Climbing trip to Mid Wales (Dinas Mawddwy)

January weather is fairly unpredictable, but the area around Dinas Mawddwy
and Dolgellau gives us some good options for most conditions – winter
routes on Cadair Idris if it’s really cold, big easy mountain routes to do
in big boots if it’s warm, low level cragging and bouldering at venues like
Barmouth Slabs, Cae Du and the promisingly named “Allen’s Sun Beach”, and
some good walking including Cadair Idris itself and Aran Fawddwy, which I
think is the closest 900m peak to Cambridge. The mountain biking in the
Dyfi Valley also seems fairly reputable. And from previous experience of
winter trips, the craic’s normally worth it even if the weather isn’t!

Accommodation will be at the Solihull Mountaineering Club hut, Bryn Golau,
and will cost £18 per person.

Scottish Winter trip. Staying at Fort William Backpackers Hostel.

CCCC Magical Limestone Mystery Tour.

For a bit of an experiment we’re keeping a bit of flexibility to the trip so we can make the most of the weather – we’ll either be going to the Yorkshire Dales or Swanage, but we won’t decide which until after the pub on Wednesday night! In either case there should be some great limestone climbing, including a bit of sport. In Yorkshire there’s the bonus of some classic gritstone and great bouldering, in Swanage there’s the bonus of warmer weather and one of the greatest pubs in the known universe.

Climbing trip to Cornwall. Staying at the Seaview Holiday Park, near Sennen.

Bouldering at Fontainebleau.

Font is probably the best bouldering area in the world, with tens of thousands of problems dotted around a beautiful forest just south of Paris. Its a great place to fine-tune your technique, throw some cool shapes, and for beginners to get on real rock with a minimum of faff. Beanies, heel hooks, and calling people “dude” are all optional but encouraged. When you aren’t bouldering, you can enjoy la vie Francaise with cheap and plentiful
bread, cheese and wine.

This trip will be happening over the Early May Bank Holiday, 2nd-4th of May, but we’re organizing it early to get cheaper bookings on the Channel Tunnel. We’ll probably be staying in the campsite at Milly La Foret again, which is pleasant, handy for the climbing, and has an in-situ bakers’ van for the all-important baguettes.

Most people either do the long weekend or take an extra day of holiday. We’ve found in the past that leaving work as early as possible and driving down as far as the F1 Motel at Compiegne on the Thursday or Friday night gets you a pretty full day in the next day. Leaving mid afternoon on the Monday should get you back to Cambridge late but not too late.

Alternative climbing trip for non-boulderers. Borrowdale, Lake District.

Climbing trip to the Isle of Skye, Scotland (extended trip, weekend + few extra days)

Skye is home to the Black Cuillin hills, and hence some of best mountain rock climbing and hard scrambling anywhere in the UK. The full traverse of the range – normally done over two days with a bivouac on the ridge – is probably the country’s greatest mountaineering expedition. If the weather’s crap in the Cuillin, there’s also some excellent sea cliff climbing at Neist and Kilt Rock, and all sorts of good hillwalking and easier
scrambling. If the weather really craps out, there’s also the Talisker Distillery.

However, all this comes at a cost – Skye is about nine and a half hours drive from Cambridge with no delays or breaks, so most people are probably going to want to take a few extra days beyond the Bank Holiday to make the trip worth it. I’m expecting most people to head up on the Saturday or a day or two beforehand and then either travel back down at some point during the week or stay on until the next weekend. Also, it’s not going to be a great trip for total novices, unless you’re happy to go walking a bit (and aren’t going to get lost if you do…)

We’re probably going to be staying at the Sligachan campsite, which is reasonably cheap and handy for the pub.

Climbing trip to North Wales

Do I really need to do the whole “why North Wales is one of Britain’s top climbing destinations” thing again? Well, in case I do… there’s top class trad climbing of all flavours, from accessible roadside beginners’ crags to long easy classics to some of the wildest and woolliest mountain routes south of Scotland. On top of that, there’s
excellent bouldering, a good smattering of sport, and some quality scrambles. If you’re happy to drive a bit you also can get to the awesome sea cliffs off Gogarth, and if none of that appeals then you can go for a walk!

Beginners are welcome to come along provided you can at least tie in and belay safely – be aware, though, that while I’d hope that you’ll find someone to climb with, if everyone else has plans to go off and do big hard stuff then you might have to make your own entertainment (ie go for a walk or a scramble).  As ever, it’s always a good idea for beginners to go along on official or unofficial trips to indoor
leading walls or on unofficial trips to the Peak District – it’s all good practice and also gets other people in the club used to climbing with you as a reliable partner.

We’ll be camping at Capel Curig, which is convenient for loads of climbing and also offers some good pub and cafe options. As usual, we’ll be leaving after work on Friday and getting back lateish on Sunday.

Climbing trip to North Devon

Note that this is a week earlier than the usual last-weekend-of-the-month climbing trip in order to get more favorable tides.

The major climbing area nearby is Baggy Point, a fine collection of sandstone sea cliffs with big routes at all grades ranging from bona-fide classics to full-on esoterica. There’s also the option of driving South to the Culm Coast, or East to the Exmoor Coast for more
obscure delights. Or if you think it’s too hot or too wet to climb (or both), some of the UK’s best surf beaches are close at hand.

Climbing trip to North Pembroke

North Pembroke offers excellent sandstone climbing on its South coast and wilder, woollier and less developed gabbro to the North, while the big limestone classics of South Pembroke are about an hour’s drive away if you fancy a day trip. If you want a break from climbing there are also options on surfing, walking, birdwatching or just sitting on the beach.

We’ll be staying at Porthclais Farm campsite, which is close enough to the crags that you can practically belay from your tent. It’s about a mile from Britain’s smallest city, St Davids, which has a good range of pubs, cafes, chip shops and so on.

Climbing trip to Portland

Trip to Cala Gonone (Sardinia). Organized by Matt.