Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Winter Mountaineering in Snowdonia







I have been out with Simon today who is looking to join my trainee instructor mentor scheme. We headed into the mountains with an open mind and enough kit to cope with winter conditions if we found them as it all looked a bit bare from the road. Idwal stream is frozen but obviously not thick enough for climbing yet and ice is starting to form on the crags up high in the Devils Kitchen. We made our way up into Cwm Cneifion, making good time as the lack of snow combined with the frozen ground makes for quick easy progress. As we made our way up the Cwm we came across some impressive ice formations where a small waterfall had been blowing back upwards and freezing as it hit the ground, I had never seen ice like it before - very cool! The snow started in patches below Clogwyn Du and we enjoyed cramponing up some firm neve and into the base of Hidden Gully (I/II). We climbed this which gave some good sport and made our way to the top of Easy Gully (I) which we descended and then re-climbed just for fun! We then made our way down the Gribin Ridge to give a bit of scrambling fun in descent. 

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