First multi-pitch on the East Face of Tryfan

September 2019, we set out to tackle our first multi-pitch climb and chose the classic location of the East face of Tryfan, the chosen climb was the HVD Grooved Arete starting around the mid point of Heather Terrace. Finding the start was reasonable straight forward once we had established we were on Heather Terrace which we had approached from the top of rather then the bottom. The classic route was clear when we arrived on the most beautiful, calm and warm late summer day.

The climbing wasn't the only aim of the trip, we had decided to make it an Alpine style camping / hiking / climbing expedition to make more of a challenge of it in one of my favourite areas to visit. Other than getting a genuine satisfaction from all the elements of the trip I think being self sufficient for a couple of days up the mountain brings a raw and natural connection to the environment that you won't get staying in the comfort of one of the very good choice of hostels in north Wales.

The itinerary for the weekend was to be; arrive late Friday and park at the foot of Tryfan; hike to Llyn Bochlwyd to camp for the night; arrive early at Grooved Arete on Saturday and make the climb by early afternoon; make a possible second ascent of Munich Climb (HDS 5a); return to Llyn Idwal via Llyn Bochlwyd to camp; spend Sunday scrambling on Tryfan, weather permitting.

As is turned out Grooved Arete was just about enough for one day so we opted for the more relaxing nap in the sun overlooking Bwlch Tryfan and its amazing acoustics. This was a memorable activity in itself, don't think it can be beaten for its relaxing qualities after some physical exertion.

Grooved Arete was an easy enough climb in the end but it had some exposed parts making it an exciting climb, particularly for a first multi-pitch. In the end we had no real problems to overcome with multi-pitching, James and I worked well as a team and were well practised in the required techniques before we set off so it all came pretty easy. The biggest challenge and one we (me!) need to work on is route finding, I overshot one pitch and took a far harder route up pitch 5 than was necessary. The famous Knights Move across a slab near the top and the anchor above it provides a nice exposed part to the climb and makes for a great finish to this classic climb. The route very satisfyingly gets gradually more challenging from bottom to top which coincided with our growing confidence as we made our way up.

Topping off this great day on the mountain we had an unusually eventful walk back to Llyn Bochlwyd (we opted to camp here again rather than walk onto Llyn Idwal), we were greeted by wild ponies, famous in this area, and witnessed a mountain top helicopter rescue from below (twisted ankle).

Hiking off Sunday morning was wet and miserable, low cloud meant we did not have the great views of the day before although we followed the route of a competition race taking place so had a welcome distraction from the disappointing turn in weather. We didn't bother with taking on a scramble up Tryfan due to the wet weather and chose instead to get home early instead. As usual we didn't get as much climbing / hiking / scrambling in as we planned but then perhaps we need to speed up our climbing!

Next time I'll pack lighter but other than that we both did well with our prep, we were both warm and comfortable, well fed and watered. Except maybe the biggest fail goes to Jim's choice of footwear! never underestimate how wet the ground is in North Wales regardless of the time of year!

Summarised kit list: 65ltr backpack; 1.5KG tent; ground mat; sleeping bag and liner; Trangia; mug; bowl; spork; food; multitool; first aid; insect repelant; nurofen; bog roll; headtorch; OS map; folding spade; water filter and bottle;

Climbing kit list: day pack; harness; rope (60m); quickdraws; 3-9 size hex; 1/2-10 size nuts; nut key; 1-3, 3.5 cams; slings; karabiners and belays.