Chamonix Skiing

Skiing - isn't it amazing!!! Jen and I had 2 weeks of fantastic skiing in the Chamonix valley. It was soo good that I'm tempted to sell all my climbing gear and just buy skis! I'm just getting into skiing and really keen to start doing more ski touring and back country skiing where mountaineering and skiing skills combine to take you into some amazing places! We arrived the day after it had just put down 4 ft of fresh snow so avalanche risk was pretty high. The fresh snow was pretty heavy so it made for some challenging off piste. Throughout the first week we had more fresh snow falls and  some awesome powder but the unsettled weather was not great for touring so we just had to shred the vast amount of easily accessible off piste.

View from the Flegere ski area to the Aiguille Verte and Les Drus

Jen on the traverse of the Crouches bowl

Below the Geant Icefall in the Vallee Blanche

Climbing up to Col du Crouches

Approaching Col du Crouches

The weather for the second week was better although towards the end of the week it got bitterly cold! At the top lifts it got down to -25c. We managed to do the classic Crouches/Berard tour and enjoyed amazing fresh powder in the Berard valley. The highlight of the week was skiing the Valley Blanche from the Aiguille du Midi at nearly 3800m all the way to Chamonix at 1100m. Jen and I were joined by friends Greg and Christina  and we took a variarion on the Petit Envers descent finding some nice powder stashes as well as a few areas of grim breakable crust and windslab. Check out the video of our descent below.



Skiing the Vallee Blanche from Rory Shaw on Vimeo.

Snowdon ascent under the full moon

Last night I made the spontaneous decision to go for a wee donder up Snowdon by the light of the full moon. Oli, Jim and myself left Pen y Pass shortly after 8 and under gathering cloud stomped up the Pyg Track. Every now and then we could make out the moon through the thin layer of cloud so we had hopes that we might pop out of a cloud inversion. Given the cold temps and good snow conditions we headed for the bottom of Central Trinity a grade 1/2 climb. As we climbed up towards the Spider (a big snow field) we broke out of the cloud and into bright moonshine. So bright that we only needed torches on for the narrowest and trickiest bits of the gully. We stormed upwards and summitted about 10.15.

Now I've been up Snowdon a fair few times but this will definately be the most memorable. Looking north we could see most of Anglesey whereas to the south a blanket of cloud lapped at out feet reflecting the fat moon. Totally amazing! Unfortunately I am not a good enough photographer to over come the limitations of my point and shoot camera so the photos weren't very good.

After a brief rest to enjoy the view we headed down and where back in Llanberis by 11.30 enjoying bangers and mash followed by a wee dram of single malt... perfect!

Merry Christmas

Well a big Merry Christmas, or I guess I should say Nadolig Llawen, from Snowdonia. Unfortunately it doesn't look like we're going to get a white one as it unseasonably warm at the moment. So I hope that Santa brings you that new down jacket you wanted or some nice shiny DMM Dragon Cams! I'll leave you with a few photos from this time last year. Have a great one!!

North Wales at its Best

The weather this November had been really good - warm and fairly dry. Over the past few day climbing in the pass could have been possible and the mountains have been catching some awesome sunshine. Yesterday I made the best use of the fine weather by making a quick dash up Crib Goch by my self then joining friend Greg for a quick afternoon route at Gogarth. We topped out with the sun setting behind Ireland but thankfully before we needed the aid of the South Stack lighthouse!

Spanish Sport Climbing

I'm not long back from a short trip to Catalonia in North East Spain where I had 6 days with friends Dave, Jim and Neil. Due to an injury the emphasis of the trip was more of a relaxing holiday than a mega crush fest so I ended up reading my book in the sun more than climbing - ideal! I still managed to do a few routes up to 7a onsight and it was great to visit crags that I had not been to before. The trip started off with getting washed out of Terradets and Santa Linya so we headed further south and enjoyed climbing on the conglomerate/limestone crags of Margalef and Montsant.

Gold Duke of Edinburgh Practice with Therfield School

For the past 5 days I have been training up a group of students from Therfield School in preparation for their Duke of Edinbugh Gold Expedition next summer. I really like working with this School and I love to see the progression and development of the students as they take on the challenge. I spent the first day with my group in the Northern Carneddau looking at navigation techniques, dealing with emergencies, discussing how to look after themselves and most of all enjoying a warm and sunny day in the hills!

