Over the past twelve months, we’ve had several aborted attempts to go climbing in the Moelwyns. Poor weather, lack of time and a even driving to within a few miles of the crags, only to find them shrouded in mists had defeated us until now. It’s an area that I used to know well, when I was doing a lot more climbing work and preparing for my climbing instructor assessments, but for various reasons, it’s been nearly ten years since I’ve rock climbed there.

To be honest, it did take a bit of motivation to get up in the dark and drive through the frosty valley past Betws y Coed. It promised to be a beautiful morning and even the drive there was worth getting up for as mist hung over the river, low in the valley. Up at the crags, as promised, the sun was shining! Despite the attraction of a descent through a little tunnel, we walked past the first Wryscan Cliffs, and onto Colgwyn yr Oen.

The early morning light was fantastic and we were soon up at the first belay ledge, before anyone else arrived to climb nearby.

The rock was warm and dry, and the routes all classics, with good protection, obvious lines and big ledges to belay from. Lovely stuff!

We climbed several routes, by linking pitches together. This gave some satisfyingly long climbs, of 40m and meant that our rope work had to be good to avoid any ‘drag’.

There was an abseil station half way up our final route, so when the wind picked up and things started to cloud over and get cold, we made a very convenient descent back to the bags and returned to the van for a brew.

Last week a friend had messaged me to ask if I’d climbed a DWS (Deep Water Solo), a short walk up the path from where we’d parked. Before we left, we walked up to have a look. The water was certainly deep and the traverse looked exciting, but I couldn’t bring myself to commit to going around the corner to the waterfall as it looked trick – and wet! Maybe next time…

Climbs at The Moelwyns:

• Slick, V.Diff**
• Chic, V.Diff*
• Bent, Severe, (4a)* – Abseil from Pitch 2