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Tagged | Bristly Ridge East Face

Bristly Ridge East Face Topo

Bristly Ridge East Face Topo

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Just a space to share a quick topo for the East Face of Bristly Ridge. I climbed a variation of Great Tower Buttress last Friday,Tour Details


Posted on 8 January 20269 January 2026
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I had another good day up on the East Face of Bris I had another good day up on the East Face of Bristly Ridge with Mark Stevenson on Monday climbing Giant’s Steps Buttress, taking the original summer line where Dwarf Steps Variation previously traversed left avoiding the crux 4a pitch. We thought it gave a good pitch of technical well protected V,6 climbing, with a precarious move exiting the groove that Mark dispatched. Follow the summer line and description throughout. After climbing Giant’s Steps Buttress, we abbed down the adjacent gully and traversed in to the top pitch of Grooved Buttress which gave a good pitch though with wispy turf in places. I've knocked up a quick topo of some of the lines here, a high resolution version can be found on the blog of my website, link in the profile.
Cracking day with @t.carrick heading up Great Towe Cracking day with @t.carrick heading up Great Tower Buttress - The Knave Variation (IV, 5) which was a good winter adventure up on the East Face of Bristly Ridge. Pitch 1 - climbs as summer route up the cracked rib to easier ground to belay below the obvious crack. IV. Pitch 2 - skirt the summer crux crack by sneaking left to get above it, the first winter ascent team went up a small ramp then up a flake left of the summer line. We opted to rejoin the summer line after skirting the crux crack, squeezing up the short chimney giving well protected IV, 5. Pitch 3 - as the summer line, scramble over the pinnacled ridge and up a step to belay on the left below the large flake III. Pitch 4 - as the summer line, except starting to the left of the flake, then up the broken groove, finishing to the right on turf for the final moves. Great pitch of winter climbing, good gear and nice moves, IV, 5. Possibly could avoid this pitch if by heading round to the right and what appears to be easier ground. Pitch 5 - skirt the summer line by heading left up easier ground, to gain Bristly Ridge III/IV. Scramble off then descend back down the scree. I had a look at the summer line up the tower, good gear but got stopped just before the bulge at steep moves with poor feet. Maybe one for another time. Conditions - Bristly Ridge was already rimed up nicely before the snow which we'd spied a couple days prior when heading up Tryfan, more so than high cliffs such as Clogwyn Du. The new snow was mostly loose and unconsolidated. Turf frozen after multiple cold days with no insulating snow - axe and crampon placements coming out clean, but there's not been any freeze/thaw cycles and the ground was pretty dry beforehand, so would suggest sticking to predominantly mixed routes still for now. Any complaints about perceived winteriness please do report me to the Cymru BMC access officer. Pic 1 Tom leading up the 1st pitch. Pics 2 - 8 Tom following up the chimney on the 2nd pitch. Pics 9 - 13 Tom following up the great 4th pitch.
North Wales Rock - Wired Guides North Wales final North Wales Rock - Wired Guides North Wales finally gets the Wired treatment; a beautifully produced select guide covering a range of the amazing climbing on offer in this special place. My now battered copy of Ground Up North Wales Rock was my first, and for a long time favourite, guidebook to the area. This may well take the top spot and will be the guidebook I recommend to clients. I helped a little with proof reading a few chapters, and being a guidebook geek I'm especially psyched to see my name in the mentions. I'm slowly trying to put together a collection of all the guidebooks for Wales, if anyone has any interesting old guidebooks please do get in touch!
Sport climbing with Naresh and Ishaan on Saturday Sport climbing with Naresh and Ishaan on Saturday developing the skills to transition from indoor walls to outdoor crags. Loads of skills, practice and climbing with this pair of psyched climbers; Merlin had a great time hanging out too and overseeing the day 🐕
Checking out rigging for an upcoming project worki Checking out rigging for an upcoming project working with @hedydd_dancecompany for their show Hiraeth, Lost Roots which they've been developing the last few months. Shows will be on Saturday 16th August at Galeri, Caernarfon @galericaernarfon at the following times; 16/08/25 13:15-14:00 14:30-15:30 17:45-18:30 19:00-20:00 Will be great to see them doing their thing in this great space 🤩 come check it out and support.
Been a bit quiet on the social media front; but ve Been a bit quiet on the social media front; but very busy behind the scenes, with lots of courses and freelancing. I've had the pleasure of working with the military the last couple weeks delivering their higher internal adventurous training qualifications. Other courses have included Mountain Leader Training, Indoor Climbing Assistant, Rock Climbing Instructor Training, Mountain Skills and Rock Skills Learn to Lead Trad, and freelancing on a Duke of Edinburgh Expedition, @rawadventures climbing with the local primary school, and @orangemountaineering on a multi activity with.

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