21/12/2009Winter Conditions and Dry Tooling [vid]

As Britain continues to be in the grip of a big freeze, winter climbing conditions in North Wales are steadily improving and it looks like staying cold all week - time to start thinking up your excuses for escaping Christmas duties.

Mark 'Baggy' Richards blog has become the local source for the latest on what's been climbed and what's in-nick. For on-line details of Welsh winter routes or to add a new one go to the wiki.

Last winter as climbers grew frustrated by the general dampness and lack of winter climbing, Owen Samuel and Rocio Siemens turned their hands to creating a dry tooling route in the Dinorwig Quarries. Typically, shortly after starting their project the white-stuff arrived. Ibex as it became known, turned out to be harder than intended and Pete Harrison made the first ascent at about M8+. Here's a video clip of Jack Geldard making a smooth repeat with a pair of our Rebel tools.