Prior engagements during daylight hours sometimes mean that in order to catch the fickle conditions of the elusive Welsh Winter, the deployment of a headtorch is necessary. Unsurprisingly, it was easy to find a car parking spot at Ogwen Cottage this evening!
Armed with the necessary tools, equipment and a keen sense of adventure, we left the glow of the street light above the van and ventured up into the land of snow and ice. We had minimal gear and aimed to move quickly. Aled's beacon of a headtorch led the way into the still night.
After a steep and sweaty climb, we left the footprints that we had been loosely following and put in new tracks around the frozen shore of Llyn Clyd, being careful not to slip and slide in. Having located the base of Banana Gully on the looming east face of Y Garn, we began upward progress again.
Progress was slow indeed from here. The gully was over knee deep in rounded graupel pellets, that were buried under a slight crust of snow. One step upwards would be followed by sliding back down two. It was hot work and somewhat comical. Upwards we continued into the night. Step by step.
After what felt like an age (but in fact was only 1 hour 40 mins from setting out), the summit slope and small cornice came into view and Aled disappeared triumphantly over the top and onto the welcome flat ground.
We didn't stay long as we were now exposed to a chilling wind. Instead, we descended a few steps and dug a ledge to sit and rest with a hot drink.
Given the extraordinary snow conditions, we decided that the fastest and most fun descent would be down the gully (not normally recommended). After negotiating a few rocks, we sat down and bum-slid at high speeds into the darkness, riding a bow wave of soft groupel! Seven minutes later, we were back at the bottom grinning from ear to ear and laughing our heads off. This video shows what I mean about the unusually deep graupel snow:
A mini-adventure indeed - just a shame we couldn't see our tracks!
- Y Garn:
:Banana Gully (Grade 1) - (with the Edwards-Martin right hand peel variation & descent)
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