Folklore, Filiast and Fondue

Red sky in the morning; shepherds warning! The sky was on fire at sunrise today! A beautiful sight to enjoy while breakfasting, but a definite warning that bad weather was on its way. And sure enough, the 'signs in the sky' made an accurate prediction.

After yesterdays beautiful weather and the colourful sunrise, the skies gradually hazed over with clouds and a bitingly cold wind began to pick up. By lunch time the windchill in the mountains was brutal. Any exposed flesh was painful as the wind gathered speed, bringing with it pellets of snow and ice. 

We managed to get to the summit of Carnedd y Filiast before things turned really nasty, but there were good views despite the haze.

And a bit of snow covering the rocks as we scrambled up to the summit.

After a welcome shelter in the summit cairn, the clouds (and the temperature) descended lower still. We attempted to continue over to the next peak, but the conditions soon convinced us to turn around. To continue onwards was dangerous. As we huddled together to discuss our options, one student was blown clean off his feet! We descended as quickly and carefully was we could.

One the bright side, we did have some fun smashing ice on the way down!

Then once back at base, I treated the group to a fondue to help warm up! The days mountain walk was part of a training program for a trekking expedition that I will be leading in Switzerland this summer. It was a nice way to warm back up as well as providing a focal point to discuss what we'd learnt during the time on the mountain. Good Swiss training too!

Foel Grach (967m)

We were out on the remote side of the Carneddau today in wonderful hill walking conditions. Due to it's relatively inaccessible location, the summit of Foel Grach recieves much less visitors than all the other 900m+ peaks in Snowdonia. It's well worth the extra effort involved and (if approached from the east, as we did) takes you across some really wild feeling wide open spaces. 

Approaching from the Conwy valley, we followed the ever steepening and ever narrowing single track road as high as we dared to a parking spot at the end of the tarmac. That drive in itself is quite an adventure! Especially in a brand new long wheel base mini bus! With a certain sense of relief, we left the vehicle behind and set out on foot along a service road to a mountain reservoir, which gently gained us height. 

From half way along the track, we began a diagonal climb across the hillside to gain the high plateau and gentle frozen slopes that led to the summit. The wintery summit of Carnedd Llewellyn looked particularly impressive.

There was loads of ice and frost up high, but not enough snow to need our crampons. We followed a foxes footprints across this snow field...

Up on top, the views were great and all the rocks were rimed with ice.

There is an emergency shelter on the summit, but for us today, it wasn't needed and we enjoyed our lunch, standing in the sun and enjoying the views.

The approaching dark clouds suggested that we shouldn't linger too long though. Having descended for about twenty minutes, we looked back to see the summit had vanished into the clouds!... Good timing...

Cold climbing at Castle Inn

My climbing group wanted to go outdoors today, rather than into the climbing wall! Good for them! I was happy to oblige, especially as it was dry and (just about) warm enough. A lot of other climbers had also had the same idea, when it came to choosing the most sheltered and sunny crag - we couldn't even get into the car park!

We dodged around the other climbers and did a couple of routes as well as looking at some basic climbing skills and knots. We were only out for the afternoon, which was just long enough - we were able to head back just before our fingers started to get too cold! Not a bad effort though, considering there is still snow and ice in the hills not that far away!

Hidden Gully, Cwm Cneifion

There was a hard frost at The Cottage this morning. The forecasts had been suggesting that there might be good conditions for seeing the sunrise in the mountains. I almost went for a dawn ascent, but in the end enjoyed both a lie-in and seeing the colours from the window!

Later in the afternoon I walked up into Cwm Cneifion to see what conditions were like for winter climbing. The ground has been well frozen, but there is hardly any snow. After a bit of deliberating about what route to take, I ended up scrambling up into the back of the cwm to see if there was any old snow in the Grade II route, Hidden Gully.

There were beautiful feathers of rime ice building up on all the rocks..

But the fresh snow from yesterday was all tiny ball bearings that could be swept away with my hand...

However, in the gully, I was rewarded for my efforts as there was some old snow that had hardened into neve and was perfect for climbing.

Without much snow, it was a straight forward, pleasant journey up through some interesting ice features.

The hard neve took very solid axe placements, making things feel very secure.

I made it out onto the top of the Glyders hoping to get a look over to see how much snow was on Snowdon, but although the views were good looking north back towards The Cottage, there was a thick bank of cloud coming in from the south west.

I didn't hang about and made for the top of the Gribin Ridge to descent before I got enveloped too! There was a nice view of Tryfan though, with Bristly Ridge heading up into the mist...

Well it was a long way to go, for not much snow, but I enjoyed myself and got a bit of exercise in the process. Travelling light and fast means no necessity to be burdened down with a big pack either. I had all the necessary safety and technical equipment with me and managed to fit it all (and two ice axes) into a 20l rucksack making it all the more enjoyable!

Anglesey Coastal Path - Aberfraw

Fine weather returns to North Wales! Joy! Perfect conditions for enjoying a bit of time hiking another section of the Anglesey Coastal Path. We started off at the estuary by Aberfraw. The tide was high, the sun was shining and all was well, except for the boat that was mored to the bottom of the river!

The beaches and coves were deserted as we made our way northwards.

Over in the mountains, there was a dusting of fresh snow from last night which made it look all the more picturesque.

