Feature: Meirionnydd climbing guide review
17/02/2003

Meirionnydd is indeed a Welsh fastness of solace and spirit. As Jay Cooper slipped a thick tome on to the Arthog staff room table with a grin of triumphant coolness, tranquillity was not the immediate adjective to make it out of the ensuing pandemonium. As the many photos, new routes, photo diagrams were quickly absorbed so smiles settled on instructors faces. They had been 14+ years in the making. In these days of mega ram, no guide should go out of print, and be without a successor for that long.

But Fritz Sumner has harnessed worthy usurpers to his title as the area guru. Martin Crocker has done Fowleresque route stealing from Bristol, Terry Taylor has moved to Tywyn to be close to the action and Chang (Elfyn Jones) in his schooldays gazed from his classroom window at his Moelwyn crags. Together with a Lledr valley team they have bunched together the Moelwynion, Rhinogau, and Cadair routes with the previously unpublished Arennig crags.

Their first pat on the back has been to use the Cymraeg terminology in this bastion area of Welsh language. Just as these days you hardly hear of the Carnedds, soon Pete’s Eats will be ringing in delightful Brummy of the Rhinogau and Moelwynion.

The second major plus is the effective introduction of 2 major new areas – Rhinogau and Arennig. To say the Rhinogau are “a whole new Peak district of Gritstone outcrops”, is stretching credulity - some of it is blocky, intimidating, lichen covered, steep, short and wet. But this is churlish; the definitive guide has to have the good, the bad and the ugly. For the good, check the pic on Page 17, which shows Crocker revelling in the sun kissed texture of well-cleaned Llechau Mawr – the new routes here are brilliant, well worth the walk. The easy stroll in to the Arennig reveals more gems to escape the Llanberis crowds.

As with many of the crags in this area a little effort yields the spirit and context of mountain isolation that even the Cromlech must have had back in the mists of time. If the harder routes are of the quality of Gyllion on Simdde Ddu then there are many happy hours on the Arennig to be had.

Cywarch, Craig yr Aderyn(Bird Rock), the north side of Cadair, and Gist Ddu have had areas of blank rock filled in – mostly at over E3. A typical new route Quartizone, a Cywarch E6 is a product of 6 routes in just one day of Crocker’s phenomenal determination; its description goes “ an extremely impressive route, taking the merciless line….. a must for the connoisseur of the sombre, high-grade Welsh classics”. This route gets a new feature of the guide – empty stars (as opposed to the already existing shaded stars) to give a grade to climbs which have had no repeats. A particularly nice touch for this area, where routes don’t get many second ascents.

Craig Cau on Cadair has been subject to the complete Crocker treatment - “there may be the occasional E9 left”, he says!! If you climb E3 plus, you must give it a visit!
Moelwynion will be the area most climbers are familiar with and here there’s a ruck of harder new routes to go at. Check out Upper Wrysgan, it has an example of the clear photo diagrams used in the guide right next to the route descriptions, just where you want them, and is the home of mid-grade routes using excellent finger pockets.

Its good to see a comprehensive survey of the Lledr valley including Nick Dixon’s Tubes area (using T grades!!) and including an updated Alltrem.

Some grumbles mentioned are the lack of winter descriptions, no diagrams for the Trojan area of Cadair, some of Phil Gibson’s brilliant diagrams from the 1988 guide have been shrunk and a couple of missing crags near Ffestiniog’s Foel Gron. In the scheme of things these are peanuts, and the area’s an excellent quiet alternative to the frenetic north and mostly the guide is brilliant, a mere £17.50 gives you a quality document (I hope the dodgy looking spine is just dodgy looking) not too heavy, with plenty to go at. Get a copy – more traffic means cleaner routes!!

Andy Hall

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