The new guide isn’t even here yet but it is already out of date. During the first lockdown the Cook and Ddol quarries at Glyn Rhonwy saw much development and some spectacular lines climbed by George Smith, Martin Crook and Jon Ratcliffe.

During the latest lockdown Jon returned to the Land that God Forgot section of Film Set Quarry to try a project sds to Comfortably Numb, a 6C+ hanging arête he climbed in the first wave. Initially he hit a wall with repeated failures on the same move. After a bit of head scratching he tweaked his sequence and got a crucial breakthrough. Next go he managed to climb through to the top. Comfortably Numb sds rates 7B+. Jon managed to capture the first ascent on his phone – see the link below.

James McHaffie also came for a sniff around and picked off one of the nearby project lines. Steering Wheel Wall gives a short lived but very intense 7A+. Jon added a few more notable lines through the tunnel in Gideon; a 6C slopey traverse and Extinction Risk, a two star 6C+ up the crimpy wall right of Cherub.

See pages 99 and 95 in the North Wales Bouldering Volume 1: Mountain Crags guide (due in the shops end of February). And for a taste of some of the top quality lines in the quarries check out Andy Moles’ FINAL FRONTIER: A Lockdown Bouldering Film - see the link below.

Relevant links:
      Comfortably Numb sds FA
      FINAL FRONTIER: A Lockdown Bouldering Film