Ogwen Alpinism - Welsh Winter Climbing in Hidden Gully (Gd II)

Teamed up with a couple of friends to do our first winter climb of the season today! It's been cold up high for a few days, so we went up to the highest cwm in Ogwen to see if there was enough snow and ice for climbing. It felt relatively optimistic as we drove through the sleet and rain in the valley at the un-alpine start of just after 9am. 

Sleet and snow was coming down hard as we hiked up past Cwm Idwal, up the side of the slabs and up into the Nameless Cwm.

Then the showers passed and the clarity of the air was breathtaking. In the distance, we could clearly see the mountains on the Isle of Man.

As we sweated our way uphill, various showers passed through with some stunning light falling on the showers.

In the Nameless Cwm, it was like arriving in another world. There was a good dusting of snow swirling about, but the ground was not frozen underneath it. We opted for the highest route available, to get the coldest climbable conditions. The wind chill was quite fantastic and as it was pelting us with spindrift; we put goggles on from the start! As well as protecting from the cold and exfoliating hail, they had the added bonus of giving the world a rose-tinting!

We climbed the route in two roped pitches. Aled got us established in the gully, then I opted for the slightly more sporting 'Right Hand' finish, which had a few bulges and chockstones to hook our way over. I was in my element.

The snow wasn't really consolidated enough, but we had a great time climbing the route.

When we topped out, the clouds had lifted quite high and we got great views over to Snowdon and the sea beyond. The wind remained brutally cold with double figures negative windchill.

Rusty had picked up a 'passenger' along the way and after taking him up the 'Left Hand' branch at the top of the gully, he soon rejoined us.



We opted to descend via the Gribin Ridge.

Fabulous views abound.

The ridge is actually given a winter grade of II, but was a straight forward way down. We stuck to the crest for maximum interest, then dispensed with crampons at the 'football field' flat area.

You've got to love a bit of Ogwen Alpinism - You can have a lie-in, meet your mates, drive up the valley, climb a winter route and be back for coffee at The Cottage fireside by mid-afternoon!

Indoor Climbing

Even the most optimistic climbers were indoors today! Total wash out, but lots to teach and learn in the Beacon Climbing Wall...

A Wintery Summit

Plenty of rain down in the valley, but we found out first bit of winter up on the hill tops today. Set out from Ogwen Cottage towards the south col of Tryfan, past the 'crocodile rock' at a good pace.

The group I was leading were up for a bit of a challenge, so instead of the 'normal route', I took them up a slightly harder variation. As we reached about 700m, the conditions changed into winter mode. Snow on the ground, windier and the mists rolled in! Exciting stuff!

By the time we reached the summit ridge, we were in full on blizzard mode!

At around 800m of altitude, the freezing level was marked by little feathers of hoar frost growing into the wind on the rocks.

Despite my doubts about the group, we made it up to the summit, although it was decided that jumping between Adam and Eve wasn't a good idea today.

Needless to say, we didn't hang around on top for a picnic (one student had forgotten to collect the groups sandwiches anyway!), so we slid off down the west face (literally at times) and out of the 'white room'. Looking back up, you could clearly see where the rocks became white. It turned out to be a very slow descent for some, but we all made it out unscathed after multiple glove changes and some cold fingers for some.

Once out of 'winter', the winds died down and there were even some shafts of sunlight to that lit up the valley floor. Beautiful. It was hard to believe the difference of the summit conditions.

Snow and Surf

Only one degree Celsius at The Cottage this morning! Plans for a day in the surf were looking questionable. Decided to start slow with a leisurely and sizeable cooked breakfast. By 11am temps had risen to 2.4 and the choice of Anglesey surf was made. Plan B was to ride a trail to Malltraeth, but having driven onto the island and found that the cycle track was under about a meter of water from the recent floods, we decided that the surf option was a good one. Until it came to climbing into the back of the van to get changed! 

The sky was blue at least and once in our wetsuits, we felt warm enough to get out of the van and give it a go!

