Tower Gully, Cwm Ceniefion

There was an Alpine feel to the start of today. It looked beautiful outside, but the photos are deceptive as there was a storm force winds howling around The Cottage. I went out to the bridge check out the mountain conditions and get a feel for the wind. I could barely stand up, so we decided to delay our departure a little.

Around midday we battled our way up to Ogwen Cottage. The van was rocking in the wind as we sat in the layby staring up at the mountains, re-checking our potentially ambitious plan of hopefully finding a sheltered gully to climb.

 

As it turned out, our plans paid off and even though it was 12 degrees in the valley, in under an hour we arrived into the winter wonderland of Cwm Ceniefion. Conditions were even better than I had imagined! The whole place was rimed with ice and perfectly sheltered from the winds! I was almost exploding with excitement.

 

Meanwhile, down in the valley summer had arrived. (in fact I later heard from a friend who had been bouldering in shorts and t-shirts down there in the afternoon!).

 

But for us, ice was everywhere up in the mountains - and the wind had created some amazing art work.

 

After passing a few friends who were instructing a group, we were alone in the cwm. We climbed 'Tower Gully', with is a Grade II climb and was packed with snow and ice. Because the temperatures were rising above freezing during the day, the ice was in perfect condition and we only needed to swing our axes once to get a perfect placement.

 

The crags looked magnificent with their winter coat on. No one else had been there, so we also had the excitement and adventure of making the tracks and forging our own way up the mountainside.

 

We climbed the route in several pitches and while one of us was belaying, the other could stare out at the amazing views - we could almost see The Cottage!

 

Conditions were about as good as they could have been for winter climbing.

 

 

Plenty of ice for ice screw protection too!

 

On the upper reaches, the sun had reached around and completely melted all the ice on the top of the tower. As we climbed past on the opposite side, there was a constant tinkling of rime feathers as they came unstuck and dropped off.

 

Then, five pitches after setting off, we emerged back into the glorious sunshine of the summit!

 

And back into the wind! We couldn't even stand up straight long enough to get a summit picture!

 

After struggling over to the shelter of the summit cairn, we got extra jackets on and snapped a quick celebratory shot before beginning the descent down the Gribin Ridge. What an amazing day. Remarkable that it could be only ten minute drive from summer in the garden, to walking into a winter wonderland.