On day 2 we headed out for a harder challenge and summited Moel Siabod. This was a fairly tough day out for the group as they had to carry full expedition packs and cope with low cloud. This really tested their navigation and made for some very greasy conditions underfoot. They all did superbly so on Saturday we cut them loose and they completed a 2 day hike in excellent weather.

All 23 students did fantastically and I looking forward to the Brecon Beacons and their qualifying expedition next spring.

Gogarth Video

Here's a little video of Jen and I climbing North West Passage - E1 at Castell Helen, Gogarth. Enjoy!!!

New Slate Guide Book Reveiw

Wow! That was my first impression on getting my hands on the long awaited Llanberis Slate Guidebook by Ground Up. The front cover shot is all that a front cover shot should be - an awesome image by Ian Parnell showing off the the most famous route that Llanberis slate has to offer. It also manages to capture the raw and unique atmosphere of the quarries and the intense nature of its climbing.

The next thing I noticed was its size, which increases the visual impact of the cover photo. The guide is larger than previous Ground Up offerings and at A5 is not a book that you can slip into your pocket. But why would you need to as most of the slate routes are single pitch and those that aren't are not over complicated in line (routes on the back wall of Twll Mawr excluded). As you open the guide up the advantages of the larger size are immediately apparent - large numbers of excellent and highly inspiring photos and clear photo topos.

On flicking through I was instantly drawn to the Diary of a Slatehead -  a number of short pieces by Martin Crook, which "provide a fascinating window into the slate climbing scene during its 80's glory days." There are also numerous short pieces detailing the characters that have been responsible for the development of the quarries over the years - The Slateheads. These include all the infamous characters such as Joe Brown, Redhead, Dawes and Crook.

Last Tango in Paris, Vivian Quarry

The action photos are just stunning and made all the better by the A5 size. They illustrate the odd beauty of the quarries, the strange juxtaposition of the natural and the man made and the unique and sometimes baffling style of climbing. A particular favourite of mine is Ray Wood's shot of George Smith on The Wall Within which encapsulates the atmosphere and 'other-worldlyness' of the Lost World perfectly. I also like the historical photos that grace the guide - lets face it we don't get enough bright lycra these days!

The guide is layed out in the usual and user friendly Ground Up style and features all the aspects that you would expect a modern guide to have - graded list, comprehensive route descriptions, photo topos, index etc.
It has an excellent introductory section with lots of info on style and ethics and access, which I would implore you to read. Access to the quarries has at times over the past years been slightly delicate so lets hope that the extra influx of climbers this guide will bring does not cause any problems. My one negative comment on the guide would be the photo used for Dali's Hole -an area at the forefront of current access negotiations. It shows a busy climbing scene, with groups enjoying the previously easy bolted routes - precisely the cause of access issues in the first place.

Looning the Tube, Australia

The guide features 900 routes - 200 of which have been added since the previous guide! There is now something for everyone in the quarries. When I first started my slate career whilst at Bangor Uni, there where very few easy routes - in fact if you couldn't climb HVS there wasn't much point in visiting the quarries. Now there are lots of grade 4 and 5 well bolted routes for the aspirant Slatehead to cut their teeth on - including a few multi pitch offerings such as the excellent '362' in Never Never Land. It also features the quarries on the other side of the valley - Glyn Rhonwy, which are a quiet back water where the seasoned Slatehead may venture to find a whole realm of new adventures.

Also featured in the guide are some 'Slate Walks and Adventures'. These detail various ways that you can explore the unique atmosphere of the slate quarries and find those hidden gems from times gone by - ideal for a wet day. Included in this section is a description of Snakes and Ladders - a journey though tunnels, up chains, down big holes, escapes via rickety ladders and there's even a bit of climbing thrown in for good measure!


A guide book should not only be practical and accurate but also inspiring. A guide book should make me want to delve into to it, read route descriptions, find hidden treasures, fill me with pysch and make me want to get up off my arse and go climbing. It should also be something I can read on wet days and in quiet moments.This guide definitely ticks all those boxes. In fact I think this is one of the best guidebooks I have seen. Congratulations to Simon and his team - it was definately worth the wait!

