York Alpine Club Blog

The signs were not looking good leading up the to Wales meet. The hut booking had fallen through, Llanberis high street was a raging river and the A55 was touch and go. But the weather didn’t put anyone off, and YAC ended up in the South Wales MC hut in Deineloin.

After packing for a soggy weekend, we were instead greeted with a mild and dryish one, with the rain holding off until near dusk both days. This means biking, climbing and walking got done and a good time was had by all.

Donal persuaded Peter and Ann to go biking in Betwsy Coed forest – mainly so that he could purchase a new cycle helmet first, having left his at home and not impressed with the loan of Ann's ca 1970's bright yellow Joe Brown climbing lid. After haggling hard at a bike hire shop, Donal became the proud owner of a used, but considerably more modern form of head protection. Suitably equipped, the trio headed off to cycle the Marin Trail – fitting, as both Donal and Ann have Marin bikes.

Ignoring the substantial barricades and huge 'trail closed' signs, they found the route to be surprisingly good, if somewhat slippery in places. "If it was dry, we'd nail this" was a frequent comment as bikes went sideways down the trail. (Dry? Wales? I think not!). They were really enjoying themselves, but when Peter and Donal stopped at the end of a long fast section, they realised Ann wasn't with them.

Moments later, the forest echoed with a very loud 'bang' and being alone in a dark Welsh forest, thoughts of 'Deliverance' sprang to mind as they both assumed Ann must have been shot. Donal bravely retraced the route to find Ann, looking like some sort of rural skip rat, dragging her bike along. The back wheel had literally exploded, signalling the sudden and long overdue death of her less than well maintained bike. Ann (with her armful of scrap metal) and Peter (with a map) were left to find their way back down into Betwsy whilst Donal completed the route (with a few short cuts) in order to retrieve the car.

Sharon and Mike pootled around the quarries whilst the climbers headed en masse to Anglesey to Holyhead mountain (not a mountain) for some cragging. It was a quiet and grey day, and mild out of the wind. Rob guided Justine and John up various routes including Stairs (S*) and Pigeon Hole Crack (S 4a) then taught them how to abseil, and set them back down again.

Everyone else hopped up and down the crag and climbed routes including Candlestick (HS 4b) and the ominously-named Vegetable Garden (VDiff). The weather started to threaten a bit more insistently so we buggered off back to the cars, almost timing it perfectly and only getting rained on for about 15 mins. Ah well.

Saturday evening saw a lovely dinner cooked by Sharon, Mike and Rob, sat around the huge table in the slightly soggy kitchen. As the hut didn’t have an oven, Annie went on the scrounge across the field to the Lincolnshire club hut returning with warm bread rolls and a warmer complexion. No questions were asked, comments made or michael taken. At all.

On Sunday, Donal was fighting off a cold and did very little, whilst Peter and Ann went for a little walk. Sharon and Mike rode the Marin trail Sunday. Unlike the Saturday group, they finished it.

The climbers nipped up the road to the atmospheric state quaries at Denorwic for some sport climbing. A new venue for several YAC-ers, the slate lived up to its quick-drying reputation, literally drying off before your eyes.

A good sociable day was had with everyone leading and top-roping the delicate routes under the surprisingly blue sky and taking lots of pictures. We wern’t the only Yorkshire group in attendance, York uni and Leeds uni were there, and Rob got blanked by one of his students.

Late afternoon drizzle sent us back down the hill the scenic way via tunnels, back to the hut and home. A good weekend snatched from the jaws of the weather gods and a good lesson in the rewards to be had from braving dodgy weather forecasts and just getting out anyway!