Here’s another crag that you’ve probably never heard of, but check it out – it’s an absolute belter (thanks to George for the tip off, and to Alex for having the new Molewyn guide for beta).

Before we get onto that, here’s a CAC / “Get Out There!” T-shirt photo-shoot outside Beudy – a fine way to start the day.

Stan arrived shortly after breakfast and we sped over to Betws-y-Coed and on to Blaenau Dolwyddelan. Twenty minutes easy walk from ample parking, you spot the crag after following a public footpath through a farm yard. It’s a very pretty setting, way off the beaten track.

Whilst there are taller sectors on the left, it’s actually the compact 30m wall of Bloodbank Buttress on the right that is the main attraction.

There are only a dozen or so routes and the entry grade of the decent ones is E2. We started with the easiest of these, at the right hand end of the crag: Enterprise Allowance – a steep start followed by a sustained crack which offers some reassuring jams, with a thin finale with a bit of a runout above a peg. Great route! A wander across the top of the crag yields a rap point and a chance for a sneaky peek at Genericon Limits… Very steep! We decided to delay our attempt by doing the other highly-regarded E2: Noble Horse. This has a very stiff bouldery move to a break (big cam) and a situ thread,

followed by some thinner but less steep climbing to a finishing crack. Top tip – you’d be well advised to set up a loweroff with a spare rope, as there’s now an earthy cravasse to negotiate before you’re safely stood on top (Stan didn’t have this luxury and had to make a harrowing traverse left at the top).

By now we’d been joined at the crag by a strong Yorkshire team: Dave, Tim, Carl and Mike (who we’d last bumped into at Tierra de Nadi (another Carlsberg crag!) Dave and Tim had been before and raved about Genericon Limits, so despite it not looking any less steep on a second abseil inspection I geared up for a go.

Wow, what a stupendous route. A bouldery few moves to a couple of pegs which protect a few fierce pulls on surprisingly big holds through the first bulge.

Urgently placing a couple of cams in an undercling (got to keep an eye out for autocorrect when using that word – placing cams in an underling paints a very disturbing picture!) you press on to easier ground and a relative romp up to the second bulge.

Two more pegs and a couple of hidden buckets enable this to be crossed to decent holds and less overhanging ground. The moves reward a positive approach – hesitation would likely result in a plummet!

Stan cruised it on the sharp end afterwards too:

Maybe not the hardest E4, and the pegs are pretty much as good as bolts, but it’s a fab pitch and undeniably steep!

Flushed with that success, Stan then powered his way up Ned Polsky, E3 5c, another fine route, by which time we were both figuratively and literally toasted (the guidebook explicitly advises against visiting on a sunny day and we were far too impatient to wait for the sun to go off the crag around 4pm.) With 11 E-points in the bag it was definitely time for some liquid refreshments!