The Idwal slabs have long been known as the downfall of many a promising mountaineering instructor, but why should this be? Surely the iconic Idwal Slabs are the perfect place to take beginners climbing, surely, these easily accessible routes, so handy from the road, are an instructor’s dream. You must have heard of the days when the Ogwen Cottage team would wander up them with fours school kid in tow. How hard can be? Yet time after time we get it wrong.

To be fair, as long as you keep moving, it’s rarely the climbing that’s the problem, it’s the descent. Yet, what many don’t realise is, is that there is more than one way to descend from the Slabs. In one, long turbo-charged, day we’ll explore as many of them as we can.

We’ll meet at 8.00 am and carry on as long as we can, aiming to get…