UKH

Just heard that Steep Stone Climbing now have up-to-date PDF files available for a number of crags in the Rhinogydd, with more crag files in the pipeline apparently. The files are downloadable for free from Steep Stone Climbing's website. 

I guess that quiet cragging days in the Rhinogydd for "those in the know" may slowly be coming to an end

I can't see cragging in the rhinogydd being anything other than quiet. In addition publishing the definitive lists of crags and routes online is the only sensible way for them to be distributed and I'm glad to finally see it starting to happen.

Some little gems there - "little" being more obvious than "gems". 

Someone told me theres a welsh grit guidebook coming out at some point. Do you know if thats just a rumour? Maybe they meant these pdfs?

Nice work, thanks to Dave, Doug and all.  will have to come and play.

We did wilderness grit the other day and there was actually chalk on it?! Outrageous 

Great work from all concerned. But I really don't recommend going there at all. It's a horrible, hateful area. I'd stay well away.  

I don't disagree with you that the next Rhinogydd guidebook will most likely be online only, possibly with a complementary book-based selective if funding/demand allows. It is a model already used by some climbing guidebook publishers (eg. the Fell & Rock.)

At the moment though, what's been done (and what's in preparation), comprising a limited series of interim mini-guidebooks, is entirely dependent on good will and, indeed, a great deal of altruism. There is a considerable cost involved in production - both financial and time - which is not being met from anywhere.

PDFs are far from an ideal solution I realise, but they are still convenient as they can be used on devices without any need for printed paper copies. 

While I realise that distribution can be done in a number of other ways (on social media platforms for instance), using a more 'inclusive' website for download/distribution purposes, has considerable cost implications in terms of web hosting fees etc. Despite having been set up as a not-for-profit entity, Steep Stone cannot, in purely financial terms, justify producing a fully definitive online Rhinogydd guidebook for free. 

Unfortunately, your hope that this is ''starting to happen'' may not be realised in the way that you'd like. Sadly, we don't live in an ideal world.

Hopefully though, while work continues on the parent guidebook, these accurate, well-researched and up-to-date interim mini-guides will be found to be of value and may encourage a few more climbers to visit the Rhinogydd and experience what it has to offer for themselves. Some of the crags included in the mini-series have deliberately been chosen because they have 10-15 min approach times, in order to dispel the myth that climbing in the Rhinogydd involves wallowing in heather for hours on end before even seeing a crag. In fact, its worth noting that only a tiny number of Rhinogydd crags have an approach time in excess of 60 mins.

Hope this is of help.

Dave

I don't understand the need for such a disparaging comment. I can guarantee you that routes such as Wilderness Grit (E3 6a) feel far from 'little' when you're on them.

The Rhinogydd, despite offering multi-pitch gritstone climbing on Rhinog Fach, Craig Bodlyn and Carreg y Saeth for instance, has never pretended to be anything else other than a mainly single pitch outcrop climbing or bouldering area.

While work on the new guide steadily progresses, Steep Stone is producing a short series of definitive interim guidebooks with the aim of encouraging climbers to take a serious look at what the Rhinogydd has to offer. Hopefully, these well-researched, free-to-download PDF interim mini-guides will provide easy to follow access notes, together with accurate route descriptions, photo-topos and action shots.

Indeed.

Wilderness grit and rock steady are well worth the walk to

Your work is much appreciated! Lots of us are eagerly awaiting the new guide and will be throwing money in your direction as soon as it comes out. Thanks.

I had written a slightly longer response but charged it before I posted it.

A definitive list of routes and locations that can be added to barely needs any space at all. Anyone who is that interested can use that to have an adventure finding the routes. Anyone else can go to the actually good bits (because some of the climbing is really good) using a select guide.

Any other approach is madness, it's a large and complicated area to navigate with lots of esoteric climbing.