North Wales Tropicana!

3.55 alarm call this morning! Too early!! But at least we had somewhere good to go! Up Cader Idris in mid-wales with some students. 

A beautiful but crazy hot morning! Was 18 degrees at 4am and kept rising as the sun came up.

It's always brilliant to be up in the mountains so early in the morning. All was peaceful and there was no one around. Very little wind either: t-shirts from the outset!

 

Made the summit in good time despite the super sweaty ascent conditions.

We could see right out to the Lleyn, across to Barmouth Sands and right down to Pembrokeshire! Stunning!

Later on, after climbing Tryfan, I dropped the team at Pen y Pass where they set off up Snowdon. The temperature was now 29degress!

Having dropped the team off, I had a couple of hours free, so went and had a swim in the lake at Llanberis! My first dip of the year and it was total bliss! Clare came and joined me and we met some other friends swimming out in the middle of the Lake! Great stuff!

Last Tango in Paris E1 (5c)

A quick hit in the Llanberis Slate Quarries this morning! Perfect conditions for teetering up some slabby slate, so we went over to Vivian Quarry. The temperature was a balmy eighteen degrees, with some high level clouds to keep us warm enough for t-shirts, but cool enough for hands to not be sweaty! We'd not climbed 'Last Tango in Paris' in ages, so it was great to be back on it and feeling good. I defiantely recommend it! Plenty of positive holds, good gear (take plenty of small wires) and some decent exposure! And if that's not enough, there's a cracking view of the valley from the top! 

After some chips in Beris, we were back at The Cottage, for a kit sort out. So having had one night at home, we both headed off out, in different directions on our next adventures! 

Always on the move....

A Royal Connection

Was over in Ravenglass today - on the west coast of Cumbria. After a dismally damp, grim start to the day, things perked up with a surprise encounter with this lovely lady! (or a very good cardboard cut out at least). 

Eskdale was a bleak place to be camped, so I soon headed to the coast...

Where the rain stopped and the sun returned!

Wandering the Fells

A much finer day to wandering across the Lake District fells! I'm doing some work for the Duke of Edinburgh's Award; supervising some students on an unaccompanied Gold level expedition. After seeing them through the first check point, we found time to get a very quick route in at Wallowbarrow Crag again - bonus! This time we had our secret weapon with us:

In actual fact, a brisk but warm wind meant that there were no midge issues at all today, leaving us to enjoy a route called The Plumb VS (4c) - well recommended!

Later in the day, after visiting Eskdale, I hiked over from Boot to Burnmoor Tarn. 

There's an amazing little camp spot for those in the know, sheltered by little cliffs and surrounded by waterfalls. I found my teams camped up and happily cooking dinner in their little 'lost world' environment. The Trangias were certainly feeling the strain of three days of use in the hands of the students!

I got a bit wet on the walk out, but between the showers there were some nice bright clearings to show off the views..

Wallowbarrow Crag:

- The Plumb VS (4c)

Wallowbarrow Crag - aka Kingdom of the Midge

Wallowbarrow Crag is home to some fine rock routes in the V.Diff to VS range. This evening, it was also home to billions and billions of Lakeland Midges! Swarming everywhere! Up your nose, in your ears, on your eyes - we needed full coverage!

It was prime conditions for the pesky little critters. Warm, damp but drying and with no wind.. 

Up at the crag, we climbed as fast as we could up the damp rock, to avoid the plagues! It was bearable while climbing, but hanging around on a belay was murder! Hoods up, socks tucked in and any other tactics to keep them away!! 

The climbing was great though! And the weather brightened up into a glorious evening, coaxing us back to do a second route on the now sun kissed rock. Down at camp, there was no where to hide except in our tents, where we stayed well zipped in!

Wallowbarrow Crag

- Thomas - Severe (4a)

- Western Wall - MVS (4b)

Lake District Travels

I've spent the last couple of days in the Lake District around Lake Windemere and Coniston. The traffic has mostly been... local...

Between jobs, we called into the Swan Hotel for some morning coffee, as tradition now dictates. A bit of drizzle sent us inside, but as a consolation bonus, we found a comfy sofa!

The weather has been less than ideal, and the views from the hills, far from panoramic. The Old Man of Coniston is up there somewhere...

Fools Gold E1(5c)

After the drive back from Fort Martin, we arrived back at The Cottage with the evening sun blazing across the garden. We had a coffee outside, then went straight out to Bus Stop Quarry to get a climb in and enjoy the last of the light. For speed (as I still had to pack for tomorrow mornings expedition), we chose the route 'Fools Gold' E1 (5c). The climbing is totally classic, plenty of gear and enough hand holds, but it's got some super polished footholds!

