James McHaffie continues his mission to explore the craggy hillsides of Eryri. He has been roaming far and wide but this report will focus upon the Cwmffynnon area in Dyffryn Mymbyr. Skirting the hillside to the left of the Kragle boulder (see page 438 in the NWB 3.1 guide) he chanced upon an area stuffed to the gills with spectacular lines. Immaculate arêtes, soaring cracks and grooves, all at an enticing, occasionally highball height too.

After an initial foray which yielded the very fine Zelensky’s Crack (7A), he returned this week with the young and talented Lewis Perrin to pick off more stunning first ascents. The lads came away with a quartet of superb 7As, all striking lines, on perfect rock, and although generally high, being blessed with good landings.

The next day they went back up, this time with Ben Corbey, and got stuck into the some of the harder lines on offer. The rewards came in the shape of Brenin (7C), a remarkable arête for Caff, and Brenhines (7B+ ) an equally astounding thin-finger crack line, which Lewis made an impressive flash of. Despite the hour walk-in these are sure to draw a lot of attention – lines this good don’t get discovered very often.

Caff returned again today with another keen team and picked off more quality problems in the same area, including Protect and Survive (7A) an impressive blunt rib.

Check out Caff’s Instagram page for the FA footage.

I bumped into Caff and Lewis at the Cromlech boulders after their first big day and they were buzzing.

”This is North Wales at its best. I always wanted to find an area with loads of corkers. Putin can send them nukes anytime now!” said Caff

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