Tash and Chris had got a week’s holiday and a first opportunity for ages to get some climbing done after the rigours of thesis writing. I was duly commissioned to help out with a bit of an induction for Chris into the fine art of trad leading (we decided “crash course” would be inappropriate!) With Trad Dad signed up, all we needed was a destination with some suitable venues and a weather forecast to match. The continued unpredictable sogginess kept us guessing right up to the morning of departure, when a random perturbation in the course of Storm Antoni had us change tack – so long Pembroke, Gogarth here we come!

Biblical downpours en route caused a few qualms, but blue skies greeted us onto Holy Island and despite the lateness of the hour (5pm!) we decided to seize the evening for Part 1 of the Trad Apprenticeship: Holyhead Mountain.

Fab colours of the heather, gorse and sky.

After a quick warm-up round of “let’s see how many bits of gear we can get in at ground level”, Chris had quickly grasped the basics, and it was time for a first lead. Hat, VDiff, proved no obstacle for Chris’ new-found skills…

… and he breezed confidently to the top.

Just in time to bask in a stunning sunset…

… and to bring the rest of the party up.

Not a bad return on the narrow weather window available, and a good platform for Part 2.

A dump of rain overnight delayed proceedings and dampened the rock, but patches of blue encouraged a peek at Castell Helen. Some “Trad Dad” wisdom: “always approach someone else’s ab rope with a degree of suspicion and keep your wits about you” proved prophetic, as the in situ rope came up a few metres short of the base of the crag. With a bit of jiggery pokery (all good learning experience) we were soon installed in the niche of Lighthouse Arete, on a mission to observe some gear placements and multi-pitch belays.

Observed by a gatecrashing seal

With primo conditions set for the afternoon we headed down to do Rap for another dose of seacliff fun.

It’s such an enjoyable route, but always has me wondering how on earth it retains its VS grade. The 5a top pitch is not at all well protected, and surely that merits HVS?

Part 3 saw us relocating to The Pass and the splendid base of Beudy Mawr, The Rucksack Club’s hut. Time to put the gear observations from Part 2 into practice on the sharp end. First job: identify the start of the route: Crackstone Rib, Severe, 4a, and an absolute classic!

Chris got the plumb middle pitch, with the impending exposure as you traverse towards the arete and pull round to find nothing but thin air snapping at your heels. There can’t be many wilder positions accessible at such a relatively amenable grade – certainly no place for the faint hearted, and Chris maintained a cool head throughout…

… and topped it off with an exemplary equalised belay.

Our next plan was to swing leads on a multi-pitch VS, and we picked Lion, which somehow I’d never got around to doing before. More learning from other’s mistakes – this time mine! I foolishly decided to run the first two pitches together, despite the hugely traversing nature of the second pitch, compounding the error by taking no long draws and a fairly light rack. Srir in the wet streaks on both pitches, and the stiffness of the grade (another one that surely deserves HVS 5a, even in the dry?) and it was a great lesson in “don’t underestimate a route even if it’s well within your grade!”

Tash and Chris both did a great job of following the wet, poorly protected traverse and the thuggy chimney…

The final pitch of Lion had a large team in situ, joining from another route, so we ended up back on Crackstone Rib. After all that excitement Chris decided to savour the exposure from the other end of the rope. Fab day!

For the 4th and final part of the Trad Apprenticeship we headed to Tremadog with the plan for Chris and Tash to independently climb a multi-pitch route with me just along for the ride and as a backstop. They picked Christmas Curry, which I fondly recall being an important milestone in my own leading career. They passed the first test in good order – identifying the start of the route (not easy at Tremadog!)

Chris then led the first couple of pitches, pushing his leading grade up a notch to Severe 4a in the process.

A localised downpour then intervened and the apprentices took the sound mountaineering decision that it would be unwise for Chris to lead the airy top pitch on wet rock. They were more than capable of setting up an abseil to get themselves out of the predicament, but instead decided to “play their joker” and hand over the lead so we could all enjoy completing the route.

A fab and fun four days, with the apprenticeship passed with flying colours and an extra distinction awarded for sound mountaineering judgement! Ditching their now-redundant 3rd wheel, Chris and Tash went on to consolidate their trad skills with a self-sufficient ascent of Wrinkle, and further adventures swinging leads on Rowan Route and dodging showers in Ogwen and beyond. Great to be passing the baton!