Sandbox

Photos

Overview

Moelwyn Bach (left) and Moelwyn Mawr (right) (Photo by mills)

Rock Climbing

A so-so route, neither good nor bad. Not unpleasant unless otherwise stated. A good route which is definitely worth a climb. A very good route, one of the best on the crag and well worthy of attention. An excellent route, one of the best in the area, and probably in Britain too.

No Restrictions Used to indicate that there are currently no restrictions, either seasonal, temporary or permanent, affecting a route. Restrictions Used to indicate that there are restrictions, either seasonal, temporary or permanent, affecting a route. See the Red Tape and Access Section for more details.

Summit Cliffs

Summit Nose

Summit Cliffs (Photo by Nanuls)

Craigysgafn (centre left) (Photo by Nanuls)

Southern-Western Cliffs (Photo by Nanuls)

Southern-Western Cliffs

No.	Name	Length	Pitches	Adjectival Grade	Technical Grade	Quality	Restrictions
1.	Arberth	30m	2	HVS	5a
2.	They'll Never Keep Us Down	10m	1	E4	6a
3.	Moonrazor	15m	1	E2	5c
4.	Tir Na Nog	44m	2	HVS	5a
5.	Man in the Moon	25m	2	E5	6a
6.	Igam-Ogam	39m	2	E1	5b, 5b
7.	Non Welsh-Speaker's Conundrum	40m	1	E4	5c
8.	The Dogs Dinner	21m	1	HVS	5a
9.	On Easter Island	20m	1	E4	6a
10.	Maen Tŵr Og	20m	1	E2	5c
11,	Yr Holltalluog	21m	1	HVS	5a
12,	Beneath the Underdog	46m	1	HVS	5a
13.	The Misfortunes of Elphin	23m	1	E2	5c
14.	Exepel of Air	15m	1	E4	5c
15.	Cym Haul	18m	1	VS	4c
16.	Sundance Kid	18m	1	HVS	5a
17.	The Slot Machine	20m	1	E4	6a
18.	Expose	15m	1	E4	6a/6b
19.	Agenda	24m	1	E1	5b
20.	On Impulse	6m	1	E5	5c
21.	Thor's Wall	20m	1	E5	6b
22.	Loki Crack	18m	1	HVS	5a
23.	Fifth Anniversary	18m	1	E2	5c
24.	Penbwl Corner	37m	1	VS	4c

Craigysgafn

Mountain Conditions

When to Climb and Essential Gear

Getting There

Moelwyn Bach (Photo by Bryan Benn)

Moelwyn Bach (Photo by daveyboy)

Craigysgafn (Photo by daveyboy)

Red Tape and Access

Moelwyn Mawr (Photo by daveyboy)

Old slate workings (Photo by daveyboy)

Summit trig point (Photo by daveyboy)

Camping and Accommodation

Maps

Guidebooks

	Snowdonia (Official National Park Guide) by Merfyn Williams with contributions from Ian Mercer and Jeremy Moore A handy book full of useful information and interesting facts about the National Park.
	The Mountains of England and Wales: Vol 1 Wales by John and Ann Nuttall A classic book covering the Welsh ‘Nuttalls’, which obviously include the Moelwynion.
	Hillwalking in Snowdonia by Steve Ashton A guidebook to nearly 70 hillwalking routes throughout Snowdonia, including the Moelwynion.

	Hillwalking in Wales Vol 2 by Peter Hermon The second of two guidebooks describing walking routes up every 2000-footer in Wales – covers the Moelwynion to the Tarrenydd.
	Climbers Club Guide Wales: Meirionnydd by Martin Crocker, John Sumner, Terry Taylor, Elfyn Jones, with contributions from Mike Rosser, Mike Lewis and Dave Wrennall The definitive climbing guide to the area. Contains detailed descriptions and excellent diagrams of all known rock routes in the Moelwynion. An essential purchase if you plan to do a lot of climbing in Mid Wales.

External Links

Craigysgafn (Photo by daveyboy)

Moelwynion (Photo by daveyboy)

Moelwyn Bach (Photo by daveyboy)

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Overview

Getting There

Coire an Lochain (Photo by Nanuls)

Starting Pitch 1 (Photo by Nanuls)

The crux (Photo by Nanuls)

Castle Gully

Route Description

Essential Gear

Coire an Lochain. The Vent is the ladge recess on the left.
(Photo by Nanuls)

Maps

Guidebooks

	Cold Climbs: Great Snow and Ice Climbs of the British Isles by Ken Wilson, Dave Alcock, John Barry and Tim Pavey The classic publication on British winter climbing. It's huge and in hardback though, so don't even think about taking to to the crag.
	Scottish Mountaineering Club: Scottish Winter Climbs by Andy Nisbet, Rab Anderson and Simon Richardson A stunning, well written guide covering winter climbing sthroughout Scotland; an ideal choice for someone looking to explore wonderful winter venues the country has to offer.
	Scottish Mountaineering Club: The Cairngorms by Andy Nisbet, Allen Fyffe, Simon Richardson, Wilson Moir and John Lyall Another beautiful and lavish guide from the SMC, containing details of summer and winter climbing in both the northern and southern Cairngorms area.

