Soggy Scrambling on the Crib Lem Spur

One of the best days out that I've had here in the 'hills near home', was climbing the Crib Lem spur one winter, with a set of skis on my back and then traversing the Carneddau, on said skis, under a deep blue sky, before skiing home. It's a brilliant little ridge scramble and in one of Snowdonia's more remote spots. You can just make out the dark profile of the ridge in the photo below. Today, was far from ideal in terms of scrambling conditions, but great (i.e terrible) weather for testing some Rab kit. And, inspired by last weeks night navigation, I fancied another solitude experience, relying on my map and compass skills. 

Setting off from Gerlan, at the top of Bethesda, I soon came across my first obstacle! The tiny stream had swollen overnight to produce a raging torrent! It was now far too wide to jump even after balancing out into the middle of the flow on a few protruding rocks. In the end, I decided to go for it, via a series of submerged rocks. Thankfully I had good boots on which kept water from penetrating, but my left sock got a bit wet as I stood too deep for my boots at one point! Not the start I had anticipated, but exciting never the less. I squeezed the water from my damp sock and continued upwards, figuring that the levels should have dropped by my return.

Water was literally pouring from the mountain and the ground underfoot was completely saturated, thanks to heavy rain and melting snow. I was soon up into the mist and hidden from the world.

It took an hour to get to the base of the Llech Ddu Cliffs, and then another hour an a half to ascend the excellent ridge and find the summit of Carnedd Dayffd (with a few stops along the way).

Despite the low temperatures and a summit windchill of below freezing, I wore only a thermal t-shirt under the Rab 'Alpha Direct' Jacket. It's a great combination of being incredibly warm, breathable (so I never got too sweaty) and completely windproof (so your body heat doesn't get lost). I also had one of  Lowe Alpine's 'Aeon' rucksack range with me which was the perfect size and weight for a scramble like this. One really cool feature is the stretchy side pockets which were great for stashing my walking poles while climbing.

After enjoying a hot drink and the satisfaction of following a bearing through the mist, directly to the summit cairn, I set off back down (on a bearing again) the main ridge.

The eeriness of walking in the mist on your own was compounded by passing the skeleton carcas of a wild pony. It looked like a prehistoric dinosaur. 

The mists began to lift as I lost height. Travelling as fast as I could, I descended while watching the new views unfold. 

Back at the stream, the levels had dropped as predicted and I was able to cross with dry feet, although the outside material of my boots were already completely saturated.

Spring was in the air again as I followed the lane back to the car in the afternoon sunshine. An hour and ten minutes from the summit and I was back at The Cottage.

In the evening, I drove down to meet Clare who had cycled to the Straits before last light. What a contrast from the wet and misty morning!