My First Ascent of Cneifion Arete (Grade 3 Scramble)

Right, I'm not heading to that beast. That is Knife and Arete. I think that's how you pronounce it. It's a grade three. I can see two people at the top. They're roped. I don't have ropes. I'm gonna free solo up Knife and Arete. Hope for the best. Never done it before. Don't know anything about it. I've seen clips online and that's it. But from this angle it looks scary Looks like it's leaning right over for a start. Let's get closer and have a look. Right, I'm stood at the base of Knife and Arete. To be honest the guidebook's quite vague. Could do with a picture of this part and just like a yellow line going up where you're going to start because it's not obvious and I don't want to pick the wrong route. On the plus side though, there's got two lads coming. I think they're about to climb it so I'm going to ask them. Quite good timing in that sense. I'm going to finish my apple. The wind's picking up as well. These two lads have just told me the way to get up there so that's a good start. So I was going to wander off up there somewhere. Once this is out the way, I mean I'm good with heights and stuff. I wouldn't take my girlfriend up for sure. No. Straight away. It's more to the right. Right, I'm going to put this under my helmet for this. Right, that's better. This is some smooth rock. A trick to grade three like this is to just concentrate on where you're hands and feet and not give much thought to what's behind you. Do you say this way is the go off? Right. I can see bits of the line. Oh yeah. Oh, it's better. I feel a bit better now. That is the awkward start the guidebook described. Is that the chimney? It must be. Yeah, surely. Scratches all over the rock, that's a good sign. ------- hell, right. This is a bit awkward. ------- hell, I don't want to get wedged in there. Right, this is a tight fit. Oh, maybe there's an elegant way to get up this chimney, but I certainly did not find that route just then. Come on. This is what you signed up for, Dave. Cheers, guys. Thanks for your help. That warm globe adrenaline. Post-adrenaline. All right, this is pretty straightforward at the moment. Nice and sharp ground. Weather conditions are still perfect. Bit of a fresh breeze. That's all. Oh, look at that. Those dents. It's like when you push your finger into Play-Doh or something. There was a lot of pressure on my shins there. Shouldn't need to use your knees. Just got to remember to stop sometimes and look around. Ferris Bueller. Really, you do. Concentrate so much on the next move up, you get to look back and think, blimey, look at that. I'm on knife and a rat, everybody. And it looks tremendous. Plenty of jaggedness to go. Sorry about the camera being all over the place. Usually, I just put it back on my head now, but I can't when I've got a helmet on. I need two cameras, basically. This is nice. This little ridge, this little groove. I am perched. In an emergency, I might actually need to drop this camera and use my hand fully. Oh, yeah. Let's have a look back at that. That thing there. That was a barrel of laughs. Camera's back on the head under the helmet, because I'd like to be able to use both my hands fully for this, please. Thank you. It's amazing how much easier things are when I can actually use my right hand. Up to there. Oh, yeah. That's it. Follow the crampon scratches. Look at that. It's growing out the thinnest crack in the rock. Is that it? Am I coming out the top already? I thought there was going to be a bit at the end that was hard. Done. Grade three. Awesome, right. That's my second grade three under my belt. I feel like doing a third one. I feel like doing Dolman Ridge, which, as it happens, is just away under. Cool. Okay. Get myself sorted out. Head to the next one.