September Helyg Meet

On reaching Helyg we, that is Jago and me, found that repairs were ongoing and no water was available at the hut. Once again we had to divert to Ynys Ettws in Llanberis.
On Saturday the forcast was for light showers passing through so maintaining the spirit of the meet we decided to climb in Ogwen. We decided on Kirkus' Route (VS 5a) on Craig Lloer to escape the crowds and sure enough after one and a half hours steady walk we found ourselves at the bottom of a deserted crag.



Craig Lloer

Jago set off on the first pitch undetered by a few light spots of rain. I followed and eyed up the next, crucial, pitch which was an off width chimney crack. Armed with all our large cams I set off and soon reached the chimney crack and placed a couple of the bigger cams. I ignored the increasing spots of rain placing great faith in the weather forecast that it would blow over. The pitch succumbed to a variety of traditional techniques until the final steep moves to a large jug. I realised that it was now raining steadily but had no option but to carry on. Placing my largest cam I gripped a small but sharp finger hold and shuffled up a couple of moves to try to reach the jug, I made the mistake of looking down and saw my last cam wobbling about in the crack. I tried a few more placements but none were good so nothing for it but to reverse down the pitch and retrieve a bigger cam to protect the final moves. This I did and finally emerged onto a soaking belay ledge.






In the crack.....



.....in the rain.

Jago followed and we completed the last couple of pitches in the rain and found the descent gully which provided some excitement in the greasy conditions.

The rain continued until Sunday so we headed home via a couple of gear shops.