North Wales Slate

The slate quarries near Llanberis have become one of the most popular climbing spots in North Wales for climbers looking for sport routes, or immaculate slab climbing. The development started with the slate boom of the 1980s when the area became famous for immaculate slabs of purple slate with bold run-out routes. Most of these routes are still there in their original style and many have become classics and much sought-after trad ticks. More recently the area has been developed with a multitude of super sport routes from short single pitches to huge multi-pitch extravaganzas. This guide is a celebration of all of those styles of slate climbing. It is a comprehensive guidebook covering all the routes which is a little unusual for a Rockfax, although we have produced such books before.

Slates from quarries in Wales once went to roof the world. By the late nineteenth century as many as a third of all the roofing slates produced worldwide came from Wales, competing with quarries in France and the United States. This book traces the industry from its origins in the Roman period, its slow medieval development and then its massive expansion in the nineteenth century – as well as through its long drawn-out decline in the twentieth.

'North Wales Climbs' covers the best climbing from this huge and varied area. It covers all the major mountain crags from Llanberis Pass, to Cloggy; and from Ogwen to the Carneddau.