A thaw has begun at lower levels, but up high in the mountains, winter still reigns. To stay out of the worst of the weather, we opted to make an ascent of Elidr Fawr. The upper Machlyn Reservoir had no ice it at all, but the lower, smaller one was partially frozen and even had a few icebergs floating in it!
Up on the summit, we got a glimpse along the ridge towards Ogwen and the striking line of Yr Esgiar ridge, that I may still get the chance to climb this winter!
We abandoned plans to continue along the ridge to Carnedd y Filiast, not because there was a full blizzard blowing through, but because we found a huge patch of snow and ice to practice some winter skills on.
Initially, I thought we'd be able to dig a big snow hole, but the old snow was far too hard. It lent itself perfectly to cutting steps and practising walking in crampons for the first time. After an hour or so, we made our escape straight down to the reservoir and returned easily along the access road. Soaked but happy.
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