I have never climbed in the Rhinogs area of North Wales before and I have certainly never heard of Foel Penolau and Craig Galch, the two crags we climbed on. Foel Penolau is on the 2000’ contour line high above Llyn Trawsfynydd with commanding views towards Tremadog Bay and the Lleyn Peninsula. A series of short routes that pack a punch like ‘Do the Monkey’ E2 5c are well worth the effort on a good day.
However the stand-out route was on Craig Galch overlooking the Dwyryd estuary. ‘Subservient Elephant’ is a Mark Reeves /Leo Holding creation first climbed in 1998; it is given an unconfirmed E1 5b and 3 stars. Steve and myself can confirm that it is an outrageous E1 and definitely worth 3 stars. It has wild, ‘heart-in-your-mouth’ positions, just enough gear and holds that appear just when you really need them. On this occasion we gave it an extra star because as we topped out there was a peregrine falcon calmly watching us from a perch only 10m away.
As good as selective guidebooks are, you could well be missing out on some brilliant routes unless you consult some of the older, less fashionable definitive guides. Meirionnydd (The Climbers’ Club, 2002) is such an example because ‘Subservient Elephant’ appears nowhere else.