We awoke this morning to very little visibility in the valley which soon turned to drizzle and rain as we drove up through the Ogwen Valley. With improving weather predicted we hoped that this would be true and started climbing up the lane towards Ffynnon Llugwy, our aim to head over the hill to Craig yr Ysfa. The route, Ampitheatre Buttress an classic alpine ridge almost 300m in length.
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| Starting up the lower sections of Ampitheatre Buttress |
I had decided to climb the route in a scrambling style; I took coils and James and Piers tied on the other end. The first sections of the route provided some brilliant cracked slabs, which seemed more difficult than expected. It has been a while since I have done much big boot climbing and it always makes footwork more interesting. Any obvious foot placements would be easy to use in rock shoes; making use of small edges or a smear suddenly become harder to trust once standing in big boots. I pitched the bottom sections more than I anticipated, making numerous belays to bring Piers and James up.
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| Looking down the cracking slabs in the lower sections |
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| Piers pulling over the top of the crux corner, the gully dropping down beneath |
After a few pitches that blended together, we relocated ourselves in the guidebook description on a large platform below the crux corner. The corner provided great climbing and a large dose of exposure over the gully below. From here we weaved up small rocky sections covering ground quickly arriving at a knife edge ridge followed by a narrow ridge to the summit. It is a brilliant route, extremely varied with balancy slabs, rock steps and good rock. The forecast was right, as we climbed the sheltered North-East aspect the temperature rose and we were all glad of a strong breeze once we had reached the top.
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| James and Piers climbing the lower slabs |
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| The last rock steps up to the top of Ampitheatre Buttress |
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