News

Hi folks. I was working at Plas y Brenin again today on a Winter Walking Course (well not much in the way of winter!). I had a fantastic day with a great group who were really keen to learn some navigation skills and I think we all enjoyed the day as the weather forecast was wrong up until the last hour or so on the hill when it started to rain on us. We did come across some large patches of snow but they were very wet and didn't pose much of a problem as we could avoid all of them. We were dropped off at Gwern Gof Uchaf along the Ogwen and navigated our way up Cwm Tryfan and up on to the ridge we then followed the long ridge back to Plas y Brenin in plenty of time for tea and cakes. The photo is of the team on the summit of Foel Goch with the flanks of Glyder Fach in the background.

Worked for Plas y Brenin this weekend on a SPA Training course. The course had a full compliment of 8 candidates with various experience and backgrounds which made for a great course. I worked alongside Andy Teasdale who was the director of the course. The weather was a bit on the chilly side but was mostly dry apart for the odd shower. The above photo is of the team including Andy T (light grey top and white helmet) Link to other photos.

Now that the winter conditions have disappeared (for the time being, I hope) we decided to make a trip to Tremadog for some rock climbing. As the weather were very damp/wet the only route likely to be dry was Striptease (HVS 5a) which proved to be exciting and a bit damp in places. The photo is of Mark on the first pitch just above the first bulge.

Had a quick solo trip up Central Trinity (grade II) this morning. Conditions were fantastic with near perfect neve on the top half of the route. I was a bit disappointed that some of the other classic routes looked really thin and some were devoid of snow in sections - this was probably due to the thaw over the last couple of days. Lets hope it stays cold for the weekend and next week. The photo is of a party nearing the top of Central Trinity this morning.

Had a quick trip into Cwm Idwal this morning with Andy to Climb Introductory Gully which separates the Idwal Slabs from Homicide Wall and goes at about grade II. The conditions were not as good as I was expecting as it was only just freezing and the ice that was on the route was a bit sugary and hollow in places. It did give some good sport but the main bonus was that we had the route to ourselves with only one party below us. We had intended to traverse around to Afon Ifan (Idwal Stream) but I counted 24 people on it so we decided on a short day and a brew. All the popular routes were being climbed but the main news was that the Devils Appendix had an ascent today from some Plas y Brenin staff which was a fantastic effort given that it looked a bit thin in the middle section. I think if we have a bit of a thaw and then a cold snap then the conditions will get really good. The top photo is a long shot of Clogwyn y Geifr (Devils Kitchen) and the bottom photo is of Andy on the first pitc...

Well, the Mountain Leader Training course came to an end with a lot of snow and quite extreme conditions. The last couple of days were challenging due to the snow but we managed to do what we needed and only the last day was effected by the weather. The heavy snow resulted in us having to walk down to Lion Rock from Blue Peris (a distance of about 2 miles) to do some ML ropework but by midday we had to except defeat and retreat back to the centre due to strong winds and snow. All in all I think it was a successful course despite the weather and everyone seemed to go home happy. Conditions are looking good for some more good winter climbing conditions, a bit of a thaw would be great in order to consolidate the new snow and generate some ice. Watch this space. Hwyl am y tro (bye for now)