Monday is always a great day to be out in the mountains. And today was a particularly good one. Not only did we have the place to ourselves and good winter conditions on the ground, but there was also no wind or threat of incoming bad weather. And it helps living close to the action too. No alpine start was required today. Just a leisurely breakfast and a bit of kit sorting before heading out.
It's not often that Clare goes winter climbing, but with such a nice day ahead, who wouldn't have been fired up to start swinging the axes! We were psyched!
I'd wanted to climb this route for ages and had even tried a few times in the past, but had been turned back by poor snow. Not so today!
There was a chockstone half way up, that we almost fitted under. It could have provided some good comedy but decided instead, to make a few tricker, but less claustrophobic moves around it instead.
The gully twisted it's way upwards, giving good, fun climbing.
And the best bit - the final snow slopes finish just a few metres from the summit of Y Garn. It always feels good pulling on the flat ground having finished the climbing, but to arrive at the summit of a deserted mountains feels even better.
In the absence of any wind, we were able to spread ourselves about a bit while we picnicked on the top.
It's weird the way that you walk back down into another world. One minute we're in crampons; next we're back in normal summer mode.
On the drive back to The Cottage, where coffee and fresh cupcakes awaited us, I stopped to eye up some other nearby objectives. A winter coat completely transforms the mountains...
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