External Links

Pitch 2
(Photo by Nanuls)

Coire an Lochain
(Photo by Nanuls)

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Rock Climbing

Geology

Weather Conditions

Forecast

Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar | Hurricane Center

Web Cameras

Tides

• Spring tides come in much faster than neap tides – at such times areas of flat rock and boulder beach can disappear rapidly and escape routes can be cut off.


• The smaller fall to low neap tides may give much less access than low spring tides to certain crags.


• The lower level of high neap tides may allow access to certain routes, which are normally cut off in high spring tides.


• Persistent and strong onshore winds can prolong or even slightly raise high tide levels, as can a high swell from some distant ocean storm.

Mumbles (SS 634 871)

Coastguard and Sea Rescue

Red Tape and Access

Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000

	Access symbol Used to indicate the start of access land, be this CRoW access land or access land under other agreements.
	Negative access symbol Used where the boundary between access land and land with no access rights needs clarifying, or where there are persistent problems with trespass.
	Dogs on lead symbol On all CRoW Act access land, dogs must be kept on a short fixed lead (2m or less) between 1st March and 31st July (the main bird breeding and lambing season), and at all times near livestock.

Climbing Restrictions

Maps

External Links

Interactive map

Landfall

Lundy Harbour; my first contact with Lundy Island. Photo: Dan Harris On the 24th of December 1869, after spending a night of merriment in the Marisco Tavern, Lundy Island’s finest, or more accurately, only, hostelry, Samuel Jarman, unwittingly ruined his family’s Christmas, by losing his way home and walking straight over one of the islands many cliffs. The effects of this error were to be terminal. In spite of his somewhat inglorious end, his family saw fit to commemorate his death, and so, his nephew Captain John Lang of Appledore, installed a large, black headstone under the island’s Old Lighthouse in his memory. The memorial however, perhaps says more about the Captain than anything else, and anyone who was later to view it, might get the impression that Jarman was merely a bit player in this whole affair, for it is Lang’s name that is carved boldly in capitalised gothic text on the top of the tablet, not his. These people, for better or for worse, are my ancestors, and it is with a mixture of unease and comfort that I still see the vices of drunkenness, clumsiness, self-promotion and arrogance prevailing, to a greater or lesser degree, in the current generations of my family; the sentiments of Larkin’s This be the Verse are played out through the centuries. It’s with this knowledge that I made landfall, disembarking from the MS Oldenburg to be greeted with a scene that was more akin to some Ionian island, than some windswept rock in the middle of the Bristol Channel. It had been a remarkably smooth crossing, with gannets and porpoises making sporadic appearances along the way. This was my first visit to Lundy and it is with a touch of irony, that my first stop should be the infamous Marisco Tavern. We were to spend a lot of time here over the coming three days. My companions on this trip were my usual climbing partners, Tom and Steph. We had been talking of taking a trip to Lundy for over a year now, but the catalyst finally came this August, when Tom, who is a writer and photographer by profession, was offered a deal on crossing fees and accommodation in return for an article on the climbing there (it is to appear in Trek and Mountain sometime next year). To climb on Lundy, is something that I’ve wanted to do since my introduction to the sport; to me, its remoteness and isolation are inherently appealing. Yet, despite its inaccessibility, it has always had the ability to remind me of its existence, appearing occasionally and unexpectedly as a misty apparition on the far horizon, seen from my usual stomping grounds of Pembroke and Gower. The Old Light. Photo: Dan Harris It was unfortunate therefore, that my enthusiasm, and that of my companions, was to be tempered by the glacial pace at which our luggage, which contained all out ropes and protection, was delivered to our campsite. A lesson learnt for next time is that our gear will board the boat as hand luggage. It was evident that owing to tides and limited daylight, that the day’s climbing would be limited to one or two routes at most. And so off we set to explore the west coast and the Flying Buttress. The Flying Buttress, is by any standard, an impressive piece of lithological architecture. A giant leaning tower of orange and pink granite, it appears to have fallen into the mainland forming a large angular arch through which the sea lazily rolls, throwing up froth and foam where it strikes the rock. Sitting above it are the remains of an old gun placement, which still retains a couple of ancient rusting cannons and an assortment of decaying buildings. The placement makes an ideal position to take stock, gear up and prepare for the coming frivolity. We had decided to leave the delights of the buttress itself for another day and instead concerned ourselves with the steep landward cliffs known as Main Wall. What followed was the usual difficulty of identifying routes and features on an unfamiliar sea cliff, which because of their very nature, cannot be viewed at a useful angle. Eventually we settled upon a Severe grade route called Alouette, an easy introduction I felt, to what the island had to offer. And so up a steep corner I set, accompanied by an edge of anxiety, haunted perhaps, by some repressed ancestral nightmare. What I found was a surprisingly challenging climb; the subtle differences in the rock’s grain and form made placing protection difficult and unnerving and by the time I’d finished the route a feeling of slight uneasiness had found me. Fortunately, time intervened and this was to be the only climb of the day.

