2025 has been yet another busy year for the North Wales bouldering scene, with numerous impressive first ascents and many new crag developments. Here’s a roundup of the most significant events from this hectic year.

Before leaving North Wales (and returning to his County roots), Tim Blake completed some outstanding FAs. Pride of place goes to the stunning Orlok (8B+) in Chwarel Moel y Gest. This was a well-known project, and one which had been flagged up to a few potential suitors. Taking advantage of the inspection bolt (originally placed by Pete Robins) Tim got stuck in, finding the fingery, tense style suited him well.

Tim also gave Blaenau its hardest boulder problem, when he succeeded on Declarative Memory (8B+), at Tan y Grisiau. This reclimbed the sds of Hippocampus (an old 8A+ of Adam Hocking’s) after a hold broke and exited more logically by Way of the Hippo, an 8A stand line added by Osian Parry in 2023.

One of the other big stories of the year was Mark Katz’s ascent of The River Runs Dry (8B), Pantymwyn. This is, of course, the much discussed central project which strikes an independent line up the centre of the crag. Way back in 2007, Denbigh local, Sam Cattell got very close to doing it, and it had gained legendary status as the years rolled by. A brilliant effort from Mark, who turned 47 this year.

The rest of this write up could almost be exclusively about Osian Parry, an extremely prolific and creative young climber from Dyffryn Nantlle. Osian has blazed a trail through the NWB scene, seeking out and climbing an ever-increasing roster of impressive FAs.

In Cwm Dulyn he has dominated proceedings, racking up a series of hard lines. However the toughest of the new lines, Chronic (8B), a sds to his own line, Reu, fell to Elliot Verry. The further additions of Y Shimi (8A), Golau Newydd (7C+), Warrior Stance (8A), Lleu (crouch) (8A), Cimwch Mewn Cwmwl (hard 8A) and Esgair Llyn (8A) made by Osian mark Cwm Dulyn as one of the most hardcore bouldering crags in the mountains.
Osian was also active in Dyffryn Ogwen, climbing the savage-looking Satta (8A+) close to Capel Curig, and the wild highball Y Cawr (8A!!) at the head of Nant Ffrancon.
While over on Llech Ddu he climbed The King Consort (7C+), and still found time to put up a very serious and hard trad route in the slate quarry at Dorothea.

A few other notable additions include Truancy Low (8A) and Baby Buddha Low (8A) by David Fidler and Jack Palmieri. Over in Dyffryn Peris Caff continued to seek out unclimbed lines, often in little visited parts of the valley, and often highball. His best bouldering effort was Y Sgwp Ddu, an immaculate 7C in Cwm Glas Bach.

One of the best new crag finds came when yours truly went for an exploratory dog walk on the hillside just above the reservoir in front of the Pen y Gwryd hotel. The boulders are completely obvious from the free (Conwy side) lay-by, but for some reason no-one had bothered to walk over to them. The rock in this area is fantastic quality dolerite and gave myself, George Smith and Phil Targett some truly excellent problems up to 7A, including the brilliant Hanner Dyn, Hanner Bisgedi (7A), which tackles the left arête of the main block. Later on Pete Robins added some mid 7s, then Eadan Cunningham and Luke Fletcher picked off a couple of 7Cs. (There will be a topo for this coming soon. I have written up a script.)

And now, turning to matters out on the coast, there is much to highlight. Work on the forthcoming Coastal Crags guide prompted a wave of exploration, and the rewards were rich, the north coast of Pen Llŷn proving to be a particularly bountiful area. Although much of the coastline doesn’t work for bouldering, there seemed to be regular discoveries all the way down to Porthor and beyond. The leg work was done predominantly by the old school team of me, George Smith, Martin Crook and Phil Targett. On one depressingly, wet exploration day we had all but given up hope when I felt the urge to have just one more look around the corner, only to come across the brilliant Porth Widlin arch only 60m from where we had been sat moping. This gave twenty odd problems, with my good self nabbing some really classic low 7s (Trydydd Llygad and Y Tri Brawd) and Osian Parry sweeping in to take the two hardest ones, with Y Bwa (7C+) and Mari-Morgan (7C+).

Other Pen Llŷn north coast finds included the excellent Traeth Penllech arch (many 3d roof climbing links up to 7A+), Porth Towyn, the Dinas Bach and Fawr area, and the radical Ogof Aber Geirch, which sits just below the south side of Nefyn golf course. Here there are numerous steep lines, but the show stopper is the central jutting prow, which Phil Targett climbed as Keelhauler (7A). Elliot Verry then added a low start at 7C. Elliot also climbed the big, impressive arête on the south side of the estuary, Tilikum rates 7C! This is a truly great addition, and one which pairs well with Gwilym Tossell’s similarly impressive north coast arête, Annibyniaeth (7B+!) near Porth Ychain (first climbed in October 2024).

A big discovery came at Porth Meudwy, which is the fishing bay just along from Aberdaron. After a tip off from Andy Godber, exploration on a low spring tide revealed a large cave on the sunny side of the bay, but then on the same day I found a previously unknown through cave on the dark side. Both have lots of potential for quality bouldering, although the 3-4 hour tidal window is only possible for around 8 or 9 days per month when the spring tides come. Several 7Bs and 7B+s have already completed by Pete Robins, David Fidler, Gwilym Tossell and Osian Parry, but development is ongoing and more can be expected in 2026.

Ynys Môn saw further exploration in the Porth Swtan area. There are a lot of crags here, but the best so far is a lovely spot first discovered by Pete Robins in the bay just north of the main beach at Porth Swtan. There are currently around 50 lines, mostly 6s and low 7s, but there is much potential for good quality, harder problems in the main cave, so expect to see more rock action here in the coming spring. The nearby Porth Crugmor, Porth Trwyn, Ogof Lowri and the bays and caves further north all provide interesting features with lines currently up to 7B and much potential for future development.

Over at Rhoscolyn, in Porth Gwalch, James Taylor climbed one of the remaining projects in the boulder field below the popular trad crag. Squeeze Box rates 7C. There’s a twenty problem circuit here now, with a good spread of grades and one very striking project arête line to try.

And lastly, mention should be made of George Smith’s many roof crack FAs. George has been on a rampage this year, picking off some real classic lines. His best effort being perhaps the impressive Crowd Surfer at Porth Dinllaen (in an area first developed by David Fidler and friends), which is both hard and intimidating. The modest 6C+! grade really doesn’t do justice to this epic line.

NB. Loads of other stuff has been discovered in the hills and forests of Eryri, once the dust settles more details will follow.

NB. This news site has been dormant since the spring, not because there was an absence of stuff to report, but I was too busy trying to get the forthcoming NWB Coastal Crags guidebook over the finishing line. The guide is close to being completed, but the goal of getting it nailed before Christmas was unrealistic, especially with so much going on…however, I’m heading for the finishing line now!

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