UKC

Morning all
During the recent cold spell in January with my partners in crime Dicky and Boner (no sniggering at the back please!), we managed an opportunistic smash and grab raid on the Grade III Torpantau Falls in the Brecon Beacons (near Talybont) on a perfect day of weather. The falls were in full winter raiment with the ice in very good nick and the route provided most excellent sport. The entertainment was duly recorded so for anyone interested in viewing a short HD film of this memorable outing then please use the following link. Unsurprisingly, being the last day before a predicted thaw, the route was very busy so there were quite a lot of unknown climbers featured so do have a look as you may recognize yourself immortalised on film!
Anyway all constructive feedback, critique and comments welcome and hopefully it will inspire a few folks to visit this Brecon’s ice classic next time it freezes up!
youtube.com/watch?v=i1MG0LtMgzA&
If you wish to sample the full High Def experience and your computer has enough va va voom, you should be able to change the "Quality" icon to at least 720p HD in the bottom right hand corner on the You Tube screen.
Cheers Dave

In reply to BALD EAGLE: Looks a better climb than I'd assumed it was

In reply to BALD EAGLE: Cracking Vid.

In reply to BALD EAGLE:

Excellent. It is good to see such a route filmed so professionally. These top level johnies who climb at grade XI on the ice equivalent of Arctex leave me thinking "Oh well, maybe not"......but this one makes me what to get out and seize the tools....

In reply to BALD EAGLE: stonking job with the vid.

In reply to mac fae stirling, Dan, zumasie and sbc_10:

Cheers folks! Many thanks for the positive feedback + comments and glad you enjoyed the film! Dave

In reply to BALD EAGLE:
I don't think I've ever seen the place in such good weather. I should have tried to get up there this year but I didn't think it would be up to much and didn't have a partner to climb with. More fool me.

In reply to BALD EAGLE: Well done Dave,really good video and you were incredibly lucky with the conditions,Martin.

In reply to BALD EAGLE: Nice video! Looks like you had a great day.

In reply to BALD EAGLE:

Good one Dave. What's the track?

In reply to BALD EAGLE:
Im bollocks when it comes to constructive feed back; but wicked chilled out vid, and the slow mo ice axe blasting out flakes of ice was brilliant. I really need to take up ice climbing! Been enjoying flicking through your other vids too.

In reply to gethin_allen:

Hi Gethin
Torpantau was in very good nick for the best part of a week. Stranger things have happened, but I reckon thats yer lot for this winter with regard to ice climbing in South Wales! Better luck next winter...

In reply to Bobling:

Thanks Rob the track is Les Nuits by Nightmares on Wax!

In reply to BALD EAGLE:

Great video and great conditions so thanks for posting! With the recent cold snap does anyone know if Torpantau is back in condition?

In reply to BALD EAGLE:Great video on a great day out, I can now say I`m famous as that`s my back to the camera at 1:26

In reply to BALD EAGLE: Fantastic video, straight into my favourites

In reply to BALD EAGLE: Just got round to watching this. So good and yet again I missed the window. In scotland with ironically worse conditions but did bag a monroe or two with a touch of grade I action. Bald Eagle production for oscar next!
Cheers
Andy

In reply to Valley Boy 3, Wild Weasel and kiwi boy:

Many thanks folks and glad you all enjoyed the video!

In reply to wobl:

Hey wobl indeed it was a grand day out and fame at last for your "snow sweeping" at 1.26! Does anyone out there know or want to claim the identity of any of the 3 climbers in "Team Banana" in the close up at 0.25?! Cheers Dave

In reply to BALD EAGLE:

Superb vid

In reply to BALD EAGLE:
" snow sweeping " or looking for a belay before the other 8 arrived on the ledge ! ended up with 9 people on the ledge 6 below and your group above, last year two of us had the route to ourselves.

In reply to BALD EAGLE: really nice film mate. I'm randomly heading to the valleys this week. Is there owt in at the mo?? Cheers

In reply to wobl:

Yep t'was a busy day what with the predicted thaw for the following day. I also did the route in Feb 2009 and we had the place nearly all to ourselves! Obviously Torpantau Falls is becoming a much-sought after Beacons classic...

In reply to Bossys gran:

Thanks Bossys Gran! I've no idea if anything is in nick at the mo but some of the South Wales locals out there may be able to give a latest report! Anyone?

In reply to BALD EAGLE: I'll let you know around midnight tonight...

In reply to tipsy:

Hey tipsy any update on conditions in the Beacons for those who may be interested?

In reply to BALD EAGLE: not certain but there was a picture taken today of a frozen waterfall in Brecon on the BBC Wales weather, and from the brief glimpse I had it looked like Torpantau !
I might be wrong as I only just glimpsed it

In reply to wobl:

Interesting! However if the picture was Torpantau and it was current, I cannot see it lasting much longer as this weather warms up a bit...

In reply to BALD EAGLE:

Hi, yes sorry for not getting back. Walked in Tuesday night in almost zero visibility and thick fog... took a while to find the falls but when we did, despite there being ice there, there is a lot of running and pooling water and its very badly bonded. We went up the rib to the side dipping in to look along the way and it seemed the same all the way up. The top mushroom was one very thin curtain with poorly bonded pillars behind it.

It's difficult to be accurate as we could only vaguely see a few square meters of the falls at a time with no perspective, but I'd say it needed a good few more days of sub zero to freeze up. I think it's been due to warm up though and it wasn't all that cold on Tuesday night so I think we're all outa luck.

In reply to BALD EAGLE: nICE video

E

In reply to tipsy:

Thanks for the update and fair play to you for going for a look in what sounds like grim conditions!

In reply to Euge:

Thanks Euge for your nICE comment!