With waves at the beach and snow on the distant mountains, it made for a pretty magical experience. Compared to the air, the temperature of the water was bearable. We had on wetsuit gloves, balaclava, boots and extra thick rash vests, so once the shock of the first wave was over I was warm enough to enjoy the surf as well as just survive. We started off with some good rides, but the sets were unpredictable and would sometimes kick up steeply. You had to work hard and be careful!

We got out while we still had use of our hands. My face was a bit red, but otherwise, I was fine. Especially after warming up with toast and coffee at our favourite coffee shop.

We managed to make a real holiday of the day, by spending a bit of time researching and looking at touring bikes at the biggest shop around here, did a bit of early Christmas shopping, had food in a nice bar that we chanced upon and then got an invite to a gig below a wine bar nearby, where we caught up with some old friends, met new ones and even had a dance to these great rockers! A holiday a home! Brill.

Low Pressure Flooding

I don't often think this, but thankfully, I've been working indoors today, planning expeditions. The weather has been incredible. Over the last 24 hours, 100mm of rain has fallen at The Cottage and the needle on our barometer dropped off the scale earlier! I was due to be at the AGM of the British Mountaineering Council this evening at Plas y Brenin, but the A5 through the Nant Ffrancon valley and the Llanberis Pass were underwater and closed to traffic! After sending my apologies, we got the fire lit and sat tight while the rain hammered down. When I last kayaked on our local river - the Afon Ogwen, it was at a high level and the gauge was at about 450 on the scale. It was on 850 and rising when I went to bed! Shame it was dark as it would have been amazing to see!

The John Muir Award

Something a bit different today. I'm helping a group work towards getting their John Muir Award. We are going to be doing a series of conservation sessions over the winter at Nant y Glyn Forest School, which is hidden up on the hillside above Colwyn Heights. To achieve the award, we have to 'Discover, Explore, Conserve and Share' an area of wild space. We spent the morning exploring and discovering and getting introduced to Colin the sheep.

And his friend, the frisky Ram...

After exploring the site and getting acquainted with the tasks that needed to be done, we had an energetic day clearing brambles and putting up a new 'Brash Hedge'.

The colours in the woodland are looking good at the moment and with the recent winds, there are drifts of leaves to kick through.

In the evening, I met with another group who I'm taking up to Scotland in a few weeks. It was exciting to be looking through winter photos, fixing crampons to boots and studying the maps. We finished up just after 8pm all amped up for winter! Will there be snow though?.... I left them to watch the Rab film about Scotland, to get a taste of what may lay ahead for them!...

Llyn Alwen Circuit

With the weather having turned bad in Snowdonia, I was lucky to be leading a group over east in brighter conditions on the Denbigh Moors around the Alwen Reservoir. 

We started off by crossing the big dam and set off in the hopes of making a complete circuit. Another team had set off in an anti-clockwise direction and we hoped to meet on the bridge at the far end for lunch. Water levels were high and there was an impressive waterfall coming over the over flow.

It was a bit windy once out of the forest, but it turned into a stunner of an autumn day. The skies were blue and the sun hung low in the sky all day.

It was well past lunchtime when we reached the bridge at the end. We almost turned back, as it looked too far to go, but decided to keep going once we saw that we were going to beat the other team!

Once fed, we crossed over and made our way back along the other side.

There was loads of lichen hanging from the trees and the forest got so dense at one point that it almost went dark.

On the track which took us back to the dam and awaiting minibus, a bulldozer and roller had just gone past, to level out the potholes. Where it had flattened and scraped the muddy surface, it left behind some artistic patterns and colours.

We made it back to the bus a few minutes ahead of the other team, much to my group's delight. Finished the day off with a good training session in the Beacon climbing wall after a swift feed at The Cottage on the way.

Swallow Falls to Betws-y-Coed

After a very comfortable night in the excellent Dol Peris Guesthouse (contender for the best accommodation in Llanberis), the next day dawned bright and clear. Out on the High Street there was a spring-like feel to the day. 

We had pick of the mountains to choose from for today's hike, but sadly I'd rather worn the group out on Snowdon yesterday! All thoughts of another big day in the hills were swapped for a leisurely start and a full cooked breakfast! It soon became clear that a valley walk was going to be more appropriate. Once we'd eventually checked out, we drove around to Capel Curig and started our walk from the Towers Outdoor Education Centre, where I once did part of my teaching practice.