During some shell hunting, we found some more funky goose barnacles, attached to an old buoy that had been washed up.

After walking around to Church Bay, we returned across the fields to the village, which made it a very pleasant circuit at just over 8km. Traffic on the road home was particularly bad this afternoon though...

The Wild Within

After a blustery afternoon up on the Great Orme, near Llandudno I finished the book I've been reading during recent travels. It's called 'The Wild Within' by Simon Yates. He's a pretty understated guy, who has done some pretty cool expeditions to some amazing places. It's kind of a diary/biography of the last ten years or so, during which he has been leading expeditions and climbing mountains all over the world. He's just been quietly getting on with expedition after expedition and amassed all sorts of experiences, mostly involving remote snowy mountains. Inspirational stuff. There is also some interesting debate in it about taking a sat phone or emergency cell phone on remote adventures. Is it really a proper adventure if you know you can just call for help?... Felt like being back in Philosophy Class at University...

Climbing at Tremadog

What to do on a wet and windy day in North Wales? Didn't fancy getting in the sea, or kayaking down a river, but did fancy going climbing. Tremadog is usually the best bet in such conditions, but only the super optimistic would have bothered today. Luckily for us, that's exactly what we are and today, the gamble really paid off! In fact, neither of us could believe that it wasn't actually raining! There was a thick, low mist and the ground was saturated, but the air (and even some of the rock) was dry! The threat of a sudden downpour lurked large.

We climbed two great routes, swinging leads and enjoying the adventure together. Clare got the 'sandbag' pitch on our first route though, which involved negotiating an intimidating roof, but thankfully, it wasn't as bad once you were 'in it'. 

As they say, you've got to be in it to win it and todays gamble paid off nicely. First UK trad routes of the year. Bonus.

Tremadog - Bwlch y Plum:

- Oberon - Severe (4a)*

- Boo Boo - Diff.

Adventures in Brussels

Out of the mountains and into the city! After a hectic few weeks and having returned from Norway, I was pretty much straight back to the airport and off again. This time though, I wasn't dragging around a huge duffel bag full of climbing kit - I was travelling light and off to explore the city of Brussels. And what a fantastic place it is! Loads to see, do, eat and drink - and on this particular trip an amazing luxury apartment to stay in.

We've see and done way too much to document it properly, so that I'll let a photos show you around the city rather than me try and recall the whirlwind of events. Needless to say, as Belgium is quite famous for its waffles, soon after having arrived, we made sure that we got stuck straight in...

The main square is beyond ornate, with gold leaf carvings, galleries and other such fine buildings leading off in most directions. There literally is loads to see, but all very conveniently, all within easy walking distance. One of the great things about this trip was the lack of driving. A cheap bus transfer from the airport gets you directly to the city and from then on, you can travel easy only by foot. 

My favourite place, was probably the Justice Building, which looked like a giant cathedral. I'm not sure if you're officially allowed to look around inside, but curiosity got the better of us, so we strolled in looking confident, didn't set any of the airport style security alarms off, then spent a while roaming the giant corridors of power!

The whole place is huge! Pillars, statues and long, dimly lit corridors, with ornate stone carvings everywhere. It felt kind of spooky as our footsteps echoed down the empty corridors. We even peered through a few open doors and could see court rooms in progress filled with gowned barristers!

The weather has been very kind to us - bright and beautiful. It was freezing cold, but the sun felt great. We've weaved our way around the city, taking in the sights. A friend had recommended this map to use as a guide, which was just our style. It's made by locals so has loads of quirky info and stuff that you wouldn't get from the tourist centre! If you're thinking of going, definitely pick up a copy (its free!). 

Some of the buildings are so intricately ornate. This arch way must have taken a lifetime to create!

One day we visited the European Parliament, which was much more interesting than you might imagine! And it's a pretty amazing building as well. We didn't bump into Dave Cameron, but on the way there a police motorbike escort sped around the corner and shut off a junction and roundabout so that the Latvian Prime Minister could drive by uninterrupted. We were waiting to cross the road at the time, so gave him a wave. Was delighted that he smiled and waved back like an old friend! Before going inside the building we had to hand in the following items, but it seemed like a pretty reasonable request.

To prevent fatigue and maintain stamina and endurance, we made sure that we were always well topped up with regular stops for waffles and frites. We also made sure that we visited the odd cafe and sampled some Belgium Beers in some very cool bars along the way.

The 'locals' map, really did us proud! We did our very best to tick off all their recommendations and found plenty more excitement along the way..

As North Wales isn't really know for its late night party scene, we made sure we found our way into a few good clubs once the sun had set. As luck would have it, there was a Salsa Club quite literally opposite our front door. Another highlight was accidentally getting into an 'afterwork' club/party in a cool vaulted basement. Apart from not having a suit on, we blended right in. Made straight for the dance floor and got stuck in!

After hours, it's still pretty in the city...

And it's always nice to be able to pop back to 'the pad' after a long day in the hussle.

To maximise time and utilise the cheap flights option, we ended up having a very disorientating late night on the last day and flying back to the UK as the sun was rising. 

After digging the car out of it's frosty car park, we headed west back before collapsing into the sanctuary of The Cottage.

What a whirl-wind... Great fun and a very memorable way to celebrate twelve years together...