At last, the weather, conditions and time all combined to make for a super day in the local mountains! A very excitable start to the day had us assembling ski kit from the stores in anticipation of some good times. It was minus 5 degrees Celsius at The Cottage and has stayed below freezing all day.
The van was cased in ice and even once unlocked, the doors remained frozen shut! After getting it going and a five minute drive up the valley, we abandoned the van and set out on foot as the snow wasn't deep enough for skiing.
Soon enough, we were high above the valley floor.
The snow was very powder like, due to the cold temperatures and lack of any wind. Needle ice was forming on the side of the path.
After a forty minute carry, we gladly got skis on our feet and began our upward shuffle into the Carneddau.
Took plenty of time to enjoy the extraordinary winter view. Not a cloud in sight...
The still air was cold like arctic Sweden and in the shade, even working hard, going up hill, we needed to be wrapped up!
Finally we reached our highpoint and the views opened up even further.
With all our layers on and feeling the slight warmth from the sun, we had a panoramic lunch.
The powdery snow was so soft that we had to carry our skis a short way from the summit as the danger of hitting rocks was too high. We didn't want to damage our skis or ourselves!
Once back on more 'grassy' (under the snow that is) slopes, we let the skis do the work and transport us back down!
Felt strange to be on skis, yet looking out to sea!
Soft powder snow!
When we reached the point were we had to continue on foot, the sun was low in the sky, even though it was not even three in the afternoon. Once the sun left us temperatures dipped further!
An absolutely magic day out - but it does need a bit more snow depth and/or consolidation!
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