Day I. September 26th 2002. Bill Magowan had organised a return trip to North Wales because the previous trip [Report] had been so successful. This time there were to be no wives, no children, just climbers. So Bill, Alan Tees, Martin McGuigan and I set off on a sunny Thursday for the drive to Dublin. We were just as excited as a bunch of kids and spent the long drive and boat journey discussing the routes we would do and reading guide books.

We arrived in Porthmadoc in time to have a quick pint and a bag of chips before making ourselves comfortable for the weekend in Bill's in-law's house. We sat around till eleven or twelve o' clock and then set the clocks for 7am and retired for the night. It was decided that we would head for the Ogwen Valley and tackle some routes on Tryfan. Alan and Marty were so inspired by our tales of Grooved Arête HVD that they felt obliged to have a crack at it. Bill and I scoured Classic Rock for a similarly epic route and plumped for First Pinnacle Rib VD - surely the only V. Diff with a pitch explicitly recognised as "an unprotected 4b". We were mightily impressed by the ancient pictures of the pioneers ascending routes with pipe in mouth. We all vowed that we should do a classic route wearing tweeds, nailed boots and 'smoking' a pipe [photo].

Day II. The next day dawned mistily and rather damply. We shovelled breakfast in and downed multiple cups of tea - we were so convinced that the sun was going to burn off the mist and shine all day that we feared dehydration. We were at the crag early and sent Alan and Marty off on their line; Bill and I then searched higher up the Heather Terrace for our own route. The mist still hung around, tendrils of it wafted down the valley, intermittently obscuring the view; its cold, clammy touch ensured that the rock was not going to dry out. We spun for the first lead - lacking a coin, we used a stone. Bill won and chose to set off in the van. I was left to belay and try to calculate who would end up with the unprotected 4b pitch. I needn't have bothered: it was me, of course. After a few pitches of delightful - if scrambly - V diff climbing, I was faced with the polished holds of the 4b slab. Thankfully, the 'unprotected' status must have been earnt in the days before wires were invented. I was able to climb delicately and technically up the shiny slab with perfectly good protection - demanding but not too frightening. We reached the top of the route at about 1pm and decided to tackle the add-on pitch called Thompson's Chimney. This was a mistake because it was trickling with slime and totally unclimbable for mere mortals. The delay also cost us the kudos of summitting before Alan and Marty, as we discovered when they rang us triumphantly to ask what the hold-up was. It later transpired that they had walked off their route before doing the last pitch - an explanation, perhaps, for their failure to enjoy it as much as we had. "Yeah, it was good", said Alan, in a voice that seemed to say "what's all the fuss about?".

Bill and I had lunch with Adam and Eve and then walked off Tryfan. Marty and Alan had already made the descent and started Direct Route VD on Milestone Buttress. We sat and watched them as we chatted and took photos. [Photo] [Photo]. When they were walking down [photo] we speculated as to what they might say about the route. Bill stated confidently, "Alan will say that it's the best V diff he has ever done in his life".

"Well?", we asked, as they arrived at the car. "Best V diff I've ever done in my life", said Alan. Bill and I exchanged a look that needed no words.

Day III. 28th Sept 2002. The feats of Friday had been followed up with 4 swift pints of the local brew and bed at 11pm. Alarms were set for 6am and we were on the road by 7am. The destination was Llanberis Pass and Carreg Wastad / Clogwyn y Grochan. Alan and Marty were tired of easy routes and were all set to do Nea VS on Clogwyn y Grochan. Bill and I were eyeing up Crackstone Rib Sev [photo] on Carreg Wastad [photo].

It was a beautiful day and it was a great feeling being at the crag by 8am, ready to climb. Al and Marty had only a 2 minute walk-in to their crag, whereas Bill and I had 15 mins or so because ours was up the road aswell as up the hill a bit. We again debated who got which pitch and I volunteered for the middle pitch - described as "exposed and airy" or something equally hair-raising. As can be seen from the picture, the traverse in the middle pitch is certainly exposed and protection is of the make-belief variety. Any early holiday constipation was soon forgotten and I was quickly hankering for a comfy pan to sit upon and a nice warm pair of slippers for my feet. Unfortunately, reality dictated that I keep going leftwards till I reached a solid hex placement followed by a horrid run-out on dodgy wires en route to a comfortable ledge and some reasonable climbing to the belay spot. Respect, big-time, to the pioneering, pipe-smoking chap in tweeds who did this route hundreds of years ago protected by a hemp rope tied around his waist.

Here's a nice picture of the left side of Carreg Wastad.
The fella in greeny blue with a white helmet (centre of pic) is at the foot of the 3rd pitch of The Wrinkle VD. This was the choice for our second route while Al and Marty walked up to Dinas Cromlech [photo] to do the famous Flying Buttress VD. This crag, as all scholars know, is the home of the incredible Cenotaph Corner E1 [photo] one of the most stunning lines in the whole wide world. I'm sure that Flying Buttress is brilliant, but it's hard to even look at the line it follows when examining the crag from a distance. Cenotaph Corner just keeps jumping out and grabbing your eye, as we discovered watching some adept from the road [photo].

Well, time was running short because the ferry trip was early the next day, and we still had shopping to do, so we footered about at the roadside for 10 minutes [photo] before heading off. What a great day. What a great trip. What a great country.