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Join scrambler, Mark Reeves, as he takes a break from guiding tourists to reconnect with the mountains and savour the circular route of the Snowdon Horseshoe. Images by Eilir Davies-Highes.

The Snowdon Horseshoe is one of the most sought after Grade 1 scrambles in the UK, both long and sustained, the route offers some of the most exposed scrambling in the British Isles along the mind-blowing knife-edge ridge of Crib Goch. It is one of my favourite mountain routes, which I get to share with many people in the course of my work. 

The path rises gently at first allowing you to ease into the day, however it soon rears up into a long flight of steps. It is here we meet the typical log jam on the PYG track, as a team of 30 plus guided walkers are brought to a near stop by the effort of this first steep section; the reality of climbing the highest mountain in England and Wales starts to dawn on them, and they are barely 500m from the car park.

Making our way through the congestion and up to Bwlch Y Moch we pass another large group of walkers who are also catching their breath. Here our route diverts away from the hustle and bustle of the PYG track and heads up and right towards the base of the East Ridge of Crib Goch. 

As we head up from the col the alpine grandeur of the mountains start to hit you, with views out across Llyn Llydaw to Lliwedd and Snowdon. Above us rises the triangular buttress of the East Ridge of Crib Goch; for most people the trepidation of heading up here will build with each approaching step. Having done the route many times before I am just filled with excitement, because for me, this is where the fun begins as we start…

Continue the ascension and read the full article on the Mammut website: https://www.mammut.com/uk/en/stories/crib-goch-and-the-snowdon-horseshoe-scrambling-the-knife-edge/

 

So I have been really busy back in the UK and had a booking for the 2nd to 9th for Costa Blanca. So I hurriedly boded a nice villa, hire car and flights. I flew over on the 2nd to sort the villa out and went to pick my clients up on the 3rd, only to realise that I am a whole month early. Massive face palm moment.

The plus side is I get another week in the sun in an amazing villa and then I get to do it all again in March as well. I have a few friends out here for some climbing starting tomorrow but today I just went for a walk round Toix, as the villa is a stones throw away from the climbing here.

So a friend flew out for a weeks climbing in December we hit all the classic venues before driving our way back north to get the ferry back for christmas. In particular we climb the amazing Parle again and hit up a few of the old faithful crags.

 

So I head off to Northern Spain to do some writing work and climbing for the next month. I am meeting a friend at the end of November for some climbing as we then work our way south through some new climbing areas to eventually end up in Costa Blanca on the 8th December.

Can’t wait to extend my summer by commuting south again. If you’d like to book on one of our Hot rock Holidays in the new year then check out our sister site Sunnier Climbs.

So I have been busy getting my van ready for the journey south to Spain. I managed to get one last climb in, well I got a few in, but the very last was Wendigo a classic E2 leg shaker on Gogarth’s Red Walls. It was sunny though.

The hottest October Day in North Wales ever in fact. Anyway I am already in Bournemouth, awaiting a final weeks work doing a small South West Road trip, before heading onto Spain.

So we have managed to get the new site up and running. We are really happy to be ready to take your bookings and get you excited for your you winter climbing trip to the sun.

So it is exciting times at Sunnier Climbs.

We are really excited to be putting together some dates for people to come and climb with us in the sun. If you keep an eye on the website we will have them up and ready for you to book by the end of August.

In the mean time try checking out our different destinations to see what we have on offer and some great images from previous trips and courses. Hopefully you will see that we really love hot rock climbing and can’t wait to get out there for another season.

 

Sunnier climbs in the brainchild of Paul Poole and Mark Reeves our dream is to provide great escapes in the sun for people over the long cold and wet winter months.

All our courses have a low ratio student instructor ratio and will be taught by one of us. We do this to ensure the quality of instruction and coaching on our courses which we believe is among the best in the industry.

We also offer fabulous accommodation, often in self-catering accommodation  like an apartment or villas. So no bunking up in a bunkhouse, but enjoying your climbing trip in a home away from home.

As such we believe that our climbing coaching holidays offer not only great value for money but also some fantastic accommodation and amazing coaching.