First Pinnacle Rib, Tryfan East Face

For whatever reason, we've been struggling to shake off the lethargic feeling of jet lag this week and get back into a normal sleep pattern. Despite (or perhaps because of) being busy with various commitments back here in Wales, neither of us felt back on par since our return to The Cottage. With a few free hours this afternoon, we decided to take ourselves off for a quick blast in the mountains to try and shake the feeling off. Wind in our hair and some honest exercise should do us good we thought. The East Face of Tryfan was selected as a reasonable objective and nearly an hour after leaving the valley floor, we stopped for a bite to eat below the cliffs enjoying the feeling of having used our lungs and muscles.

Grooved Arete is probably the most famous climb of Tryfan, but we decided to go for First Pinnacle Rib, as it finishes on top of the mountain (and we accidentally walked past the start of Grooved Arete). As we were on a bit of a time limit, we went as fast as we could up the rock, which provided good jet lag therapy by giving enjoyment and concentration in equal parts.

It only took us an hour and a half to climb the six pitches to the summit. We had started off in the sunshine, but our speed increased near the top as clouds and a few drizzly raindrops were blowing in from the south.

Despite the look of impending doom, the clouds blew around us on the summit, but never got into rain mode. We took the line of least resistance to the summit rock, jumped between Adam and Eve and continued straight down the other side of the mountain.

As we left the top it looked like we would be getting a soaking. We had traveled light weight so only had a light softshell top each.

Thankfully, the clouds blew through and we stayed dry. By having only a small pack each, (a Lowe Alpine Spark 18 if you want to be precise), we had moved quite fast up and over the mountain. We were pleased with our efforts and even had time for coffee and cake back at The Cottage before our next appointments that evening. 

We went to bed feeling tired for a reason that night, which felt good.

Tryfan East Face:

- First Pinnacle Rib, V.Diff***

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff - A digital disaster of sorts....

“Don’t sweat the small stuff” is something that my parents have been instilling in me since my teenage years. A bit like the saying that, whatever happens in life “worse things happen at sea”. Well I’ve never really spent much time ‘at sea’ but have had a few technical challenges recently with this Blog that have been somewhat ‘upsetting’. 

Seattle Graffiti

While sorting through some photos for printing in our next trip book, we moved some of my google folders and photos. Unbeknownst to me, certain photos in this blog (i.e: any blog post that I’ve updated from my phone while away on a trip or expedition) are linked from the file that I moved. The process of moving the file, therefore removed the photo link from the blog and now nearly a years worth of blog post and over a thousand photos have, with the click of a button, been deleted from my blog. Nuts. I could have cried!

There’s always a positive side to things though, (admittedly, sometimes you have to look pretty hard to see them), but I have at least not lost all the photos. They are still in my cloud account, but just not linked into the blog posts. Will do my best not to do that again!....

Time Zone Travellers

Since leaving Heather and the town of Helena, in Montana, on Sunday evening, time has become merely a concept. Days have turned into nights simply by changing the display on my watch as we’ve travelled across the globe. In Seattle, we didn’t feel that we’d managed to make the best of all the facilities from our stay in the ‘executive suite’ as we were basically fast asleep from the moment we arrived, right up until we had to check out! Back on the runway, planes were queuing on the tarmac to get up and out of the smoke.

Having already made he decision of spending more time than money getting back to the UK, we actually flew right over Wales before landing in Amsterdam to make a connecting flight. We had a comfy double row on the Delta Airlines flight. The food wasn’t as good as the way out (everything was sugary!), but the movies and in flight minibar kept us entertained while attempting to ‘sleep’...

With watches re-adjusted again to local time, from London, we took turns driving north back to The Cottage. Somehow though, our bags didn’t make it to Heathrow. This is the first time that my bags have been ‘lost in transit’ which given the amount of travelling I do, meant that I was probably statistically ready to lose some kit by now? We were told that it would be sent on with a courier once it arrived. To be honest, were too tired to be particularly bothered. We had no plans to go climbing for the next few day, so it was no major problem for either of us. In fact, the optimist in me, saw that it meant less bags to lug out of the airport to the car! While one of us drove, the other was sparked out in the reclined passenger seat. We staggered, delirious with exhaustion, straight into bed when we arrived home at 21:30 on Tuesday night. Two days had just vanished....

Helena

When someone makes you personalised pancakes for breakfast, you know you're on for the start of a great day.

Especially when it’s accompanied by one of Heather’s hand crafted morning coffees (rumoured to be the best in Montana) and served up with loads of maple syrup and scrambled eggs.



It was no surprise to me that I ate so many pancakes that I needed to take a rest in the rocking chairs on the veranda afterwards! So delicious!

Once everyone was ready, we packed up and went into Helena to go on the Carousel.

Soon enough, we were all loaded up onto various animals and taking a few spins. I got a friendly looking otter next to a Stegosaurus.



Naturally, ice creams were needed afterwards, (Huckleberry Yogurt - pronounced ‘Yo-gart’ flavour) followed by a walk through a small park with in-situ musical instruments. We had a picnic lunch in the shade of a big tree in the park and made sure we got an updated photo from our original trip to the USA to stay with Heather in Seattle back in 2009.



