Sep 08 20 |
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Saturday morning at Helyg dawned dry but cool so the east face of Tryfan was deemed suitable for the assembled team of six. Nick and Christine opted to queue on Gashed Crag while Clive, Shane, Dennis and Paul opted for Munich Climb a controversial route in 1936 due to the German climbers using 3 pitons on the first ascent.
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Paul, filed under 
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11 Responses to “Tryfan”
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I think one of those pitons resided in Helyg at one stage
Looks cold!
Are the pitons still all in place on the route?
Hey Pete, I seem to recall that you have a piton (pin) from a certain climb in your house too
Yeah, the one that came out when I fell off (when a hold/block came off, probably after all the rain) on that route (whose name I forget) in Canada!
It was still on the quickdraw when I got to the hospital! 
‘Gooseberries’ was the route
‘Gooseberries’ was the climb
Incidentally, there was a celebrated fatal leader fall on ‘Munich climb’ in the 1950′s (I think) which highlighted a ‘fatal’ flaw in one way of body belaying
Apparently, it stimulated great debate at the time on belaying and was probably a prime mover in advaces which led to the the development of the ‘stich plate’ and subsequent devices 
We picked the only route on the face out of the sun :
but it was the only without a big queue.Pinnacle Rib (see photo) had a continuous line of climbers. The pegs are long gone though Dennis said there was a shiny hold on the crux 
A “shiny hold”, surely not code for aid?
Think what you will
but Dennis is a retired gentleman
Terry is right but the fatal fall was 17 Sept 1966. The 2007 Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation report said “1966: A report appeared in the Times of a rescue carried out by the Team. The accident happened when four climbers were tackling the Munich climb said to be the most difficult in Snowdonia. “It would appear that Mr Drewe lost his hand hold on the rock face”, said the Coroner. The Ogwen Valley Rescue Team climbed 400 feet up a gulley to reach Mr Drewe and he was lowered on a stretcher. He died from injuries before an ambulance reached the hospital at Bangor 10 miles away.” I was one of the 4 climbers (actually on a separate climb) and first to reach him. I’m 70 now but it’s still a bad memory.
There was another fatality on Munich Climb in August 1947, when someone fell off the nose on pitch three and dragged his second off the belay, killing both of them. I suspect that may be the one the earlier poster has in mind which influenced ideas about body belaying, though I stand to be corrected.