Rainbow Slab

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References

[1] https://www.facebook.com/rockarchivist/photos/a.116371059819780/116373849819501

The long section to the first bolt at 22m was protected with three skyhooks and RURP.

Mark Lynden:

I watched JR leading this. At one point he got the sequence wrong and teetered backwards, but stayed on the rock because a small, sharp spike stuck into his finger and just held him on. [1]

References

[1] Llanberis Slate. United Kingdom: Ground Up, 2011.

[2] https://snowdoniamountainguides.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Slate_Historical_Section.pdf

It was really Silv’s [John Silvester’s] find - he had been there a lot recceing the Rainbow line. Myself, JR and Towsey were given the guided tour, but sworn to secrecy. The big surprise for everybody was the quality of the climbing on the Rainbow Slab. Oaky, the Dervish existed by then, but it was the Rainbow routes that really made people look again at the quarries. [1]

References

[1] Llanberis Slate. United Kingdom: Ground Up, 2011.

References

[1] https://www.facebook.com/rockarchivist/photos/a.116371059819780/116373946486158

References

[1] https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=117800109676875&set=a.117799293010290

References

[1] Mountain Issue 112, page 18 /library/11111/mountain-112

I was drinking whisky in the Padarn Lake Hotel with Gwion Hughes, who I was living with at the time, when suddenly I had a smart idea. ‘I have an excellent new climb to do. Why don’t we go climbing?’ The pair of us swayed and staggered up to the vast Rainbow Slab. The climb I had seen was a long hairline fracture splitting the left side of the slab. And I had the misguided notion to climb it on sight, without pre-inspection from a rope – and a little bit intoxicated. I threw a string of micro-wires, tiny brass-headed nuts, in the seam, without the least regard for my safety. The climbing was really quite difficult and became increasingly so. Nevertheless, I carried on with scant regard for my personal safety. I still remember attempting to pull on a depression into which you could place flat a fifty-pence piece: a strange, white pocket in a sea of blue-grey slate. I studied it for what seemed like an eternity and searched for my next hold. My shoe edges were set on mere ripples in the featureless slab. I began to slip and then accelerated down the slab, taking a twenty-five-metre fall. The rope burned through the lycra behind my knee. I came to a halt inches from the ground. [1]

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/CjvzOT-Shsf/

Paul Pritchard writing in Mountain magazine:

Johnny Dawes succeeded on Nick Harms's old project right of Poetry Pink. This slab has become harder since Nick broke what he thought was the crucial hold and so lost interest. Johnny made the route after six days and feels it may be French 8c, the second in Wales this year. This tip-ripping, groin­ wrenching horror is now called The Very Big And The Very Small (E9 7b). Which one are you Johnny? [1]

References

[1] Mountain Issue 135 (1990), page 15 /library/11120/mountain-135

References

[1] Slate Historical Section

[2] Mountain 138 (1991), page 18 /library/11319/mountain-138

References

[1] Mountain Issue 140 (1991), page 15

I tried it a bit last year when I wasn't climbing that well, and at that time it felt really hard - in fact I wasn't sure I could do it. This winter I've bouldered a lot, and that gave me the edge I needed. [1]

References

[1] Slate Historical Section

[2] https://www.instagram.com/p/CKyTV40jqJp/