by Mick Ryan Since the controversy over the Gogarth guidebook began last year a small group of Gogarth activists and devotees set up a Wiki style online guidebook gogarth.wetpaint.com To quote: “For those of you who are unaware of what a wiki is, then in a nutshell it is a web community driven and authored information source. In the case of the Gogarth wiki it is the climbing community we are aimed at and those that have a love for one of the most splendid sea cliffs in the world. This site is addressing an issue that has been at the forefront of many Gogarth devotees for some time, that of an up to date guidebook. The process is driven by volunteers who have ´real lives´ as well as having bills to pay, mortages to meet, work pressures and of course even some climbing to do for themselves. This wiki guide will never replace the guidebook, ownership of such treasured guides is a key part of the climbing lifestyle. What this website will do is bridge the information gap. From this evolved a “Gogarth mail list” which was formed to keep people up to date on Gogarth developments concerning the Wiki and the new Ground Up guidebook (although that isn´t a done deal yet as the Climber´s Club are still debating about whether they will produce a Gogarth guidebook – it is possible that there may be two Gogarth guidebooks). This “Gogarth mail list” includes such Gogarth climbers as Pat Littlejohn, George Smith, John Redhead, Noel Craine, Nick Dixon, Stevie Haston, Jerry Moffatt, Henry Barber, Dave Barton, Mick Johnstone, Simon Yates, Leo Houlding, Johnny Dawes and on and on and on…… Adam Wainwright has been one of the prime movers in all this activity and we received permission off Adam to publish this latest Gogarth announcement. Gogarth – The Glorious First Festival In Llanberis August 1sthas traditionally been a day of celebration.Throughout the 80´s and 90´s the day the bird ban lifts from our bestsea cliffs has always marked a procession across Anglesey by climbersyoung and old to do battle with South Stack, armed with little more thana rack of RP´s.Ask many of the protagonists of this period, a group ofindividuals that usually fail to remember where they were yesterday,what they were up to on any particular Glorious August First, and most will know thatthey were at Gogarth. In keeping with the spirit of camaraderie that this list has seemed togenerate we are suggesting that this year, on the first weekend after 1stAugust (the 4th and 5th), as the first happens to fall on a Wednesday andwill be classed as a local day for local people, then perhaps we wouldlike to gather ourselves into a loose group of disorganised Gogarthcampaigners and make the most of this new phase in Gogarth´s life. Bynow the Wki has shown the way to many of the best secrets of thesecliffs which for too long have been the reserve of a select few, mostofthe best new routes have been finished off by George so there isnothingleft to hide and it is high time that some of these routes were airedtothe world at large. By then Ted Sylvester and Sue (DMM) will own The Snowdon Inn in Cwm y Glo (justoutside Llanberis), complete with campsite, food, beer etc. which couldserveas a base camp. The first few DWS festivals held were verysuccessful on an ad hock basis like this before they were hijacked byRed Bull and their extreme ´donuts on a jet ski team´ so let´s followsuit and place Gogarth back where it belongs as a premier trad climbingvenue, complete with climbers, beers and some quality craic. Here´s to Gogarth Adam Wainwright
