Up above the Clouds

Having not been able to get up into the snowy mountains over the weekend and with a thaw forecast, I was itching to nip out first thing this morning, before everything melted. Heavy rain was due to move in after lunch, but before then, it was looking relatively mellow, if murky. From The Cottage window, the day looked a lot better than forecast, with some blue sky, a bit of mist swirling around, but the tops free of cloud. Feeling lucky, we set out from Ogwen Cottage into a think mist. We had hoped to go for the East Ridge Scramble, but decided against it in the current conditions.

As we'd driven up the valley, mist had been pouring in over the mountain tops and down the Nant Ffrancon. The question was, was it covering the summits or would we get above it? Setting off into the mists, it was hard to tell, until near the summit of Y Garn, where the sun started to show though, indicating that our gamble had paid off.

 

Then suddenly, we were out of the could and into the sunshine, where the summits were just standing proud. Always an amazing moment.

 

Especially, when other peaks are visible in the distance.

 

We were literally at the exact cloud level for a while and could see a faint broken-spectre projected onto the mist.

 

Up on the summit we watched cloud pouring over the Glyders like a slow motion waterfall. It was quite hypnotic.

In the other direction, the view was clear out towards Anglesey.

Once again, it was good conditions to be wearing the Rab, Vapour-Rise Guide Jacket as the mists were quite wet to walk through, but the summit required a nice warm layer. The hood is fleece lined, which gave a super comfy extra layer when we stopped. Nice bit of kit to be testing!

 

Eventually we made our way down the ridge and back into the clouds..

 

Before we lost visibility, we noticed these cool 'wavy' clouds up high.

Made it back to The Cottage for a fireside feast of soup and egg butties after hot showers. Brill.

Weekend Activities for the Tourist in North Wales

I've been away for a few days running a short residential course with some international students. It's been a weird blend of frantic, chaotic, relaxed and chilled. In preparation for departure and to get a moment of solace to check my lists, I made sure I fitted in a few minutes at my favourite coffee shop before we got started!

There was actually a good dump of snow in the mountains that I had hoped to get involved in, but the team were not so excited by the prospect of a walk up-hill, so the 'tourist attractions' won out this time!

 

We were staying locally at the fantastic 'Dol Peris' Guesthouse in Llanberis - (look no further for the best value bunkhouse style accommodation in North Wales) and although teaching the 'life skills' of using a kitchen was part of the weekend's agenda, we did manage to get one meal (classic all day breakfast of course) at the world famous 'Pete's Eats', which is a sixty second walk away.

Saturday was spent underground - in the surreal environment of 'Bouce Below'. It's an old abandoned mine that has been festooned with multi-layers of trampolines, slides, music and disco lights. Utterly bonkers....

It's impossible not to be impressed with the place really, even though the 'theme-park' kind of activity is not really my thing. I could only look around in wonder while pondering 'who made it?' 'who declares that it's safe?' 'who knows what's going on?!'. It was quite an experience.
Back at the house, I introduced the Japanese to Grandma Martin's Shopping Game, which ticked the educational aims of, manners, sportsmanship, vocabulary and memory enhancement and was enjoyed by all well into the night, interspersed only by a pizza making masterclass!

 

South Stack to Holyhead Mountain

My diverse mountain lifestyle continued this morning - with a small group of students, I started off the day with some bird watching at the RSPB reserve at South Stack on Anglesey. While I've been rock climbing here, on the cliffs of Gogarth many times, I'd actually never been into the RSPB reserve. Acting on a tip-off from a colleague, I went in and was able to hire (at a very reasonable £3 for the day) a pair of good binoculars, as well as loads of good beta from the friendly wardens. Armed with these and my bird book, we hunkered down in the lee of Eillen's Tower and scanned the cliffs. We saw a few Chuffs (which are the reason there is a reserve there, as they're quite rare). There were thousands of Guillemots down on the cliffs by the light house, as well as the regular Guls and Fulmars. Later in the day as we walked along by Holyhead Mountain, we saw two Peregrines as well, so all in all, some good spots!

 

There was a bitterly cold and surprisingly strong wind blowing from the south, so we followed the coastal path along to North Stack, to gain a little bit of shelter. Seeing the view, reminded me of the big traverse of these cliffs that I did last summer, before escaping through the back of the big cave at the end of the headland. Crazy, but fun!