The real bonus though, was the upside down rainbow that appeared above the route! I think it's called a CZA (a circumzeneal arc), which is a phenomena that some times appears in the Arctic where light is reflected on high altitude ice crystals! 

It was only there for a few minutes, so we were really lucky to witness it! 

Then it was onwards to the top, where I topped out back in the sunshine. Clare joined me soon afterwards and before descending, we sat and soaked the beauty of our surroundings up for a bit. 

Pretty soon we were back home, tucking into a late supper and packing ready for my next trip - this time to the Lake District... Felt great to have packed so much into a single day!

Business and Pleasure at Fort Martin

Managed to get a quick visit in to Fort Martin today as Clare was working nearby, so I nabbed a free lift! Was great to see the guys, even if I was put to work in the garden!

We were going to pop out to a cafe for elevenses, but decided that actually, we'd enjoy a morning coffee and hot choc out on the terrace. The sun came out and our 'quick break' turned into a very pleasant extended natter! The garden is in full bloom and looks great. 

Cader Idris (893m)

It might be mid-summers day but, but I still needed a hat and gloves on the mountain today! We enjoyed a fast ascent, getting to the summit (via the Pony Path) in one hour and thirty-seven minutes. The cloud stayed off the tops and we had good views.

But then the mists rolled in and the temperature plummeted - robbing us of the summit panorama. We ate lunch on top before taking on the scree descent. After such a fast ascent, the speed of descent slowed and slowed as the weary group got more and more tired! All finished in good spirits though and dry as well!

Anglesey Coasteering

Had a great evening traversing the cliffs near South Stack and then throwing ourselves in the sea with our visitors from NZ. It's still cold in the sea, but great to repay some hospitality from our recent travels. Afterwards, we warmed up with hot showers and a bit of a PGCE reunion at The Cottage. I'm sore from all the laughter more than the coasteering.

Hiking in the Carneddau

It was a windy night, but was nice to wake up and enjoy a brew from the comfort of my sleeping bag. The day was mostly spent shadowing a group of students as they journeyed along the northern flanks of the Carneddau mountains. The weather stayed dry and as I was often accompanied by wild ponies, of which there are plenty of 'little ones' up there at the moment.

Gryn (542m) was giving particularly panoramic views as the evening cleared up.

By the time I met the first group at their wild camp, the skies were clear and we were treated, once again, to perfect camp conditions.

After locating my final group, the sun was getting low in the sky...

After checking they were all ok, I set off solo, bathed in the pinky light of the sun set as I hiked away. 

It had been a long day, having risen at 06:30 and I started to feel a little tired as the sun hit the horizon at 21:50. I really was 'walking off into the sunset and the sky finished the day by bursting into an amazing orange colour.

Sunset Camp Spot.

Sometimes you don't have to go far to see some spectacular stuff - you can just be in the right place at the right time. I'm camping on the north coast of Wales tonight - only twenty minutes from The Cottage. Got a real show from the tent door as the sun went down! 

Ampitheatre Buttress (V.Diff)

Decided to stretch the legs today with a trip over to Craig yr Ysfa in the Carneddau. We wanted to move fast and not carry too much weight, so strimmed down our kit down to the bare essentials. The Glyders were stuck in the grip of clouds, but over east, the mountains were cloud free and full of sunshine! 

It's a decent walk-in that took an hour and a half (including a good lunch break on the col), but at least my legs felt good after a week in the Alps!

The route is described as a 'classic mountaineering expedition'. The first part of the buttress involves a bit of V.Diff grade climbing... 

Then half way up, turns into great scrambling along an 'alpine-esque' ridge.

Along the way are a couple of large gendarmes, which you can skirt round, but we opted for the direct line 'up and over'.

Then a final scramble brings you up onto the broad ridge that leads to Carnedd Llwellywn. Great stuff and a real buzz to be moving light and fast together.

On the summit rim, we did our good deed for the day by rescuing two climbers on Ampitheatre Wall, who'd abseiled in and got their ropes stuck! Over on the other side of the National Park, we could see that the mornings  cloud remained, with only Tryfan escaping its grasp! We'd defiantly chosen our route well!

Just over an hour later and we were back at The Cottage, sipping coffees in the late afternoon sun. What a great Tuesday.