UKC

Hello, after having taken a trip to climb at Stanage last fall, I loved it so much, I now want to plan a 2-week trip to North Wales this September.   I was hoping to get some helpful local info.  How are climbing conditions around that time?  I was researching that it can be a bit rainy but would like to hear from locals on how they maximize climbing during these times..or would it be better to not even come during Sept?  Would it be easy to find weekday partners?  I'd love to climb as much as possible and will hire a car.  Also, what towns would be ideal to stay in as far as proximity to crags of moderate grades?  I was thinking of an Airbnb in Nant Peris.  I appreciate any help.  And for any of those coming to the eastern sierra (where I live..close to Bishop and Yosemite) and even Red Rock (my other home crag), I would be more than happy to help with beta and even possibly host, as well.  Thank you...

I would say September is as likely to have good weather as any other summer month, but you might be unlucky at any time in North Wales. One advantage of earlier (eg May - August) is longer daylight hours allowing an afternoon and evening of climbing after a wet morning (especially if you choose a quick drying crag such as Tremadog).

The Beacon climbing wall is good for one wet day, but you'll be disappointed if you have a full-on wet week, unless you like alternative activities such as hill-walking/scrambling or mountain biking (bike hire is possible at several locations). But it's worth remembering that the coastal crags (Tremadog, Gogarth and the North Wales limestone) often stay dry when the mountain crags are wet.

If you're coming all the way from California and hiring a car (ie renting a car) then a good plan might be to be flexible re destination and prepared to drive around a bit to seek out the best weather. Often, a wet spell in North Wales might be dryer in the Peak District, or Pembroke for example.

Hope you have a great trip.

Martin

September can be a pretty good time to visit. Quieter than in the school holidays, lots of potential for good weather. As was mentioned above one of the benefits of North Wales is that is has lots of microclimates and quick drying options for wetter periods and if it's terrible it's only three hours drive to the Peak/Pembroke/Lake District.

Nant Peris is a good fairly central base, especially if you have a car rental (pretty essential).

The local scene is pretty good for finding partners, there are a few Facebook groups. If you shoot me an email I'd be happy to show you around for a few days if I'm free. 

Alex

This was so helpful, Martin.  I appreciate the detailed response...thank you!  

Thanks for all this great info, Alex.  I'm flexible since I will have a car and had a great time at Stanage.  I joined the North Wales Cliimbers group on Facebook, however, my post has been pending review for days..not sure if the moderator has even seen it.  I'll get in touch to discuss climbing!

It might be warm and dry, it might be horizontal rain and hail storm and anything much in-between.

Definitely make sure you have good mountain waterproof jacket, and footwear suitable for damp patches and steep grass (which is most definitely NOT tennies guides, or similar). Avoid down clothing.

All you can do is roll with it and be flexible, if it's raining everywhere there are walks and adventures to be had for sure, snakes and ladders (or even a trip near Croesor where you enter one underground quarry and exit another, but you must have a local with you for that one).

It might rain in one place but maybe the orme is dry, or raining at Orme but dry at Tremadog. Flexibility and rolling with it is key, because for conditions: you'll get what you get.

Try and get as much info and help from locals at the time as you can. ENJOY!!!!

Speaking as a pessimist (we’re rarely disappointed) I would say there’s a good chance that the climate crisis is beginning to ruin the UK climate, and perusing average climate stats is probably a waste of time. As others have said, pretty well anything can happen, and September has always been a bit of a gamble. If you get an anticyclone for a week it can be the most perfect climbing weather imaginable, but you might get a whole string of lows. But the big advantage of North Wales is the possibility of fleeing the hills for either Gogarth (on Anglesey) or Tremadoc on the sheltered coastline of Cardigan Bay. If I weren’t such a pessimist I’d say North Wales in September is unlikely to be a total wash out. Pembroke sea cliffs might be your saviour, but it’s a slow and tedious drive from Llanberis, so you’d need to be sure of at least a couple of days of good weather to make it worth the time driving. 
Good luck - if the weather’s kind it’ll put Stanage to shame. Drops down below the parapet……

To reinforce points from the existing replies:

- the weather in North Wales is a lottery at all times. In September you could have an 'Indian summer' and lovely sunshine all week, equally it could be a total wash out.

- The 'centre' of climbing in North Wales is the village of Llanberis, at the base of the mountains. Nant Peris is a much smaller village a few miles up the valley. I would try to stay in Llanberis which has more accomodation/shops/cafes/pubs. 

