Fairground Fun

The streets of Llandudno have been turned into a giant fairground for the bank holiday weekend! John and I went to try our luck this evening on the horse races, where he won a goldfish!

Clare has been up in the mountains where strong winds were making some beautiful shapes out of the clouds. I was running a raft building and raft race day, which was exhausting, but fantastic fun. We had almost as many spectators as we did competitors and with the Bank Holiday tourist all getting involved in the action, there was quite an enthusiastic crowd gathered along the course at Llyn Padarn! I've almost lost my voice now from all the shouting and cheering.

 

We also tried our luck at this hanging game - it seemed like easy money. Pay £2 and win £20 if you can hang on the bar for two minutes. I can easily do this, so thought that I'd soon be getting the drinks in. What I didn't know is, that the bar spins, which makes it considerably harder! I got to a tantalising 1 minute and fifty-eight seconds when a lactic acid build up caused my hands to start peeling open - the spinning bar meant that any adjustment of grip means you're off! We drew quite a crowd! Nevermind, we had a good laugh and we still managed to get last orders at the coffee shop.

 

Orchids in Bloom

Rock climbing safety staff training today at the crags above Colwyn Bay. While looking at good practice for looking after groups of climbers, I couldn't help noticing a little Orchid in bloom on one of the ledges!

As well as the theory stuff and discussion, we also got to climb a few routes too.

 

When I got to the top of the crag, there were Orchids everywhere!

 

Later that afternoon, I did an interview for a Bangor University student who has designed a new type of ice axe. Shame there is no ice to try it out for real as it looked great!

Castle Inn Quarry:
- Finale, 5+
- Left Edge, 4+
- Taid 5a_

Expedition Training - Duke of Edinburgh's Award

I've been out on the North Wales Path today above Llanfairfechan, in Snowdonia, doing some navigation and expedition training with some students. Actually, they've been on the North Wales Path and I've mostly been checking up on them at various intervals! One of the best bits as a participant of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award is the feeling of self-reliance and not having teachers, trainers or assessors like me interfering too much with their experiences.

It's therefore quite a delicate balance for me to make sure that the group are safe and heading in the right direction while allowing them to make mistakes and decisions on their own, without having a checkpoint every ten minutes for me to cramp their style.

 

As part of my 'D of E toolkit', I still have Great Uncle Ken's binoculars and by positioning myself at various high points, could track the progress of the team undetected! They have a fantastic magnification, but I suspect that they might be producing lighter weight versions these days!

 

In the Gorge

It's been a good day to be taking some students into the gorge, back in Snowdonia, for some mucking about in the river (and imparting some lessons on geography and teamwork). It's cold outside, but at least the skies are blue.

I had a great team who were super keen to get stuck in. So keen in fact, that we all piled into the small gap behind one of the waterfalls. It gave a cool view.

We also had a bit of a geology rummage and found some of the old lead deposits that were previously mined here.

 

In the evening, I went to watch a few talks and films at the Snowdonia Society which is celebrating it's the fiftieth year. Made it back home just before sunset for a quick walk out in the last of the light.

 

Snow in the Slates

Yesterday the mountains were all clear....

But this morning there was fresh snow back on the tops!

 

Which didn't exactly give the perfect conditions for rock climbing in the Slate Quarries.

 

Between the snow and hail showers, we still climbed one route up at the Skyline level. There was snow on the ledges and numb fingers were to be expected!

 

It's not often you get a snowball thrown down at you as you're belaying on a bolted rock route!

 

We were sheltered from the wind though and when the sun came through, it had some good heat in it.

 

We decided that one route was enough though and descended down to Llanberis for Ice Creams by the lake!

 

Back at The Cottage, the hail storms kept coming through! April showers eh?!...

Llanberis Slate Quarry - Skyline Area:
- Clash of the Titans, 6a**

Slowly back to Springtime

Our Hostel was literally at the end of the runway, so it was easy to find our way in the morning.

Once through the ques and security, we were off and away before 9am.

 

We were lucky to be by the window on a beautifully clear morning.

 

And flew right over the ice cap, which was stunning!

 

You don't get much for free on an easyjet flight, but this was a good scenic tour bonus!

 

 

By lunchtime we were back in Manchester, but not quite ready to go home. We pulled off the motorway a few minutes after leaving the airport and went for brunch in the trendy little town of Lymm.

 

We walked off the brunch session along the canal toes path, before ending up back in the town square for ice creams! The sun was so warm, that coffees soon followed on a bench by the old cross. We really didn't want to leave!

 

Eventually we did and just over an hour later we were back at The Cottage, catching the last of the sun in among the Bluebells with a cup of tea.

