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Y Garn

Mallory's Ridge VI 7 110m ***
An old route brought screaming into the modern world? This is a brilliant 3* outing, well worth checking out whilst the conditions remain.
Start just above & right of the true base of the ridge, 5m above the rowan sapling, at an obvious rock spike belay. Lots of grade I ground to get to it.
P1 30m 6 The 'Irvine' alternative? This is the only pitch not to follow the original route. Just to the left of the belay lies a steep heathery groove, ascend this with interest to a large ledge at 8m. Move up & right onto the arete. Fix gear & traverse/bridge left across to a wide crack (& thread) which leads to the top of a small pillar. Above is a wall with some lines of turf. The upper half is bounded on the right by an obvious flake crack. This gives sustained but well protected climbing to heathery ledges & then back right to a spacious belay on a selection of spikes, threads & a huge spike on the arete.
P2 20m 4 From the left side of the huge spike move up to slightly slabbier ground. Gain the arete, following this and the groove above with continual interest, exposure & great gear to another spacious ledge.
P3 30m 7 Well protected but thin moves lead onto the face, with jaw dropping exposure for good measure. Sustained, well protected but thin moves on great hooks & torques lead up & rightwards across the wall to a series of small flakes & spikes which are followed to a ledge with some hollow sounding flakes & spikes. Climb more easily up to another spacious belay ledge below the final headwall.
P4 12m 5 The wall and groove/crack above prove tricky to enter but difficulties ease with height. Another spacious ledge awaits.
P5 18m 2 Follow the ridge in a tremendous position across spikes & flakes to one last pull over the heathery top to the summit. It's possible to run these last 2 pitches together without much problem.
(FWA? Geoff Bennett & Mike Pycroft 27 March 2013)

Craig Cwm Du

Parking spot on the quarry track in Fron as described in NW Rock. A good place to gear up and leave packs is at the small mine/spoil heap on the path up to Mynydd Mawr. It's easy to drop down into the cliff from here. A pleasant 30 - 40 minutes to the cliff. After topping out you come back down the summit slopes past the mine/spoil heap. An alternative approach would be to abseil into Eden Gully followed by down-climbing to the base of the cliff. If Fron is inaccessible due to snow, approach from Betws Garmon.

Adam Rib VI 7 120m ***
<insert whatever superlatives you prefer to describe an absolutely classic mixed climb!>. An obvious winter line criss-crossing the summer route for short sections.
Climb easy ground for 30m to a small ledge with a small spike belay, about 10 metres below where the rib proper steepens.
1. 6 35m Climb turfy ground for 10m to a large ledge below the where the rib proper steepens. Move left and climb the turfy groove immediately right of the subsidiary rib taken by the summer route. Make an airy step across right to a good belay ledge, as for the summer route.
2. 5 38m Climb the turfy corner around the right-hand side of the rib and step back left onto the front face (alternatively, climb the crack above the belay to the same point, as for the summer route). Continue up the crack on the front face as per the summer route to a small ledge. Step left and follow a turfy groove and ledges up the right-hand side of the rib to small stance below the final wall.
3. 7 25m Climb a turfy ramp up rightwards to below a wide crack in the steep wall overlooking Eden Gully (this is the obvious crack up right of the final belay on the photo topo in NW Rock). The crack gives excellent climbing - quite technical and physical, care is required with the rock at the top.
Easy ground leads up to the summit slopes of Mynydd Mawr.
FWA: Pete Harrison, Steve Long 31.3.13 - after Baggy and Stu Stanley were turned round within 10m of the top in January.