A superb new area in Beddgelert Forest has been developed. Following a tip off from old school legend, Mel Griffiths, boulder hunting veterans, Martin Crook and George Smith went for a walk around the Rhyd Ddu edge of the forest, discovering a small collection of boulders made from the same gorgeous, rough dolerite found in the original area which was developed back in 2005/6.

Martin kicked things off with an ascent of the delightful blunt flake on the left of the main block. Boss Cuvier went at V1/Font 5; it was subsequently given a superb sitting start by Ian Wilson at V4/6B. The central line (Central Hog) went at V2/5+ from standing – this was again given an intense sitting start by Gav Foster at V6/7Aish.

The prominent right arête was climbed from a lanky/stretched standing start by Noel Craine, although the normal standing start remains unclimbed at present and will be a much harder proposition.

The obvious sitting start to the arête (left hand: poor slopey thing, right hand: large undercut) was then used by Si Panton as a logical start to the attractive ramp feature sweeping up right. Clear Spot V7/7A+ gives sustained and powerful climbing on a succession of wonderful slopey holds.

“I’m so made up with this problem, it’s the best new thing I’ve done for a very long time, in fact it’s the only new thing I’ve done for a while since I’ve been carrying a finger injury for over a year now. The holds are so slopey and friendly it didn’t hurt my finger at all. A three star classic for sure!”, explained Si.

A further sitting start, Matterhorn Arete V4/6B+ was added to the hanging arête on the adjacent boulder by Ian Wilson and Martin Crook climbed a crouching start to the right arete at V3/4/6A+/B with a hard initial move.

To reach the boulders: pull in at the Rhyd Ddu end of the forest. The track turns and runs parallel to the main road (i.e. towards Beddgelert); space to park can be found 100m along this track. Walk back and cross the railway by the pull in spot and walk up the track running straight into the forest. Take the 2nd right turning, then bear right at the next junction. After a few more hundred metres the track runs up hill and a prominent boulder is seen on the right (you can actually see this from the road). Continue up the track until level with the dense forest line then break off right on a small path and follow this for 50m cutting leftwards behind the prominent boulder to reach two undercut blocks.

The walk in takes a good 20 minutes, but can easily be mountain biked in around 10 minutes there, and a gloriously quick 5 minutes back to the road.

The possibility of finding other chunks of dolerite in the forest has spurred the ever keen Martin Crook to continue the search. In the field above, two minutes walk through the woods there is a slabby fronted block. Sloperama V4/6B starts sitting at the right arete. A hard initial move (a very on/off grit style manouevre) leads in to an easier rightwards traverse with a swing round into a corner and a mantel finish at the end.

Other discoveries have been made elsewhere in the forest and more details of these will follow soon.

Listed below are a few of the key news items associated with the development of Beddgelert Forest - to see more just type Beddgelert into the search page.

Relevant links:
      The Shocker news item
      Beddgelert Forest new wave news item
      More Beddgelert action