 

Unpacking the van was quite an epic task - we've been away for weeks now and inside were various bags with wedding clothes, suites and shoes, skis and mountaineering kit - even a box full of champagne came out! In the last two weeks, we've slept in eight different beds, crossed time zones and experienced all manner of temperatures. Having emptied the van, we decided to unpack in the morning, but not before digging out a few evening essentials!

 

Hot Pot Whale Watching

I got up in the night twice again to check the skies for the Northern Lights, but still to no avail... I don't think that it helps that we are staying in a very 'well lit' town though. Today we are heading back west towards Reykjavik. After a little farewell walk though Akyerui, we set off. You can check all the road conditions before leaving for any journey here and although there was fresh snow on the road side, we both breathed a huge sigh of relief when were found the tarmac was clear!

We broke the journey up with a short hike up a volcano! It's only about 3600 years old and has other little cones nearby, which give a very easy to see geography lesson and a welcome stretch of the legs.

 

 

Clare had once again done her research and found a rumor about a hot pot near the sea, that only involved a short detour from our intended route. After following the directions she had found we pulled into a layby, left the car and set off on foot to the waters edge. Once again, we were initially disappointed to see a few others ahead of us, but then relieved as they confirmed it was safe to get in!

 

Especially as we found this sign later!

 

The pool was right on the waters edge and a very pleasant 39 degrees. So hot in fact that a cool off in the sea was necessary!

 

 

Then, just as the Danish guys who were ahead of us were about to leave, one of them spotted some Whales in the bay! We couldn't believe our eyes as four Whales came within 10m of the shore, (basically, where Clare had just been swimming!), spouted water into the air and then came up to the surface before diving back under with a flick of a tail! It was a real jaw dropper of a moment. Matt and Emma also found their way and joined us with some Czech guys in the warmth of the pot.

 

Once we began to get wrinkly, we thought we best continue on our way. It was good timing as the hot pot was only small and a small group of Icelandic travelers had just arrived, so we could make space for them. They told us that the name of the bay translates to 'Whale Bay'!

A few hours later and we were checked into a Hostel next to the airport, ready for another early start. For food, we found a cool local burger bar - having placed an order at the bar, we were given a ticket with a number on it (like Pete's Eats in Llanberis). When the food was ready, they called your number. Which is fine if you speak Icelandic! We were the source of some amusement among other diners as we had to keep checking what food was coming out before we could claim it!

Vatnsendahnjúkur Ski Tour & the Powder Fest, Iceland

Today we have skied more pristine powder snow than most people will ski in their lifetime! It's been a truly epic day of skiing.

In between the tunnels from Olafsfjördur to Siglufjördur there is a small section of road in the valley of Hédinfjardara, were the tunnel emerges from the hillsides. There is space to park here and plenty of objectives to head for. We headed up the gentle angled river valley of Mödtuvallaskál towards the peak of Bangsahnjükur. We had made a reasonably early start for a few reasons. Firstly, the weather was due to be perfect - no wind, clear skies and about 20cm of fresh snow from the night before. Secondly, it's always nicer to feel like you have the place to yourself.

 

The skies began to clear as we gained height and we were all excited with the knowledge that we would be skiing back down through dry and fluffy powder snow - the kind of snow that you just float silently through.

 

The terrain was simply fantastic.

 

The route and associated decisions kept changing as new views presented themselves, which kept the route finding interesting. In the end, we opted to climb one of the peaks on the ridge, directly above the tunnels.

 

The final section was too steep for skis, so we put on our crampons, made an O'Connor 'ski cache' and set off on foot for the summit push. (about a 'one dot boot' Barney) It was only a small section, but made for a good finale.

 

The views out to sea and inland to more and more peaks were totally awe-inspiring.

 

It felt like we were the only people in Iceland.

 

 

And below us lay long, gentle angled slopes of joy...

 

 

 

 

I did have one little tumble when the coastal views caused me to loose concentration on the task in hand! Luckily I had a soft landing!

 

Turn after turn kept coming, until we were, all too soon, back down at the road.

 

As luck would have it, the local ski area at Siglufjördur, was just opening up for the afternoon and although it looked deserted, it was actually open. To our utter amazement, this meant that we had the entire resort to ourselves and more off piste slopes than we'd ever be able to ski! (and a cheap ski pass!). We couldn't get our boots back on fast enough. We then spent the afternoon until about 5:30, doing laps and laps of amazing powder skiing.

 

During the afternoon, a few other local skiers turned up, but they only skied on the pistes. Every run we did was though untracked powder. It was simply unbelievable.

 

And as soon as we reached the bottom, we'd head straight back up for more!

Eventually, the light started to fade and the powder started to change to heavier snow. We had had our time. Just in that afternoon session, we had skied around 5000m vertical descent of perfect snow - a lifetime of skiing and had covered over 30km in distance! And that's after a very good morning of ski touring. A day that will go down in history - and of being in the right place at the right time....