Old News, New Routes

With winter approaching some of us have begun to think about the icy snow clad mountains and therefore started to flick through the guide-books to identify targets and potential adventures.  So the new North Wales Winter Climbing guide was an obvious purchase during a recent wet weekend in Wales.  It was with surprise that I saw a short route described which Juan and Drew had climbed in The Lost Cwm on the way to the Black Ladders back in the January of 2010.  It was with even greater surprise that I noticed the first ascent date given as March 2010.  We had considered this route and one adjacent, which Lucas, Rachel and I had climbed, as not likely to be of enough importance to be worth reporting.  Obviously someone else had, and named the left hand route The Scoop (V4, 40m).

Juan towards the top of his new route and Lucas on the crux of his offering (Memory Fails) - 10/1/10

Enquiries have provided a contact to inform of the new routes for inclusion in the next edition of the guide.  So a nice surprise of a new route for Juan and Drew which I think is likely to be nearer IV4 and awaits a possible re-naming (The Happiest Mexican in Wales).  Furthermore the route led by Lucas gives a nice III3, tentatively named Memory Fails.  This certainly helps to make winter feel closer and the blizzard of email checking who is prepared for the long drives north and the cold belay vigils has begun.

Adventures further afield - Climbers approaching Emerald Gully, Beinn Dearg, Wester Ross