Multi-Pitch Climbing in Snowdonia

I have a lonely weekend looming, and I want to do something good with it. An old school friend of my husband’s is into rock climbing, and is pretty experienced too, so I decide to get in touch to see if he’s free. Getting his number, I send a message asking if we could hit the crag together. When the reply comes it’s an enthusiastic ‘yes’, and the wheels are set in motion for a weekend on the rock.

We are lucky, and when the time comes the weather is cold but fine. Marcus has invited another of his climbing friends, Stu, and we all meet up at Marcus’s place in the Midlands the night before to discuss plans and prepare kit. We have a great laugh, swapping stories and having a few drinks, the banter between Marcus and Stu is hilarious and they seem to have a lot of funny anecdotes about things going wrong, and getting caught out in the dark and sleeping on mountainsides.

The next morning we have a long drive ahead of us to North Wales’ Snowdonia National Park, ready to take on the multi-pitch ‘Grooved Arête’ route up the east face of Tryfan, so of course we all wake up late and then waste more time seeking out the best local Staffordshire Oatcakes for a hearty breakfast.

Eventually though we make it to the base of the mountain, I have summited Tryfan before, a mixture of hillwalking and scrambling to the top, but this will be my first rock climbing here and I’m looking forward to it.

We have a bit of hillwalking to do to get to the base of the climb, but the guys know the area well and lead the way. They will also be leading the route between them, as I don’t have the ropework skills for leading and can only second. At each pitch the guys will swap over the lead, but I will join in with belaying when I’m not climbing. 

We have packs with us containing food and drink, plus plenty of extra clothing for the cold weather. It’s not particularly freezing, but sitting still to belay in the shade of the mountain then the cold really gets to you. While we gear up and pack any loose stuff away, we take in the great views of the valley below us.

Then the climbing begins, with Marcus leading the first pitch.

This is my first proper multi-pitch climb, and apart from disliking being cold, I’m finding it exhilarating. It’s so peaceful on the mountain where we are, and the views are fantastic. Trad climbing like this is always a slow affair while you are waiting around, the leader having to pause to place protection in the rock face, and then the wait while they set up the next belay safely. But with this slowness comes a chance to reflect on the joy of being outdoors, doing something fun with great people, and having a feeling of achievement at being there.

When it’s my turn to climb I take a few minutes to get warmed up, my poor cold fingers protesting at being put to work. Although I am carrying a pack and collecting extra gear as I pass it, I don’t find it too strenuous and cope easily enough with the climbing to find it pretty smooth, while it is still challenging enough to feel like I am earning my time there.

We climb higher and higher, achieving pitch after pitch, but eventually the slowness of climbing with three people and the lateness of our start catches up with us, and the sun sinks lower. As the sky darkens, we put on more warm kit and eventually have to dig out our head torches. I see now that I should have paid more attention to those earlier stories of getting stuck in the dark and sleeping on mountainsides.

The moon

It’s all good fun though, and I eventually begin my climb up the final pitch. At one point I get pretty stuck, and just cannot work out the move I need to follow the route. I make attempt after attempt, suffer failure after failure, and fall a couple of times to be saved by the friction of the rope through the protection and the belay. I start to despair a little – the rock above means that the others haven’t heard me shouting to them that I’m struggling, I can’t go down but am unable to make the move I need to continue up. I can’t get out of my head the worry that I’m stuck there and I don’t know what to do. Feeling the panic rise, I have a word with myself: Stay calm. Panicking will make things worse. Take a pause, catch your breath. Reset yourself and try again, but don’t rush it. Regaining my calm, I at last make the move I need. The next pieces of gear were holding the rope at angles, and are tough to remove as falling on the rope has jammed them tighter into the rock cracks, but this is a small price to pay for the job of saving a fall.

Finally I reach the top of the route, the boys are in good spirits; they had thought I was taking my time but hadn’t realised anything was wrong, which is fine by me. 

We pack up all the gear and have a laugh about having to descend in the dark by head torch, before finding a pathway down the mountainside.

The next day we head to the Roaches area in England’s Peak District National Park for a day of fun single pitch climbing. 

We tackle several different routes and have great time, but for me the real highlight has been the multi-pitch climb, nothing can top that :)