New gear: wires, crabs

I was in Wales last weekend with the 4C's in the Rucksack Club hut in the Llanberis pass - more on that anon - and passing by Joe Brown's in Capel Curig stopped to poke around. They have an excellent selection of gear, I've not seen better elsewhere, probably better than Outside in Hathersage. Anyway I've begun my project to renew my gear, some of which dates back to the early 90's so is up to 35 years old. Although I do have a lot of newer stuff. First up is a set of wires, technically Wallnuts, from DMM.

And some crabs aka carabiners.

Note what isn't desperately obvious from the picture: they are smaller than standard, by a little, thus lighter, hence "Wisp". Looking at the online prices, Joe Brown's was actually slightly cheaper, something to remember.

Llanberis

To Llanberis with the 4Cs, to a Rucksack Club hut just above the town on the outskirts of the pass itself. I got all keen and threw my ice gear into the car but it was too warm for that: through the cloud one could vaguely see snow high up on Snowden but only in patches. Pix are here.

Friday: arrive. An easier drive than expected; I didn't listen much to music but mostly to my thoughts.

Saturday: [GPS] we settle on Tremadog, largely based on agreement between Keith Sands and Charles Moreton; I don't have strong opinions nor it seems to Pete Atkinson, the Italian guy, and I've now forgotten who else was there this was a month ago don't forget (I'm writing this on Feb 28th). Wx is grey, and rain is predicted from around noon. In fact it doesn't start and that gently until about 4, but this does set our expectations. We go to the upper tier, Craig Pant Ifan. My logbooks says I did Bulging Wall HS 4a, Falling Block Crack S 4 and MTN S 4a. One of those was something Keith, and then Pete, backed off. Soir: we walked down to the Vaynol arms; it was too busy to serve food, but I'd already eaten, so while they went further into Llanberis I sat and had a quiet pint.

Sunday: [GPS] it rained a lot overnight, and inevitably all the rock was going to be soaking wet. With cloud covering the hills we didn't have a Howard level of enthusiasm for multi-pitch Diffs, and after much discussion K+C decided on an out of the way crag, Craig Y Tonnau. This was actually quite cute, I lead one V Diff - Diane's Approval - but the rock was running with water and we all got rather cold hands, to the point of starting to lose feel. And so we felt that would do, everyone feeling mildly guilty at not doing more. With the others I stopped for coffee in Betws y Coed, then headed off early; I went back via Joe Brown's in Capel Curig - see new wires - then back to the Hut for a quiet night alone; I slept in the living room.

Monday: I'd left my options open but with the wx remaining iffy I decided to go home, via a walk along the beach at Porthmadog to nearly Criccieth; and a mosey through Porthmadog, which left me wanting to try the narrow gauge trains and relive my youth. And so home.

Of the hut

A nice place, well equipped for our purposes, pretty cold when we first got in and needed the fires going. Here's the "strangers" dowm upstairs; no blankets bring your own sleeping bag of course:

Here's the main "comfy" living room:

And here's the "dining room" and entrance way:

And the kitchen:

And from the outside:

New running shoes

Happy New Year. Having lost my beloved Boston Adizero 9's to old age, mountain walking and erging, themselves replacements for the 8's,

I had bought some Altra's in July 2024:

These are nice, without too much absurdly overbuilt heel as almost everything has these days, though a little bitey on the ankles; I've had to cut them back a little. But I still hankered after the Boston's, though you can no longer buy the 9's. Or so I thought! But recently I found some online (Joom) and bought them:

They are nice, although when wearing them I do find them a touch flat :-). I may now be eligible for Imelda status: