Scrambling in Snowdonia- the summer is back!

Walk in

Another weekend, another weekend away. Back with Will4adventure over in Snowdonia for a Scrambles 1 weekend. The weather was promising to be good, with rather a lovely high pressure system sitting above the country for the past few days. The promised autumnal weather was being held off for a short while and provided the group of 11 with a delightful couple of days Scrambling from the base in Llanberis.

I went over on Friday night with Will, and unlike last time, was able to get a decent nights sleep in a tent (as opposed to the car). The pint of Golden Dragon at the Vaynol Arms was very welcome as well.

Although there was a little rain over night, the morning dawned relatively clear, not much wind at the lower levels, and there was promise of an excellent day on the hills. By 9, the team had assembled and we convoyed out to Bethseda where we ditched the cars, and started out on the long walk in up to the northern side of Carnedd Dafydd. Navigation wasn't too difficult- except for one minor part where the map didn't actually show what was going on- however, the issue was overcome quite happily. (Discussions and arguments about the relative benefits of 1:25k, 1:50k and the somewhat esoteric 1:40k were bandied around for the entire weekend). The walk in was somewhat uneventful, though we did see at least 2 other groups heading up the same way, in opposition to Will's claim that he had never seen anyone else on the scramble in his years of leading it.
(it later became apparent that the scramble has been published in one of this months walking magazines).

As an aside to gear- one of the other leaders was wearing a Rab Vaporize Stretch top- which, in hindsight may have been a little warm for the days exertions.
We did a little bouldering practice on the rocks at the base of the hill, looking at body positioning, movement across rock, balance points and just how much you can trust the rubber on the bottom of your boots, and after a short interlude, we headed on up the valley to the beginning of the scramble.
Will had singled out the Llech Ddu ridge as the menu for the day. A delightful little ridge leading up the north face of Carnedd dafydd. Not too exposed, and not too technical, but just right for getting your head around what needs to be done on a slightly more adventurous day than a normal walk up a hill.

The Ridge was relatively straightforward and no-one really had any problems with it, even the rather flat, sloping tabletop that is very walkable- but not really if its very wet indeed. As it was a delightfully dry day, we all enjoyed the walk down the slope.
We ate lunch in the sheltered lee of the hill at the top of the scramble, before making our way to the top. It was a tad blowy up there, with the Southerly wind scouring the top. We tapped the cairn at the top of Carnedd Dafydd and turned to go over to Carnedd Llewelyn and back down over Yr Elen, back down the valley. As time was getting on a little, it was decided that we would miss out the slog up to Carnedd Llewelyn, and instead, traverse across the side to the ridge between it and Yr Elen, and back down the hills to the boggy bit at the bottom and back to the cars from there.
I was elected to route find, and there were no mishaps on the way back (of course), and my well honed bog instincts, honed on the moors of Bleaklow, got us back across the bog with no boots lost in the mire.

After 8 hours of fantastic weather and walking we were back at the car, ready to head back to our respective camps/B&Bs and rest out ready for the morrow.
Petes Eats and the Vaynol provided a number of us with much needed sustainance, and I for one, slept very well that night.

Sunday dawned a little darker than Saturday- autumn seemed to be coming again, with a little moisture in the air, threatening to rain at almost any moment, but not actually. Will and I shared a coffee pot and soon we had all our kit struck and stashed, the party gathered and we were ready to go.

Sustaining interest

Sunday was overcast, and when the wind wasn't blowing, not a little muggy. Luckily, the wind was a pretty constant feature of the day, and the threatened rain came along before long- but not too severely. The carpark at Pen y pas was rammed, as you would expect, but with Wills cunning, we were soon off up the Miners track, watching crowds of people trogging their way along the Pyg and up over the Knife edge. Not for us- we were not going on the more regularly trodden paths, and once we hung a left above the waterfalls, the only people we saw were silohettes across the hill from us, gradually being hazed out as the cloud came in.
The rain held off as we scrambled up the rather wonderful Y Gribin. I was the route finder for the day, and following Richards advice, I tried to "sustain interest" for as long as possible, which can sometimes be a bit of a challenge.

The Scrambling was excellent and the rain, which had fallen during the walk in, held off as we ascended the rock- the wind drying it off as we went, making it easier as we carried on up. Will was testing out his new Paramo jacket, singing its praises all the way up, and making various remarks about membraned jackets and how rubbish they are... my choices for a winter running jacket have just been opened up even more, with Paramo taking up a position alongside the other eVent jackets which I am already looking at. Which isn't helpful.

Stopping for a snack at the top of the scramble, we saw that the clouds were coming in across Snowden, the hordes being blotted out by mist and fog, so we walked on up the hill and over Lliwedd, continuing the "sustaining interest" idea as far as we could until it was inevitable that we joined the path. After a pleasant lunch stop we carried on down, and once at the bottom, heading back along the Miners track, the peaks we had been sat on a short time before were obscured by cloud. We certainly had the best of the day.

A great weekend with a great team of people, learning and scrambling together.

Scrambling in Wales

Spent the weekend scrambling in Wales with a small and select group of people.
Despite rain threatening to ruin the weekend by falling on Friday night as we drove over, Saturday and Sunday were beautiful days, but with a bit of low cloud base at one point on Sat which saw the top of Tryfan and the Glyders swallowed by the grey stuff.

It was a scrambling weekend, and so we were helping others gain their "legs" on steep ground, increase confidence, and also give pointers in terms of route choice, and, perhaps more importantly, route finding. The guidebooks can be written in sometimes esoteric English, which has been known to cause a few issues in terms of knowing exactly where one is going.

Saturday saw us meet in a cafe for the obligatory pre-scramble coffee. Pinnacle Cafe in Capel was the place of choice, where we looked at the weather forecast, discussed the process for the day and generally got ready.
Routes of the day consisted of Nor Nor Gully on Tryfan, followed by Bristly ridge on the Glyders. Both Grade 1, and with the exception of a bit of a step on Bristly ridge, not too technical.
After driving to the side of the road at Tryfan, we got some helmets on and did a little bouldering, to see how everyone moved on rock, saw what kind of confidence each individual had, and pointed out a couple of learning issues, and satisfied that all was well, continued up to Heather terrace.
I think the biggest problem with the guys we were helping out was the route finding to the base of the scramble, decyphering what the book says into what is going on around you. Obviously word count is always an issue, and sub-editors are notorious for cutting out key words in descriptions, however, with a measure of practice, it becomes almost second nature.

After a few stoppages to work out just what the book was saying, we reached the base of the scramble, (the difference between a scree path and a scree slope was an interesting discussion for a few minutes). The actual scrambling was good, and, as ever, it was a case of follow the polish on the rock.
My knowledge of Safety on steep ground was renewed and practiced, ready for the ML assessment that I need to take at some point soon, and with in a couple of hours we were at the top having lunch.
The gulley itself was delightfully quiet and secluded, but all illusion of that was blown away on getting to the top where hordes of people were gathered around Adam and Eve, eating lunch etc. Not my ideal spot for stopping, I would rather have stopped in a more secluded spot, and bashed on through the more crowded areas as soon as I could, but there you go.

After a spot of lunch, we headed on down the flank of the hill and then up to Bristly ridge. Helmets on was a very good idea, a lot of loose rock and a large amount of people on the hill, and in particular in the gulley, made it potentially a bit of a dangerous place to be. However, it all went off without a hitch, and we were on the top and ready to head down before long.
There were a couple of tricky moves in there, and again, the safety on steep ground training came in useful- not in terms of saving people, but more in terms of giving them the confidence to go ahead and do the moves.

The descent was long, but uneventful, as you tend to hope that they are. Most accidents occur on the way down.

Second day was led by the clients, and we were taken up a lovely little scramble Y Gribin. It was gratifying to see hordes of people heading up Snowden by various ways and means, and there we were, on our own, quiet and secluded, without the madness of the crowds churning around us.
Properly nice.
The Midges were out in force on top, and so we soon had to wander our way down.

Here is a link to photos of the weekend on facebook

Throughout the entirety of the course I wore my Dragon Jacket- although some would say it is too hot, I found that with only a long sleeved t-shirt under it, the vents and zip were enough to give me the flexibility to be warm or cool enough right the way through both days (except the final descent where it got up to about 28 degrees), without actually having to stop to put on or take off any layers.
For general mountain days, I have to say that I am very impressed, even though its meant for cold days only. I think by modifying the type of base layer underneath, it will continue to be a very versatile bit of kit.
My OMM Jischirinca stood up well, but I was a little concerned that the material wasn't all that tough so was worried about scraping it over rock all the time. Its a great light rucksack, but I think I need something a little more heavy duty for scrambling/ mountaineering. The only issue is, all the Alpine sacks have removable waist harnesses- I understand why, but I do like to have things like hats and gloves in accessible places like in hip belt pockets and other "useful" places- which seem few and far between on "robust" packs.
Again, I understand why, but will have to keep searching for a rucksack that meets all my requirements...

Running in Wales

Sunday 15th Feb was a good day for a run.
Started out from Capel Curig at 10ish, and took the trail to the west that runs parallel to the road. After 4km, crossed the road and went up into the hills. After a while, bog ensued.
I missed the standing stone I was looking for but hit a catching feature- the stream that ran to the lake, and followed that. Rain happened, but really, not much of an issue.
Really getting into it by the time I got to the lake, up and around it, and then up a hill that was covered in heather. That was my slowest lap- open access, but no paths, so just heather bashing. that was about 2 hours in, and I had my second geo bar.
Topped out and followed a fence line, down until I hit the wood, which was excellent, mud, bog, tree roots and trees that had fallen over which had to be jumped, proper running.
Got slightly lost at one point, but backtracked and corrected myself within 5 mins, and careered onward down through the trees, over a river, passed a house and went back up over a saddle. The final part was all track, a mixture of stones, rock and river which took me right back to the house.
3hrs 7 mins, 24 km, average pace 8mins per km and average of 150bpm.
Also used a thumb compass, which I havent used before, turned out to be excellent.
only ate 3 geobars for the whole thing, went through maybe 1.5l of normal water, minor pain in the left knee, took Ibuprofen at about 15km, started to feel slightly tired at 21km.
A seriously excellent run.

Wales- trust yer compass

Saturday, ok weather, snow on the ground up a little higher, took crampons and axes just in case. 

I borrowed nics rucsac as mine wasnt really up to spec to carry winter gear. I was expecting to run or go absurdly light. Wandered out from Capel Curig with Sasmojo and West over to get to Tryfan. 

Went over a couple of hills and through a bog or two. I was most surprised and concerned to find my Scarpa Charmoz GTX's were leaking. Right boot, just over the toe, and that was within about 10 mins of starting. As a side note, I shall be testing these out at home in controlled circumstances... not a happy bunny as they arent even 3 months old yet. 

We got to the ridge before tryfan, glorious in its snowiness, and started to decend over to the saddle when the clag came in. We veered left- south, and by my compass we ended up going East. 

After looking at the ground we were on, and comparing it to the map, it was decided that the compass was wrong and we would continue on course .. the rocks MUST have been tampering with my compass. Not withstanding the other compass said the same, as did my Forerunner. Went along with it, to see what would happen, and where we would end up- which was patently not going to be Tryfan. 

After going around in a circle, we came across a stonewall and a river, and got our bearings back, hiked back up the hill to the place where we were about 1.5 hours previously. 

By this time, My foot was wet. Nasty wet, and I really didnt fancy going on tryfan in the snow with a cold wet foot- so we trudged back home again, making excellent time. 

In all, it was about 18km over 5hrs 10 mins or so. With an excellent navigational exercise thrown in. 

Bottom line, TRUST YER COMPASS!