Category Archives: Uncategorized

 Half-a-sleep, driving through the early morning drizzle, Llanberis is gloomy and cold. I slow and pass the Victoria Hotel on the right, and then the Snowdon Railway Station with its deserted car park and wet wooden benches on the left. … Continue reading →

The 2Rays, aka, Ray Wood and Ray Saunders have put together a short film of The Trumpet Slappers climb. Trumpet Slappers Vid by the Two Rays. I’ve never been the best rock climber, I never have enough time to reach … Continue reading →

  Craig Dorys, Craig Dorys, Craig Dorys… Like a chant for the doomed, six words that bring terror into the eyes of adults. Dorys – a powerful word from within the Welsh climbing scene. Dorys – a word to induce … Continue reading →

On the car stereo, boom-chikka-boom, Johnny Cash sang in his freight train bass about his burning ring of fire, but there was certainly no ring of fire this Saturday morning in Wales. And as we crossed from the mainland to the … Continue reading →

Scimitar Ridge, is a wave of corrugated cardboard  cut-out from the heather-hillside high on the northside of the Llanberis Pass. Scimitar is for me, THE chosen venue. The wind often cuts through the scree beneath Scimitar’s dagger-overhangs. The sun shines in … Continue reading →

  Picture a land in the grip of pestilence. The once pleasant, green and rolling countryside turned to misery. No longer can the people wander freely through the wide-open spaces. No longer animals aimlessly cavorting in the meadows, gambolling on … Continue reading →

I Met Steve Mcclure a few weeks ago and it wasn’t long before the conversation turned to discussing the different aspects of climbing. The usual was covered, nuances between sport climbing and trad climbing, “Nick, it’ll help your climbing no-end … Continue reading →

Last night I watched Morrissey on the i-player singing live at Glastonbury Festival. My first thought was, ‘My, doesn’t Morrissey look like Tom Briggs’. And later, while watching a u-tube clip of The Smiths on Top of the Pops from … Continue reading →

The west is a consumer society, our world runs on people wanting and buying, buying and wanting… I don’t have a problem with this, it’s better than communism. But what I do find difficult to accept is the, ‘I want … Continue reading →

   Balloons, Kathmandu. Between Thamel buildings, an early morning slice of sun reflects as shoals of silver. The smell of the night is heavy in the gutter. A woman squats. Fingers break the water’s surface. Drops flick from a blue … Continue reading →