Hope

The most 'classic' of the classics at Idwal and the second most popular route in Wales according to UKC Logbooks. Of course 'classic' means polished and, in this case, the polish makes the route a good bit harder in the wet.

Pitches:

1) 45m. A quartzy slab leads to vegetated ledges and an A-shaped niche in the overlap. Pull through this. More slab work then leads to a stance.
2) 25m. The glossy twin-cracks allow for skiddy progress (with good runners) to a flake. Step left onto the slab and climb the featured rock to belay in the corner.
3) 20m. More neat climbing on nice crinkly holds leads to a stance in the groove.
4) 28m. Climb the groove and sidestep the bulge leftwards, to reach ledgy ground.
5) 42m. Continue up the groove until things rear up and climb the polished step to ledges and escape left to a belay ledge.
(Description courtesy of Rockfax's climbing guide to the area)

From the ledge at the end of pitch 5, you have two options:

1) Continue climbing up another route on continuation wall
2) trend left on easier ground (roping up is advised) for another couple of hundred feet to a saddle; from here, make a 30m (90 feet) abseil down into a gully which you can then scramble down before eventually ending up back at the base of the slabs.

The route starts right-of-centre on the slab, heading up a particularly quartzy part of the slab. The central cracks on this part of the slab may be vegetated in places - please treat these plants with care as they may be rare upland species!

Bring a trad rack; particularly medium-large wires and a few Camalots around 0.75-3. Note that there is no fixed gear on-route and none should be left behind.