This chimney was chosen mainly as the wet weather option. It gave us a chance to do something a little more difficult as well as providing an abseil back down. I believe that none of us had abseiled before, so that was a plus for all of us. It gave us something to look forward to while jammed in that narrow crack in the rock.
Strictly speaking, this is a rock climb, not a scramble. However, although distinctly awkward on the one short difficult pitch, it feels not at all exposed. This is because all the difficulty is encountered whilst jammed in a narrow crack. It is the narrowness that makes it awkward - I know from my own performance that it makes it very easy to waste energy fighting oneself.
However, it seems that if you focus on putting the pressure on the right points in the right sequence it does actually work and you quickly find yourself emerging into the upper part of the crack. After that, it's a 'walk in the park'; no sorry that wasn't it... 'a walk in the dark'. I've heard that footholds abound in the remaining section but I never actually saw any.
| The Chimney | |||
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| Abseiling back down again. | |||
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| Photos by Ian Whitehead, High Trek Snowdonia | |||