Get your copy of the guide from V12 Outdoor today!!

Busy times for Snowdonia Mountaineering!

I'm currently enjoying my first day off after 10 days of instructing and guiding in the mountains and on the crags of Snowdonia and North Wales. Unfortunately I dont have my camera-pc lead at the moments so you'll have to wait a few day for some pics.


Monday 12th - Tuesday 13th
Intro rock climbing course with Matt and Jon - see previous blog post.

Wednesday 14th
My regular Wednesday work with a local group of adults with special needs. We went for a nice stroll over Conwy Mountain.

Thursday 15th - Friday 16th
I worked on an SPA training course for Phill George Mountaineering. The SPA is the entry level outdoor climbing qualification for those who want to take groups to climb on single pitch crags. The trainees did really well and are looking to return in December for assessment.

Saturday 17th - Sunday 18th
I took new clients Liz and Austen out for two days of navigation and scrambling. More on this to come... plus top tips from Liz on how to use a she wee and advice from Austen on using Jedi mind tricks....


Monday 19th - Tuesday 20th
Returning client Tony wanted 2 days of rock climbing but unfortunately on Monday the weather Gods weren't kind so we postponed the day. Thankfully on Tuesday we found sunshine at Holyhead mountain and ticked off 5 routes - 2 v diffs and 3 severes! A great day. Tony is hoping to return in October to tackle some longer routes. Outside Edge route a Cwm Silyn is top of the list!

Wednesday 21st
My regular Wednesday work with a local group of adults with special needs.We enjoyed some Autumnal sunshine on the walk up to Aber Falls

Intro Rock Climbing Course

On Monday I was joined by new clients Matt and Jon for a 2 day intro to rock climbing course. Both Matt and Jon had done a small amount of indoor climbing before but had never climbed on real rock before. Looking at the weather forecast on Sunday I was starting to worry that we might have to spend a good portion of the 2 days inside! Thankfully in Snowdonia we have Tremadog and whilst the Mountains were getting battered by hurricane Katia, Tremadog remained dry and (relatively) sheltered! After spending some time buying new rock shoes at V12 Outdoors in Llanberis we drove down to Tremadog and the boys enjoyed Boo Boo (diff), Yogi (severe) and the first pitch of Oberon. We also looked at abseiling with a prussik.


The weather on Tuesday was even better at Tremadog and we climbed the classic Poor Man's Peuterey (severe) on Pant Ifan. The boys built their own anchors and belayed each other up the 3 pitches.
We finished the day with a quick ascent of the brilliant Micah Finish of Christmas Curry (hard severe), which provide a thrilling and challenging test for the boys and a great way to end the course!

Matt on the Last Pitch of Poor Man's Peuterey

Jon and Matt enjoying the view from the top

Jon on the arete of the Micah Eliminate of Christmas Curry

Scrambling and Rock Climbing Skills

Today I was joined by new client Tony who contacted me as he wanted to get back into climbing and mountaineering after a bit of break. He has done some good and hard climbing in the past but after spending a lot of time sailing and recovering from injuries he felt he wanted some one to help him back into the hills. The weather has been appalling for the past few days in Snowdonia so I was pleased when the morning dawned dry(ish) and the wind had dropped to 30mph!
We drove round into the Ogwen valley and enjoyed the grade 3 scramble on Tryfan Bach. With the weather forecast to get worse in the afternoon we decided to drive to Lion Rock to look at some crag skills and get rock shoes on! Tony is back in 10 days time with aspirations for Cneifion Arete and a traverse of the Glyders!

Mountaineerin Skills CourseTestimonial

In August I was joined by new client Raphael for a 4 day mountaineering skills course. He had this to say about his experience:

I had a fantastic four days with Rory out in the mountains in Snowdonia.  He is a highly accomplished guide and, in a short time, we covered lots of skills of navigation, scrambling rope work and rock climbing.  Rory was keen to push me physically, but I never felt anything less than totally safe under his instruction.  All in all, a fantastic guide, whether you are a beginner or want to further improve your mountaineering skills. 

Mountain Leader Training Course

This week I'm at Blue Peris Mountain Centre in Snowdonia working on a Mountain Leader Training course. Today I took my team out to Cwm Idwal to look at emergency ropework. We scrambled around on the rocks of Clogwyn y Tarw looking at situations that might occur when leading a group in the mountains that can be resolved with use of a rope. After some heavy showers in the morning the sun came out to dry us out and we enjoyed practicing a variety of abseiling methods. Here's a couple of photos from the past two days.

Eve practicing a classic abseil

Navigation practice on Crimpiau

Fun times on Tryfan

I've been spending a bit of time on Tryfan recently - 3 out of the past 4 days to be precise. Its a great mountain and I never fail to enjoy a good scramble or long climb to its rocky summit. On Friday I rounded off Rafael's mountaineering skills course with an ascent of Nor' Nor' Buttress on the East Face - an excellent grade 3 scramble. It was great to put into practice all the mountaineering skills we had looked at in the first 3 days of the course.

Rafael on Nor' Nor' Buttress

On Sunday I took new client Tony Cross out for a scramble that would push him a little. He had done a bit of grade 1 scrambling so we headed to the East face again and enjoyed Little and North Gullies in slightly damp conditions! The day was a birthday present from his wife so hopefully it will be a year he will remember.

Rafael on Tryfan summit

This week I am instructing on a Mountain Leader Training course based out of Blue Peris Mountain Centre. I took my team up the North Ridge of Tryfan and looked at managing groups through steep and rocky ground.

Rafael's Mountaineering Skills Course

This week I have had 3 days out with Rafael on a mountaineering skills course. On Monday we headed out to the Glyders to do some grade 1 scrambling and introduce mountain navigation. The weather was grand and Rafael enjoyed the Gribin Ridge - his first grade 1 scramble. I have made a little video of the day that I have embedded below.

On Tuesday the cloud was right down to the valley floor so we took the opportunity to focus on navigating in poor visibility. We enjoyed a nice circuit of Cnict which involved quite a lot of compass work!
We had a day off on Wednesday so met up in Llanberis this morning and made the short drive to Lion Rock. We spent the day looking at a variety of rock climbing and scrambling skills in preparation for a big route in the mountains tomorrow! Destination Tryfan East Face.

Alpine trip to Chamonix

I'm back home in Snowdonia after a short holiday to the Alps with Bryn. We didn't really have any plans or objectives - mainly due to injuries limiting us and a poor forecast! We decided to head to Chamonix where we have some friends we could stay with. On arrival there it felt like winter! Snow had fallen to 2000m for the previous few days and the peaks where plastered. Everyone was a little despondent - they had not seen sunshine for about 3 weeks. On Friday it looked like there would be no change as it rained hard in the morning. It did brighten up in the afternoon so we stretched our legs on the petit balcon sud.

The forecast was much improved for the next day so we set an alarm and woke to a clear dawn! We caught the first lift up to the Aiguille du Midi. Its a crazy experience to be whisked from the valley floor to 3700m in a few minutes. Even more crazy is to step out of the ice cave on to the descent arete. There is no time to adjust to the surrounding and the exposure. One moment you are inside a man made structure the next you are balancing down a narrow snow ridge with a 1500m drop to your left and a 1000ft drop to the right. It certainly focuses the mind!

Descent from the Aiguille du Midi

We strolled down to the glacier and then enjoyed the traverse of Point Lachenal - a nice, short AD- route that is good for acclimatisation. We took our time and enjoyed the views and sunshine and tried not to get to puffed! The altitude had its affect on the slog back up to the Aiguille du Midi - I just seemed to have no energy! Check out Bryn's awesome video from this day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXqqZ35Ekv8&feature=share

The Grandes Jorasses

Back down in the valley we made plans for the next day - we wanted to head up for a bivvy just above the Albert Premier Hut on Le Tour glacier. We headed out on Saturday afternoon after a burger at Midnight Express. The weather, despite the good forecast, looked threatening. We took the lift up to Col du Balme and then it started to rain. We walked for about an hour, getting steadily wetter until we found a small boulder to hide under! After nearly 2 hrs we decided it was time to bail so we walked back down to the valley.

Next day we decided to try our luck with a bivvy again - this time near the Argentiere hut with the aim of climbing the Tour Noir. This was a peak that I attempted in 2003 but had to turn back as Paul had forgotten his sun glasses (not easy to climb with a buff over the face!). We took the bin up to the Grands Montets and made the descent down the Col de Montets to the Argentiere glacier and our bivvy.

