North Wales Classics

Rockfax have done it again with another quality publication, this time covering some of the best North Wales has to offer. While it may claim to cover North Wales, this isn’t strictly true, as the book focuses solely on crags and mountains in northern Snowdonia. The most southerly venue described in the book is in fact Tremadog and there is no mention of Lleyn or Gogarth anywhere to be found. Nevertheless, the omission of certain areas works to its advantage, as it means the book is small, compact, light and easily fits into your trousers, which can give it an edge over some of the bulkier books on the market.

The book is lavishly illustrated with glossy photo topos and maps, the vast majority of which are clear and accurately marked. Route descriptions are brief, succinct and to the point and area easy to use when combined with the topos at hand. One criticism might be that certain topos do suffer from some small errors, for example, there is a belay symbol missing from the line of Second Pinnacle Rib on Tryfan. Small errors are however to be expected and on the whole the production value is very high.

A welcome addition is the inclusion of a few pages on winter routes, which is the feature that really makes it stand out against the competition (Cicerone’s Welsh Winter Climbs is now over 20 years old).

Overall, this is a very good book. It’s not quite as comprehensive as Ground Up’s Norcth Wales Rock and it is arguably, not quite as good either. However, it’s presentation is still excellent, it’s size very handy and the inclusion of winter routes marks it out as unique. A worthwhile purchase therefore, for the occasional visitor to the area.