News

Had a fantastic time on the Trinity Face on Snowdon last Thursday. The condition of the snow wasn't perfect but good enough. Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda i bawb. Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year to you all. Hwyl

What a day! Rain, sleet and then snow to be rewarded with fantastic conditions and views to die for - we even had a broken specter thrown in as well. Conditions were wintry (as you can see from the photo of Nia) but didn't merit the use of crampons at any stage although we did need an ice axe for descending the zig zags. Even though it was cold it wasn't freezing that hard but the wind chill was high when the wind picked up on the summit of Carnedd Ugain. All in all a rewarding day.

A cold and windy day at Castle Inn Quarry with Mark. This was the last route of the day Cakewalk Direct E3 6a (F6c).

Hafod Eryri (the Snowdon summit cafe) is almost finished and looks very clean and sterile. I hope the landscaping that is yet to be completed is in keeping with the surrounding landscape - unlike the steps to the summit. We'll see! Hwyl

Ran a CWA Training course for 6 teachers from a school down in London. I split the course between their climbing wall at the school and Craggy Island (Guildford). Most of the course was spent at Craggy Island looking at rope skills, group supervision, equipment, leading, bouldering and coaching skills. The remainder of the course was at Hampton School for the Abeiling Module. Everyone seemed to get something positive out of the course. Hwyl tan y tro nesaf. Berwyn

Had a great day at Tremadog with a fantastic summer like day and very few people around. Climbed Poor Man's Peuterey (S) on Pant Ifan and Xmas Curry (S) on Bwlch y Moch with Nia. Until the next time. Hwyl.

Ran a Mountain Leader (Summer) Training Course last week out of Blue Peris Mountain Centre for 6 people. The weather was perfect for the course which was mostly wet with heavy rain for the first three days. The advantage of the poor weather was that we could teach mountain skills in real conditions and we could also test our wet weather gear to the extreme. My Haglofs gear did me proud thankfully. The week ended with some good weather for the 2 day expedition. A successful course, I think, and everyone went away happy. As you can see from the photo we had some great views of the mountains of Snowdonia (not!!). Hwyl am y tro. Berwyn

Had a lovely day at Tremadog with Dei and Dom. We climbed Christmas Curry (Severe) on Bwlch y Moch and Poor Man's Peuterey (Severe) on Pant Ifan . The weather was fantastic and it wasn't too busy either as I guess as lot of climbers had headed up into the mountains to take advantage of the conditions. Hwyl am y tro (Bye for now) Berwyn

5km - 25.53 minutes!

Had a fantastic day on the Idwal Slabs today with David and Dominic. We were very lucky with the weather with frequent showers but, thankfully, only very light ones and not enough to get us wet. The route stayed dry as well and we had a very pleasant ascent of Tennis Shoe. Until the next time, hwyl Berwyn

Had another fantastic weekend working on an AMI trainee workshop. Even though the weather forecast was supposed to be wet we managed to avoid all but the lightest and briefest of showers. The first day was short roping up in Cwm Idwal and we covered teaching and improvised rescue on the second day. It was surprisingly quiet at both venues due to, I think, the poor forecast and a lot of people just didn't bother making the journey into Snowdonia. Good for us though!

I had a couple of interesting days last week advising and supplying safety cover for a film crew. The first day was indoors at the Beacon but the second day was a bit more difficult due to the weather. Apart from dodging showers and thunder and lightning everything went without too much of a hitch and we all managed to stay dry. Hwyl am y tro

Had a fine weekend working on a AMI workshop for trainee members. It was an incredibly busy weekend in Snowdonia so we decided to go to Ogwen and hang around on ropes on the first day to cover some improvised rescue techniques on the Idwal Slabs. The second day was back to the Slabs to explore the black art of short roping with an ascent of the Ordinary Route and the Cneifion Arete. The weather was fantastic and I think everyone went home happy. Hwyl Berwyn

A fantastic dry, warm( ish ), quiet day at Bwlch y Moch ( Tremadog ). Did Grotto (VS 4c,4c) and The Fang ( HVS 5a,5a) with an airy abseil down into Striptease gully at the end. Both myself and Andy drove away happy and content. Above is a photo of Andy on the first stance of The Fang Hwyl

Had a quick trip up Moel Siabod to be rewarded with fantastic views of the Glyderau and Tryfan . Freezing level was about 400m, ground was solid, no snow just showers of Graupel . Conditions were good under foot with care.

Spent the last couple of days in the northern half of the Carneddau with a group of D of E staff. Seems that we had the better weather (compared to the rest of Snowdonia) but still had a very wet and extremely windy couple of days. We mostly worked on navigation and brushed up on group skills, rope work as well as night navigation. Had a very pleasant time at Dulyn bothy but was very disappointed to find that previous visitors had left it in a sorry state so we did what we could to tidy up and carry out what rubbish we could. The wind had damaged a part of the roof and was letting in water (will let the MBA know asap). I just wish people would respect these very special places. All in all, a very pleasant experience. Above is a photo of the team in the summit cairn of Drum. Hwyl am y tro. Berwyn

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all and lets hope for some nice weather. Nadolig Llawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda i chi gyd. Hwyl Berwyn