 

One of today's objectives was to reach the summit of Holyhead Mountain (some might say hill). The walk is pretty short and well paved as we approached from the North, but up at the summit, I could barely stand up in the wind! We literally, had to cling to the Trig Point to get a summit photo, before dropping down to get some shelter by a stone wall, where we could appreciate the views of the Harbour a bit better. While walking down from the summit, sunlight began to burst through the clouds, sending beams of light onto the sea, which looked very peculiar - like a UFO landing perhaps?

 

With the wind reducing our enjoyment and my ability to teach much, we left early and stopped off by the Menai Straits, where the weather couldn't have been more different! - Calm blue skies and sunshine made for a tranquil hike along the promenade!

 

We finished up, looking for Egrets by our old house below Menai Bridge. What a place to have lived!

 

The 70th Celebrations

 

Just back from a whirlwind 48hour round trip to Fort Martin to celebrate 70 years of the Big Cheese - Pappa Martin! Totally brilliant time, including all three generations of the Martin Clan all sat down together for a Christmas (birthday) dinner, with fine wines, good conversation and lots of laughter. Good times indeed...

They might not have much in the way of mountains in Loddington, but they sure know how to put on a good sunset show! 

Senior's Ridge Direct - Idwal Scrambling

 

The freezing level was easy to identify as we walked up into Cwm Idwal on Sunday to go scrambling. The streams were iced up to about  600m, but flowing below. Because of this, we opted (after several changes of plan), to do a lower level scramble on the side of Idwal Slabs. I'd not taken a team up there in ages - I don't know why, as its brilliant, has a short walk in and great views (even on a misty day)! Today I was working with a colleague, so we operated as two small teams, but climbed the same route. The large ledges between the scrambling were perfect for re-grouping, rope sorting, snacking and checking everyone was ok. 

 

We moved continuously in small pitches, with quick (and sometimes shared) belays. This meant that the teams were never hanging around long enough to get cold even though snow flakes were gentle starting to fall!

 

After completing Seniors Direct's Route, we transferred routes to an ascent of the Gully proper of 'Senior's Gully'. This was much more icy as it was higher, but the technicalities were easier so we were able to continue without the ropes.

 

The Gully ends in Cwm Cenefion, where on a clear day, a continuation up the famous 'rib' above would be a quality day indeed. But today, the lads had had more than enough excitement and expended enough energy to justify a triumphant return to Ogwen Cottage, buzzing about the adventures.

Yr Orsedd (559m) Ridge Hike

A crisp winters morning greeted us today in Wales! Full blue skies and a bitterly cold wind made for beautiful yet hostile conditions in the mountains. I was guiding a small team, who wanted to climb as many peaks as possible within the constraints of a short time frame. The Yr Orsedd to Drum ridge on the edge of the Carneddau gave the perfect venue.

Yr Orsedd is a little know peak along the ridge and according to the stats, is the 4402nd highest peak in the British Isles and the 314th highest in Wales! It might not be the most famous, but it certainly gives a great day out as part of an enchainment of peaks. There are fabulous views out to sea and Anglesey to the North and more mountain views to the south.

 

We ascended the steep and 'shady side' after parking at the end of the road past Aber Falls, which was cold but sheltered, before breaking back into the sunlight.

 

Then it was a simpler case of just following the ridge up and over Foel Ganol and onto Yr Orsedd, where we stopped for lunch and to huddle down out of the wind. You can't tell from the photos, but it was baltic up there!

 

Out of the wind, it was warm, sunny and a top quality lunch spot!

 

We descended down the mountainside to the north and back into the shade where all the puddles were decoratively frozen.

 

Looking back along the skyline, before heading home, it was pleasing to be abe to see all the peaks that we had been up. It wasn't a day for lingering around, but we were all glad to have been able to enjoy such a stunning day travelling through such a remote, wild, yet easily accessible place.

 

A different kind of summit view

Climbing again today, but not in the mountains. Instead, I've been on a trip to the Cathedrals of Liverpool with some students. Amazing places, and with cool veiw if you're up for climbing a few stairs!

 

 

Moel Siabod 879m - Expedition Training

Probably should have gone with my gut instincts this morning. I was running a training day for a small team of lads that I am taking away on expedition in May. The low 'blanket' of cloud remains across Snowdonia, but the forecast suggested that there was the slight chance of an inversion on the highest peaks. I'd planned on trying our luck on Crib Coch and Snowdon, but for various reasons decided to 'play it safe' and go up the slightly lower Moel Siabod instead, so I would have more time for 'teaching'. We still had a great day, but I just found out that my friend and fellow MIC went up Snowdon in the mist and when they got to the summit, the last 20m or so of the mountain were in bright sunshine and poking out of the top of the clouds! Magic! This was not the case for us.