Chilling at the bivvy

We left the bivvy at 4.30 and started the ascent towards the Col du Toir Noir. It was quite warm and we passed climbers who had turned back as the route they had hoped to do was running with melt water - not promising. We stopped to don our crampons - Bryn quickly realised that he had a problem. His crampons kept coming off his boots... not ideal. He had never used this combination of boot and crampons before and they didn't appear to be compatible. So once again we had to turn around. As consolation we watched the sun rise on the massive north faces of Les Courtes, Les Droites and Le Aiguille Vert.

Alpine sunrise

We strolled out before it got too hot and after a brief wander on the glacier, getting lost in a maze of crevasses, made it back to the lift station. A brief inspection of Bryns ingrowing toenail (by him), revealed a nasty infected mess! It didn't improve that evening so thoughts of rock climbing and front pointing had to be put on the back burner... that didn't leave us with too many options so we decided to do an easy and short route on the Index the following day. We enjoyed the SE arete in approach shoes - a great route 5 minutes from the lift which goes at about severe.

Bryn on the Index

The next day dawned wet and stormy so we decided to make the drive home... so what did we learn?
- Summer in the Alps is best for alpine rock climbing in the sun.
- Make sure that your crampons fit your boots.
- Winter in the Alps is better: Instead of rain you get snow (powder skiing), the weather is more stable, no afternoon deterioration of snow due to heat, getting around and down the mountains on skis is so much quicker, the night life is better.....
- It helps to be injury free!
Despite this it was a good holiday and good to catch up with friends in Chamonix. We will be back in the winter for some ski mountaineering and touring!

Scrambling in the Glyders

Yesterday I met up with new client James for a day of scrambling to prepare him for a trip to the Alps in September where he hopes to climb Mont Blanc. James wanted to work on his hill fitness, take in some challenging ground and get used to a bit of exposure.

With a perfect forecast we headed for the Glyderau with the aim of scrambling up Tryfan and Glyder Fach. James' fitness work in the gym (hours on the step master!) had obviously paid off as we mad excellent time to the foot of Little Gully on Tryfan's East Face. We put a rope on here and scrambled up Little Gully and into North Gully to pop out on to the North Ridge just below the summit. We paused to take in the summit and have some food before scurrying down the South Ridge and across to the North West face of Glyder Fawr. We scrambled up this by the tricky Main Gully (grade 1 in the guide but definitely grade 2!) to the summit plateau where we made the obligatory visit to the Cantilever Stone for photos. We finished the day by scrambling down the Gribin Ridge where James put into practice the route finding skills he had picked up during the day.

It was a fantastic day out in warm sunshine and I'm looking forward to taking James out for another day in August.

Little Gully, Tryfan East Face

Tryfan Summit

Main Gully, Glyder Face

Main Gully Glyder Fach

The Cantilever Stone

Learn to Lead Course - Last Day

For the last day of Louis and Jeremy's learn to lead course with The Rock Climbing Company we headed to the Ogwen vally and Clogwyn Bochclywyd. We decided that they were both ready for a bit more of  a challenge today so we started off with Marble Slab HS, which they both led in great style. They went on the lead Five Pitch Route HS in 2 pitches and 2 Pitch Route in 1 Pitch - confusing hey!
The guys have done really well and now have the skills and confidence to show up at a crag and go climbing under their own steam.
We finished the day with a short stroll to try the Idwal Squeeze - a bouldering/caving challenge which is always highly amusing!

Jeremy emerging from the Idwal Squeeze

Learn to Lead Rock Climbing Course

For the past 3 days I have been working for The Rock Climbing Company on a Learn to Lead climbing course.
After 2 days of preparation Louis and Jeremy tied on to the sharp end of the rope and led their first climbs. We made the drive out to Holyhead mountain to escape the low cloud in the mountains and were rewarded with a fine and sunny day. We started of on central slabs where Jeremy and Louis climbed D'elephant in 2 pitches which we followed up with Slippers and Hat - all good V Diffs. To finish the day off I lead up Bruvers HVS to really get there arms working.

Jeremy on The Bruvers HVS

Louis leading Hat V Diff

Louis leading Hat

Some inspiration.....