The smoke was so thick that you could barely see across the runway when we arrived at the Airport later that day. It’s only a regional airport, so was tiny computing Seattle. It was the only plane leaving that afternoon and Heather knew some of the staff. Quickest airport security checks ever!



We said our fond farewells and after a lot of hugs, waved to the girls all the way through the door. The smoke delayed the plane a bit and up in the air there were no views at all. But there was free beer and wine! In fact, back in Seattle the smoke seemed even thicker. The flight was with Alaska Airlines and the staff were really funny. When we landed the attendant told everyone to keep their seatbelts on (as they always do) and then added ‘people try it everyday, but I promise it won’t make the doors open any faster’. Then when explaining how the door is smaller than normal planes, said ‘if you don’t watch you head, at least watch you language as you exit the plane’. Tickled me.

Clare’s booking skills had somehow (and unbeknown to us) got us into a good Hotel room. We had got a free transfer bus to the airport and were in the lift on the way to our room. The lift stopped at the third floor and a gentleman offered us to get out first. We explained that our room was on the 5th floor. He raised an eye brow and said, ‘wow, very nice’ and got out. It seemed like a slightly strange response - until we got out at the 5th floor, which turned out to be the ‘Executive Suites’! Ha ha! That’ll do us nicely, we though...

At Heather’s in Helena

Wow. What a day. Experiencing Montana family life with Heather and her family. A mixture of smoke from far away forest fires and overnight rain had dampen down the views from the front door, but spirits were still sky high. It was great to be hangout with Heather as so much has changed since we last saw her in Wales five years ago. 

Blueberries, scrambled eggs, bacon, syrup and of course Heather’s amazing coffee set us up nicely for a morning swimming trip in Downtown Helena. All ten of us went to the swimming pool which was great fun. The water was really warm and the girls were keen to show us their front flip skills. Afterwards we went to a really old quirky coffee shop called The Merc.

And checked out the impressive city Cathedral.

Back at the house, the girls showed us around the garden and we had a hoot trying out various games and activities with them.



They have a lot of space to roam, and a great drive way where you can pick up an alarmingly amount of speed on a bike! The smoke cleared a little in the afternoon, but apparently you can normally see much further than this from the front porch. 



More kittens were literally being born as we were out swimming. I think the headcount was eleven by the end of the day. 



And no American trip would be complete without a baseball match thrown in...

The girls (especially Clare), were alway keen for a quick jump at every opportunity as well.

Living in he country in Montana certainly has it’s differences to growing up in the UK. For example, they teach them young to ride a dirt bike!



So, aged 39, I got my first Motorcycle lesson - from a very competent 8 year old! 



The girls were so confident at riding. I pootled along while they shot past me in clouds of dust! 

Even four year old Luci was riding her quad bike around the yard!



After a while, I was delighted to feel the exhilaration of breaking into second gear before deciding that more appropriate footwear and a helmet would be a sensible addition. It was great fun. 



We both enjoyed having a ride around, while heavily pregnant Heather watched from her perch on the back of a truck.



The smoke caused a very eerie sunset as we retreated to the decking for some delicious wood smoked pizzas.



Just before bed, John went out to check on the cats and came back with a hat full of fluff balls.



Bedtime got suddenly extended!

Montana!

Super exciting to be travelling across country in a ‘smallish’ propeller plane to Helena, Montana today. 

Catching the flight required quite an early start from Anna’s in Bremerton as we had to catch an early ferry. Once in Seattle we had a bit of time to take a breather and wake up, in the comfy arm chairs in Cherry Street Coffee Shop. 



The plane was pretty noisy as we were sat by the propellers, but the views were great. On the skyline we could see big plumes of smoke from the wild fires that looked like an erupting volcano!





We had the greatest Airport welcoming committee when we got into the terminal at Helena! Heather, her girls and her sister were all there to wave us in! The girls had even made a banner and had a stuck on some dollars for us in case we had no American money! 



Next stop was downtown Helena where we all went for ice creams. It was really hot, so they were very welcome as well as a good excuse to see the town. After picking up a car to borrow, from John’s company offices, we went back to the house where some kittens had just been born. Heather’s mum was also staying, who we’d not seen since Switzerland in 2005! We were swiftly welcomed into the beautiful family home and shown around.



After dinner, John showed us around the land around the house in ‘The Ranger’ - an incredible vehicle that could literally go anywhere!



Up behind the house we bounced along some vague tracks as he took us on an ‘Elk Hunt’ to see some of the wildlife and get some views.



I was hanging on tight in the back, but the kids their hands in the air like a roller coaster ride!



We saw a few deer, but no elk. Up on the ridge, we walked a short distance to get to a sunset viewpoint, which was stunning.





Then finally, before bed, we roasted marshmallows on the fire. What a day!

Sleepy in Seattle

Had planned to go sea kayaking today from Silverdale (near Bremerton), but for various reasons, we decided to have a more chilled day. In an attempt to be semi-active, we did try to take a swim at Kitsap Lake, but although it looked great, there were signs saying to stay out of the water due to an algae bloom.

We took it easy and enjoyed a leisurely look around Silverdale and the coast though.

Before meeting Anna and trying our hand at dog walking...



There are some nice woods near the house that we did a lap of, before going out for dinner a at a great restaurant on the seafront.