It was a misty affair for us as we made our way around to the south ridge. We actually ended up climbing the big gully below the ridge today, which I'd not been up before. It provided some good terrain and was even holding a bit of snow in it's upper reaches, much to the delight of my group.

 

Up at the top, there wasn't much to see though!

 

While my friend was basking in sunshine about 9km away, this was our summit glory moment!

 

It wasn't exactly raining, but everything was condensating - even our eyebrows.

 

On the plus side, the thick mists meant that we actually needed to use the map and compass, to navigate safely from the summit. It's not often I need to do this in North Wales, so it was great to be able to demonstrate 'real life' usage to my group.

 

As well as the tradition map and compass, we could also check and compare our progress using the Garmin GPS unit that I carry. It was reassuring to see that both methods agreed with each other! No broken spectres for us today, but a fun day non the less and I think the group even learnt a thing or two, so I'll see that as a success!

Escaping the Drizzle

 

There's been a blanket of low lying drizzly cloud covering the entire of Snowdonia for the past couple of days. So I can't say I was hugely excited when Clare suggested taking a picnic to the beach. Thinking it would be nice to see the ocean and that a walk would do us good, we drove over the bridge and onto the island of Anglesey. Just as we reached the far west coast, would you believe it, the sun came out!

 

It was a good reminder of how diverse North Wales is. Even on the murkiest dull mountain day, you can still be a short drive from reaching a sunny beach! We took a long walk along by the sand dunes and even had our picnic in the sun on a bench looking out to sea on the edge of Rhosnigr. There were no waves for surfing, but it was refreshing just being out for the walk. 2017 is already panning out to be another busy year, so walking along the waters edge made for a good place to talk through some plans and ideas...

 

Bouldering Wall Creativity

 

Well if yesterday's weather was bad, today was even worse. Temperatures have risen, the snow is melting and the mountains have been hidden under a blanket of drizzly low cloud. The Welsh winter has vanished overnight!

Unsurprisingly, my team aborted from the planned mountain walk. 

Instead of heading outside, we spent the afternoon re-setting the routes in the climbing wall. It can be a bit of a chore when your operating on your own, but today with a creative and motivated group, we managed to keep the psych high and totally re-vamp the Bouldering Wall. A good job to have done on such a dull day. 

Y Garn - Welsh Winter Mountaineering

I had an unusual, yet uplifting experience after meeting my group and going through the weather forecast this morning. Blizzard conditions were the main theme of the day and  (expecting a revolt), suggested that we might just stay low level as it might be a bit of a battle up high. 'Well, we're pretty keen for a battle today' came back the response! I could barely believe my ears, so before anyone changed their minds, got them kitted up and headed out to Ogwen and the heart of the mountains. 

Thankfully, the torrential rain that shook the bus on the drive over ended as we parked up at Ogwen Cottage. As we left the car park, it felt like our decision to go for it was being rewarded with a break in the weather. It stayed dry until we reached the snow line, but once on the main ridge, we were exposed to both the wind and the incoming snow showers.

 

Getting pelted by hail on the back of a stong wind isn't the most pleasant experience you can have in the mountains. There was some solace that we would have our backs to the wind on the way up though. Up at the summit, we added the last layer in our arsenal of weather protection - ski goggles. These are an essential bit of equipment for the winter mountaineer and ensured that we would at least win the battle that I'd assured everyone that we'd be involved with! 

 

Fully protected (and with a nice tinted orange glow thanks to the masks), we made a rapid descent. We decided against putting on crampons as the snow was very wet. The temperature was certainly warmer than forecast and rising. Instead of retracing our steps, we located some safe snow slopes, sat down and bum-slid our way down, bulldozing and big track as we went! 

Welsh winter feels like it might be disappearing as fast as it arrived, but it's been good to snatch a day out in the snow. Even if it was a bit of a battle! 

Keeping Warm

 

Arrived back in Wales to find that winter has been trying to make a comeback! After a beautiful 'welcome back' of a sun rise, it's been becoming progressively colder and there is now a dusting of fresh snow up on the mountain tops too. I've been out at the forest school with some students, doing some conservation work, but to be honest, we mostly working on keeping warm! The hail was pelting down as we huddled around the fire!

 

I've also been involved with facilitating a course on 'conflict resolution' which has been really interesting as well as very worthwhile. Hopefully we've begun to equip the students with the mindset and skills that will be useful beyond the classroom...