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!
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