen burned us out - but would love to come back and do a fast & light link up of the whole route at some point.

Would be interested to know how long it takes...

In reply to plexiglass_nick:

No probs, I'll let you know (well, probably post on here). It will be June, when I have a week or so camping in Ogwen and the Pass. I think the crux will be hitching round from the Pass to Ogwen Cottage tbh! Especially since it will probably be midweek. May have to see if I can bribe the campsite owner!

In reply to Caralynr:

looks like some good days out. Interesting grading changes though- since when has cneifion Arete been diff? or 2nd pinnacle ridge v diff?

In reply to Caralynr:

"PS - want to do the same for the Lakes??"

See http://www.frcc.co.uk/rock/enchain.htm - not exactly having your hand held but gives an idea...

boB

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Good article. Some nice ideas for long days out on the rock.

I just need to see if I can persuade a buddy of mine to accompany me across on the ferry to Holyhead, now...

In reply to nikinko:

That's what I wondered.

In reply to kieran b: its a great place for long days out though. I've only done 20 days climbing in Wales but my first was:
Tennis Shoe
Holly Tree Wall original
Continuation Wall
Grey Slab
then down Seniors ridge (? I think, memory hazy)
up Sub Cneifon
down Bristly
up Grooved Arete

Funnily enough though the next day we went to Tremadoc, all we were capable of!

Al

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Great article, really good

In reply to AlH: crikey o'riley, good on yer!!

well, i guess i am spoiled by living round here. I suppose if i could only get here for a weekend, then i would want to make as much use of it as poss!

In reply to Touching Centauri:

There would have been little point in the article if none of the sugestions were orginal

That route happened slightly by accident, but it actually worked extremely well. From the summit of Tryfan the descent to Sub Cneifion Rib is mostly by well defined paths and is a surprisingly short and pleasant walk. It also has very little re-ascent (around 20 metres) which is always a good thing.

It might not be initially obvious but I can't really think of any other link-ups from Grooved Arete that make any more sense whilst giving a good mountaineering day out.

M

In reply to nikinko:

All the grades, route lengths and the numbers of pitches are from North Wales Rock.

All I can say is that with regard to relative difficulty I've found the full Graded List in the guide pretty spot on (and very useful in the higher grades).

I'm probably not the best person to comment on the differences between Diffs & VDiffs, so I'm not going to get drawn into that debate.

In reply to Mark Stevenson:

Nice article. I've got fond memories of a day out about ten years ago, up Idwal slabs and Continuation, then over to Cneifon arete and down to Chasm route, up that to the cantilever then down Bristly ridge and over Tryfan to finish, four of us climbing together on a single 9mm. It was about this time of year, not too hot but plenty of daylight. Had quite a late start and didn't leave the carpark til after 1, neatly missing the crowds and ending up being the last on Tryfan summit in the evening sunshine - none of us wanted the day to end and we sat up there til it was almost dark.

In reply to Bob: I enjoyed Peascod’s Women routes and I've done a few Langdale link ups. I haven’t had a chance yet but plans are afoot for all the Lakes Classic rock routes in two days with a bivy (24hrs would too much for me!) and I have ideas for linking Esk, Scafell and Pikes Crag or something like that.

In reply to Adam L:
Yeah, days like that are too rare.
Another good Main Wall link is to proceed to cloggy & do Great Slab, excellent alpine day.

In reply to Caralynr: Try getting hold of this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0715392476/ref=sr_1_olp_5/202-3568...

Great VS Climbs in the Lake District by Tim Noble.

Describes enchainments within the main valleys of the Lakes at VS, but if you have the guidebooks, you can tailor it to your standard of climbing. The Scafell day looks punishing!

In reply to Caralynr:

Having trashed ourselves on the hike through Devil's Kitchen once, we weren't too keen to do it again, and got a taxi from Idwal Cottage back to The Vaynol. Don't remember the number or which taxi now, but cost about £20...

If you're considering it I would find out which cab companies are operating in advance, as it was a nightmare to find a current number out of directory inquiries.

In reply to rehab21:

Mmm that looks nice. VS mountain routes are sthg I'm looking to more of, so may get that

In reply to plexiglass_nick:

Got a lift sorted now (thanks IainRUK) from the Vaynol to Idwal area, so it should just be a matter of walking down from Glyder Fawr to the Pass. Not a major drama, and it will be June so loads of daylight