The best bouldering in the world (probably)
Looking across the Llanberis Pass to Dinas Cromlech from the 'Wavelength' bouldering area
When I first started rock climbing in the late ’70s/early ’80s (showing my age), there was a lot of discussion and criticism of ‘car bound, puerile route tickers’, meaning climbers who were ticking routes out of the guidebook, but unwilling to walk more than 15 minutes from the car.
The photo to the left features Dinas Cromlech in the Llanberis Pass in North Wales, a huge crag dominating the valley, and containing some of the most significant and boldest routes from the last few decades. Notable for Joe Brown’s Cenotaph Corner, certainly the most famous rock climb in Britain, Pete Livesey’s Right Wall, and Big Ron’s visionary Lord of the Flies (Filmed for the BBC Rock Athlete series in the ’70s and featuring the famous Big Ron quote “Come on arms, do your stuff!”.
The Pass is full of both bouldering and big routes of this kind of quality, all within easy reach of the car. So….it would be crazy to head out bouldering in the pass on a bank holiday weekend? Well no, if you’re prepared to take the slog up the hillside with your bouldering mat and boots, then the ‘Wavelength’ area in the meadow below Cyrn Las contains the distillation of some of the best bouldering in Wales, far from the madding crowd, in a position of utmost beauty.
Here are some tasters……
First up on the slog up to Cyrn Las is the house sized Utopia boulder with the uber classic central groove
Noodle taking a breather at the 'Wavelength' boulder
The view up towards Cyrn Las
The striations in the rock which gives the 'Wavelength' area its name