“I don’t have a fear of Heights. I do, however, have a fear of falling from heights“

George Carlin

I’ve wanted to do this for ages and finally after living in Wales so long and getting some really good weather this should be dry enough to climb. It is a beautiful day as we are heading up the trail next to Llyn Idwal. I love this part of North Wales, less frequented by tourists and when it comes to the scrambles these are rarely busy.

As we walk around the edge of Cwm Idwal in this weather and the clear sky, on the way to the start of the route, it’s easy to spot the dark slash in the rocks which is Idwal Staircase. As you can see on my terrible illustration above. Sat next to the Idwal slabs this route comes in at around a grade 2 grade 2+ so it is not a scramble for beginners really.

Before long we are at the foot of the route, a slash in the rocks that reaches to the sky, I start eyeing it up but Llur is already on it like a red squirrel or something. This gives me a chance to take a few perspective photos with him showing how huge the thing actually is using the old ‘Welshman for scale comparison‘

We are tackling this thing without ropes as I’ve been here before and I haven’t seen much I think I’d put gear into here anyway, some may not agree with me but I wouldn’t say this is overly technical just requires a head for heights and keeping calm. There’s lots of hand and foot holds, however it is high and it is a water runoff so it is rarely dry, the black patches are best avoided and decent grippy scrambling shoes I feel are a must.

Taking a deep breath, I’m off onto the beginning of the climb which is almost steplike in places which is very handy and makes the start of the ascent quite quick. When you get past this section for a time being the route leans back a little which is easier, it does get more interesting though, as at this point if you have been counting the amount of dry days and you’ve judged it right the middle should be fairly dry and you should easily be able to get around the wedged boulder here. If you haven’t been paying attention to the weather and it’s still mega wet up here it is going to be a lot more dangerous generally but especially here. And here’s the neat part though you wont actually know either way if you’ve judged it right until you are at this point right here. Enjoy.

Knowing that putting my foot in the aforementioned black stuff would be a mistake I manage to squeeze round this wedged boulder instead of hanging out the left where the water is which seems like fairly certain death so I just have to muster some courage up is the only option as usual and be very very careful, option for a step up on a toe as close to the boulder as I can get. It’s a really awkward move but I’d rather be doing this than the other option. It’s also worth remembering that losing your footing or slipping here will result in one of two not fun outcomes. You could slide down the route due to the lean back here which is going to be terrifying and cut and bruise you if you stop sliding which you may do but you’ll spend the rest of the day questioning your life choices. Or you will bounce and hit all the sticking out bits on the way down and the last thing through your head might be a rock.

Past this point it gets much easier though and the routes quickly over. We stop and I crack out a vodka soda to celebrate a nice climb and get our breath, then it’s onto the next part of the route the continuation of this (not too sure if we did it correctly) but I’d be guessing the part we go up on is a grade 3 maybe. The rock here though is super grippy and we make pretty short work of the route, then it’s to the boring bit….getting back to the car.