It's a beautiful and dramatic walk along the river banks of the Llugwy and then up along the cliff edge above the famous Swallow Falls and then into the forest.

We dropped down to the Miners Bridge, where we stopped for some lunch and to watch the rapids. I'd not been down by the river in ages and enjoyed a little reminisce about when I kayaked the river for the first time as part of my degree course at JMU.

Finally, we followed the river to Betws-y-Coed, where were concluded the weekend with a de-brief over a hot drink. Despite the coldness of the mountains yesterday, it was mild enough to sit outside.

The Snowdon Traverse

Fresh back from the Film Festival and I was straight out the door to meet a group in Llanberis for a traverse over Wales' highest peak - Snowdon. It was a wet morning with very low clouds, despite the forecast suggesting otherwise. Over a bacon sandwich in the cafe in Llanberis, I discussed the options with the group and by the end of breakfast they were still all super keen to 'go for it'! We got a lift up the Llanberis Pass to the high point at Pen y Pass and set out, just as the mists began to rise a little...

Having been 'dropped off', there was a certain air of commitment to make it up and over the mountain and back to Llanberis before dark. We'd not exactly left early, but the group were fit and strong and we made good progress. The views stayed with us until the final climb up the 'zig-zags' where we continued upwards into the whiteout.

Above the zig-zags area, we were exposed to the strong winds and the wind chill was immense. The forecast had predicted a -5 degree wind chill and I'd say that it was pretty accurate. By now though, the summit was tantalisingly close, so we wrapped up and pushed on. The views were....well... limited!

Up at the summit, I had both my Rab jackets on and gloves, so kept warm, but the wind was harsh on any exposed skin.

After a sandwich, crouched in the lee of the summit cairn, we made our descend from the clouds and began the long march back down to Llanberis on the main path. By the time we got back to the bunkhouse where we were staying we'd hiked 17km, taken over 23,000 steps, had ascended 777m and descended over 1000m. A reasonable day out by anyone's standards - especially having only arrived back from Kendal in the early hours. 

Kendal Mountain Film Festival

Sorry about the lack of posts this week - a) it's been a whirlwind of a time and b) my phone has stopped uploading the posts!... anyway, back to last Friday!.... As part of my work with the Rab AMI test team, I’ve been up in The Lake District at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival. It’s been a crazy 24 hours or so, but well worth the effort. The trip started off with a lucky lift share. I’d agreed to give a friend a lift, which in turn led to a free bed to sleep on and a good breakfast before the festivities began the next day.



I was due to be running some technical workshops to promote the Association of Mountaineering Instructors on a small training wall at the Rab Equipment stand. These were good fun and it was good to be using my brain to answer lots of on the spot questions about everything from tying knots to complex rescue situations.

I got a little bit of free time to explore the other stands and chat with numerous friends from the ‘Outdoor World’.



As we were packing up for the evening, I was rather luckily given a ticket to a sold out presentation with the worlds hardest rock climber - Adam Ondra. During his talk he showed a film clip that showed him ‘resting his arms’ on a hard overhanging climb - by hanging from his toes!!



And if that wasn’t good enough, I also got to meet him afterwards and have a quick chat! Amazing!



From then on it just kept getting better as I subsequently got introduced to American climbing hero - Tommy Caldwell.



I’d said I’d meet some friends to say goodbye at the DMM festival pub quiz. Accompanied Jonny Dawes, who had suddenly appeared, we made our way over and Tim had to do some smooth talking to get us through the door of the packed venue. Then in a fantastic twist of fate, as we were about to leave, we were asked to join a team of two who needed us to make a complete team. We sat down, signed up and enjoyed a riot of an evening - and would you believe it, we won the £250 top prize! And got a free rucksack to boot! Bonkers!



It was a late exit from the party, but what a giggle it had been. We’d only been in Kendal just over 24 hours yet packed in so much! Worked, played, met old friends, made new ones, been to a lecture, hung out with the A-list of the climbing world and won the quiz! It was time to cut and run! Arrived back at The Cottage at 2am elated and utterly shattered.