Chwarel Moel Ystradau

Nestled in the mountains of Tanygrisiau is an unlikely find; a microgranite quarry with some bolted aretes! 

The quarry is located in a unlikely beautiful location on the SE bank of Tanygrisiau Reservoir See UKC Chwarel Moel Ystradau Crag page for approach description.

Chwarel Moel Ystradau - Upper. (The Dawn Arête is the line with the rope down it)

Chwarel Moel Ystradau - Lower

Chwarel Moel Ystradau


To warm up I did a couple of 6a+/b and a 7a+ lines. The 6's gave nice climbing on excellent rock.  The 7a+ would have been good if it was not for a missive scary loose flake! For this reason I recomend avoiding it...this is a quarry after all, there is a lot of loose rock in places. There is also a 7b+ I did not do, but looks pretty good. 

The main event is The Dawn Arete 8a. This is quite a find. It's short but packs a punch with some powerful moves and funky climbing up an arete. A clip stick is recommended to clip the 2nd bolt, there is an as the in-site draw but the gate has succumbed to the weather and no longer closes. 

I climbed the route first red-point. It's probably more like 7c, but still very good. 

While I don't want to condone bolted routes in the Snowdonia mountains, in this location being a old quarry with unprotectable arête lines over 10m high I see no problem with bolts being placed. 

The Dawn Arete


Here is a video of Michael Allday making the first ascent in 2016: 


There would be potential for some new lines in the quarry but great care would need to be taken with the loose blocks at the top. 

Springwatch! Walking back round the reservoir  :-)

Walking back round the reservoir