Back out with Rebecca and Chris yesterday, week 3 of their Tim Harrop Mountain Activities Mountain Month. We were after some climbing and with a pretty poor forecast we opted for a 'Big Boots' mountain day. Rebecca wanted to do Clogwyn Y Person Arete on the Snowdon massive, so we decided that would be our goal of the day. It's a grade 3 scramble that rises out of Cwm Glas and finishes on Crib y Ddysgl - the ridge that links up with Crib Goch. It's a pretty serious scramble with a few quite difficult and exposed sections.
We approached the route via a lower grade 2 scramble to the right of Sergeants gully, another fairly exposed scramble. Weather so far was dry and the summits were clear.
We were soon in the upper Cwm Glas with the wind gusting around us! By the time we were at the foot of the route and getting the rope out the rain started. Undeterred we carried on. Chris and Rebecca have been climbing regularly over the last 3 weeks so i was happy for them to lead each other up the route, due to the rain we elected to pitch the route with Chris taking the first lead.
It wasn't long before the rain was lashing down! It was pretty windy too but we were relatively sheltered on the route - the white horses on the llyn below us let us know what to expect when we reached the top!
Rebecca lead through the first tricky step and kept Chris safe using an Italian Hitch while he tackled it. The next couple of steps are the trickiest with some great exposure - certainly not the place to slip... I needed to be on the rope for my safety so I tied in and led the next couple of sections before handing the reins back to Chris and Rebecca. The route relents a bit now so they were able to practice some moving together with the rope - placing protection as they went. Once onto the upper section we got rid of the rope and climbing kit and made our way to the windy summit of Crib Y Ddysgl. It was very wet by now and we decided the easy descent down the PyG track was our best option, we'd had enough excitement for the day.
All in a great day out and satisfying to get a route like that done in the conditions, Chris and Rebecca did a great job. If you have the skills and experience, right kit and a sense of adventure the weather doesn't always have to stop play. Cheers guys.