- the mountain crags are typically the wettest. If so, a car is pretty much essential to hunt out dry rock. Traditionally there are three venues that are frequently dry when the mountains are wet, all have good climbing, and you could have an amazing week of climbing just in these three venues:

• Gogarth (on Anglesey, about an hour's drive from Llanberis) - steep sea cliffs with buckets of atmosphere
• Tremadog (about 45 mins drive) - a wide variety of routes on interesting rock, 1/2 pitches
• Great Orme/Pen Trwyn (near Llandudno, 30-40 min drive) - limestone, mostly harder grades, mixture of sport and trad

- If it's raining everywhere there are plenty of traditional 'fun' days in the mountains where you're guaranteed to get soaked, but have an adventure in relative safety. Among these are the Idwal Slabs and Cneifion Arete in Ogwen, Bryant's Gully in the Llanberis Pass, and Lockwood's Chimney in the Gwynant Pass. I wouldn't like to spend a whole week doing these though! There are also a couple of permadry crags (Carreg Hylldrem, some parts of Tremadog) which can entertain you for a day maybe, but not more than that.

- Finally, if you luck out with partners you can rent a bouldering pad from the shops in Llanberis. There is excellent bouldering all around the mountains and also down at Porth Ysgo (1.5 drive) there is excellent coastal bouldering, which is more likely to be dry.

Of course, if you get good weather, you're in for one of the best week's trad climbing anywhere Good luck!

Just to echo 'be flexible' I've sat on the Llyn peninsula in sunshine whilst Snowdonia is being deluged with serious flood alerts - mountains next to the sea with fickle UK weather (not singling out the Welsh here!) generates all sorts of microclimates.

Wales when it's good is as good as anywhere I've ever been - enjoy!

Yeah what everyone else said.

Be prepared to go out to the coast if the weather is rubbish in the hills. But I'd be amazed if you didn't at least get a few good days on gogarth in 2 weeks of September. 

Also if you have a car then yeah, be open to bailing to Pembroke or the Lakes, although it would be a very rare set of circumstances to write off all of north Wales for any length of time and still leave either of those completely untouched.

You'll have no trouble finding partners but maybe start a thread here anyway so we can all see how you're getting on.

Only other thing to be aware of is that's the tail end of the season when people get roads closed in national parks so they can go for an organised bike/jog on the weekend. Can be disruptive, can be not a problem, best to be aware if there are any events on so you can plan not to get caught up in the chaos.

That said I can't actually find many examples in September...

No roads closed but this one might cause a major ballache if you were trying to drive certain places that day:

https://www.brutalevents.co.uk/the-brutal-triathlon 

OP for 2 weeks I would try to stay in a reasonable size town / village with shops / pubs / cafes etc.

Llanberis or Bangor or Bethesda (but not Caernarfon!)

Just to emphasise what others have said above the single best tip for climbing in the UK is to be mobile and flexible.

Have a good trip. I’ll be looking for the sun in France🤣

Caernarfon is so much nicer than Bangor nowadays…

Surprised at how pessimistic many are about the weather in September! I've always regarded it as one of the better months for UK climbing. That's not to say it won't rain and maybe a lot. But equally relevant is whether it has been raining. If it's been binning it down for the whole of August then the high crags will seep for longer, if it's been dry then any fresh rain will dry out much more quickly.

Others have mentioned Tremadoc - great cragging, Gogarth - absolutely not to be missed but only if you're OK on HVS+, Ormes Lime - meh but that's just me. I'd add the slate which can dry almost instantly and again not to be missed as a unique North Walian experience. Even in the Llanberis Pass the Grochan, Cromlech and nose of Dinas Mot can dry fairly quickly, In Ogwen the paler the crag the quicker it dries! And then there's esoterica like the Rhinog gritstone......

If it's dry and warm then fill your boots on the higher crags.

I'd risk vilification saying the same thing Rog, but when my friend Kim from Utah came over for 3 days climbing a few years ago and had done Dream of White Horses and Cenotaph Corner with a guide, I picked him up and took him to Stanage. He was in awe of the rock, the like of which he said that even with a 50 year climbing career, he'd never imagined - "It's like poured concrete" (!) he said, and declared it was the most enjoyable day of the three. Mind you it was a lovely sunny day and he'd had dreary weather in Wales. 

Incidentally, starting with a V Diff we worked our way up through half a dozen climbs and he led an E1 - in 2 minutes with 2 runners - gives the lie to the adage you need a lengthy apprenticeship to climb well on grit. 

The converse is similarly unreliable. For the first couple of years of my long and undistinguished climbing career I climbed almost entirely on grit. Didn’t mean to say I would ever get to be any good on grit.

I reckon September is as good as any part of the year. It goes without saying that the weather can be dodgy but with a car you can almost always climb in North Wales. Angelsey ( Gogarth and Rhoscolyn mainly) and the Lleyn ( good bouldering and epic crumble) have island climates. Many crags are quick drying ( Slate ) and actually there are parts of Tremadog which stay dry even in heavy rain, along with Hylldrem. The Ormes are also great and by the seaside, and have sections which are almost always climbable, like Pigeon Caves for roof bouldering for example. Hopefully you'll get good weather for the Llanberis Pass and Cloggy though.

Ok Thanks for the update.  My own brief residence in Caernarfon wasn't great. Bangor's got it's issues too I suppose but the people seem  - to me - more diverse and without that 'Cofi' thing.

These details are probably not relevant to the OP if they are coming from the USA and so will be welcomed with open arms from Chirk  to Holyhead