Will o' the Wisp and some..


The next chapter of the 30 year Classic Rock sponsored climb continues..

Sorry if you love Craig Cywarch but looking in the guidebooks, we didn’t really fancy doing any other routes except the one in Ken Wilson’s rock bible. Instead we formed an optimistic plan to climb Will o’ the wisp in the morning and then drive over to Cadair Idris to do the Cyfrwy arete, because John thought “it looked good while I was flicking through the guidebook on the toilet”.

After an evening drive up and car camp we made an early start to Will o’ the wisp via a steep but short walk-in. The guide says 6 pitches, but linking them wasn’t too much trouble, especially 1/2. Don’t believe the guidebook pitch lengths, they are way shorter.

Sat on the belay ledge of the traverse, it dawned on us what was already so good about the Classic Rock challenge. On a busy bank holiday, where people were queueing on Snowdon and fighting over parking, here we were, with a crag to ourselves, overlooking a peaceful and stunning valley. Classic Rock isn’t just about the quality of the routes but is about getting out there to new places that we otherwise wouldn’t have visited.

After the bold arete move, the route was all too soon finished and although we were enjoying the Cwm Cywarch vibe, we stuck to the plan and drove over to Cadair whilst eating an early lunch.

According to the guidebook, the walk-in to Cwm Cyfrwy takes about 50-60 mins. I can confirm however, that if you end up walking through the middle of the never-ending boulder field, it takes 1hr 45! We were now getting a bit tight for time, but decided to see how much of it we could move together on, rather than take pitches. If you ever do this route and feel confident to move this way, you’ll find it well suited. We felt safe, slick and fast as we moved up the Table Direct start (VD) and onto the arete climb (D). Occasionally ground felt a bit loose and the odd direct belay was used to guide a move but we didn’t require a full stance anywhere on the route.

We topped the ridge, visited the summit and descended through a snow patch in 22 degree heat.

At about 5pm and approaching the car my watch congratulated me for reaching my step target. We’d successfully achieved our optimistic plan and I didn’t need a watch judging my performance; what we did need was a good meal and the Lemon Grass restaurant in Dolgellau did a great job of that.

Which Classic route is next? We’ve done all the closest ones now, we’ve got a lot of Scotland and the South West to go.


Location: 52.758425, -3.708106

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