The Devil’s Slide

Steph on pitch 3 of the Devil’s Slide (HS 4a). Photo: Dan Harris If there’s one route, I am told, that one must do on their first visit to Lundy, then it’s the Devil’s Slide. Taking the form of a 120 metre high slab of flawless granite, it’s home to a number of high quality routes, which range in difficulty from Hard Severe to E1. Our route was to be the Devil’s Slide itself, the slab’s original line, which follows its right hand side at a very reasonable Hard Severe 4a. The route has certainly gained itself a pre-eminent status among Lundy climbs, it’s the one everyone talks of and naturally, makes an appearance in Ken Wilson’s coffee table-esque bestseller, Classic Climbs. We were wary that the weather could deteriorate at any time, and so, decided to do the route on our second day. As it turned out, the weather of the second day was to be the worst of the trip, and we were treated to the brunt of a strong westerly wind. Undeterred, we set about the route, with Tom leading the first and third pitches, me leading the second and fourth and Steph the fifth. To behold the slab from afar is something, but to embrace its coarse texture and climb it is something else again. Beginning easily at first, it rapidly steepens gaining momentum the higher it goes. Holds are few and far between, and one must rapidly find faith in friction to maintain pace. The finest climbing appears in the penultimate two pitches, where the route finally starts to earn its Hard Severe grade. Here the rock begins to undulate rhythmically across the slab, the large crystals of quartz and feldspar gleaming in the daylight, the sea bellowing far below. It is the quintessential sea cliff climb, but on a scale that dwarfs most others in this country. The fourth pitch gives the crux in the form of a couple sparsely protected 4a moves across a leftwards traverse line to a sheltered haven on the far side of the slab. Done properly, these moves are delicate and fluid and alone make a trip to the island worthwhile. We finished the route jubilantly and set off back to the campsite, and the tavern, in high spirits.

Apathy

Farewell to Lundy

The Flying Buttress. The Horeseman’s Route begins on the outer right hand slab to a belay on the platform at half height. It then takes the slab on the left, in a ‘zig zag’ motion, to the top. Photo: Dan Harris Having spent the previous day in a semi-inert state, we decided that we should do something a bit more substantial on our final day; unfortunately, our time was limited, as the Oldenburg would be leaving the island just after three. Once again we looked to the delights on offer at the Flying Buttress. Our line of choice was to be the Horseman’s Route, a Hard Severe 4b that weaves it’s way up the best bits of the Buttress. I was to lead the first pitch and Tom the second. I felt I needed the first pitch; I needed to cure myself of my apathy. The start of the route takes the form of a steep slab and the opening moves are thin and technical, but protectable with a couple of small wires. Another few moves bought me to my first piece of solid protection, and with it my apathy began to fade, the thoughts of the hapless uncle Jarman disappear and my enthusiasm return. The succeeding moves are a delight, with small edges for your feet and beautiful, rounded, course grained grooves for your hands. The belay sits just opposite the Buttress’ main slab, which involves an intimidating step across the abyss to gain. I declined the lead, and Tom, with a degree of trepidation, volunteered himself. While the initial moves may have appeared daunting, the slab hid some reassuringly large holds. Unfortunately, too much focus had been given to the first few moves and not enough to working out where the rest of the pitch went, and Tom found himself on a ledge with no where to go. Several minutes of tense waiting ensued as he tried to work out a strategy. I braced myself for a possible fall. Afterwards, he admitted contemplating a dyno to an out of reach hold, but quickly though better of it; this was only a Hard Severe after all. Eventually, he realised he had gone too far right, managed to reverse some moves, and complete the remainder of the pitch, which was engaging and varied throughout, with relative ease. This was to be our last climb and so, we left the Buttress and the island, calling in on the way to pay my respects to my ancestors, first at the memorial at the Old Lighthouse, then in the form of a pint at the Marisco. There are some vices that are just too enjoyable to give up.

Guidebook

For more info on climbing on Lundy Island, check out the Climbers’ Club Guide Lundy by Paul Harrison

panorama

Images