After being so impressed with the conditions in Upper Cwm Glas on Saturday Huw and I decided to head back up there today. On our way up we were distracted by some beautiful looking ice that appeared to be calling us from the other side of Cwm Glas. We made a beeline for the second icefall from the right as shown in the photo below.
This is Face Route (IV) and it looked like it had stepped straight out of the Alps and into Wales. Unfortunately it was sun-baked and very thin and brittle, with water running down behind it and either side of it! I climbed the first 30feet or so, got a shower of ice that was falling from above and then lowered off with my tail between my legs!
We followed a gully line into Upper Cwm Glas and headed for Waterslide Gully instead. Huw had climbed Infidelity on Saturday which has the same guidebook grade of IV, 5 and reported good conditions.
The guidebook warns that the first pitch is hard if thin. I climbed an intro pitch and put a stance below the crux chimney that had a nice looking line of snow/ice in the back. Huw lead off only to find himself swiftly back below my belay having taken a 20 foot whipper with no gear! He got back on and after a bit of belay re-arrangement he pulled of a fantastic lead in very thin conditions and with little gear. This pitch felt harder than anything that we had climbed all winter and we have both climbed technical 6.
I lead the next pitch which was a very delicate ice pitch but good fun and we both felt was bout technical 5 but sustained and with little gear on thin ice. We both admitted afterwards to feeling more worried belaying than leading on the two hard pitches!
We then had two easier pitches to the top of the Clogwyn y Person arete and some stunning views. I was on Crib Goch on Saturday and was impressed with the amount of snow up there and it was even better today to be able to see it all. It was positively Alpine and in brilliant condition with good solid neve and a lovely track to follow. The best I have ever seen it. We then descended Parsley Fern Gully which in its current condition gave a great bumslide down! A cracking day out. We felt that the route in its current condition (and its hard to envisage it getting much better nowadays) would get V, 6,5,3.
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