Snowdon Easter 2010

A very Snowy and cold weekend in the Snowdon area.

Dulyn Bothy Weekend 2

Thursday night I drove down to Abergwyngregyn and slept in the Bongo. Friday I had planned to camp in the tent on the Friday night but it soon became clear that the wind was far too strong. I reached Drum and I was nearly blown of my feet and poor Oscar was crying. I decided that Duly Bothy once again was the safest option. On reaching Duly Bothy I had a roam around the reservoirs to see if I could find a sheltered spot to camp (I'd carried my tent after all), however, everywhere seemed to be exposed to the gale, so I resigned myself to the Bothy. Four lads from Liverpool turned up with a couple of bags of coal and a very warm night was had.

The following day I had planed to return to Abergwybgregny via Drosgl Moel Wnion. However, the lads from Liverpool asked me to join them and said the would give me a lift back to the car. This was a great opportunity for me to take in higher peaks I wouldn't have attempted on my own. I also got to use my crampons and ice axe. Oscar did really well and didn't seem to mind the freezing conditions apart from when we stopped. My left eye kept trying to freeze shut.

On the tops it was a complete white-out and extremely difficult to navigate. We made a major mistake and relied on other peoples footprints instead of the compass. Instead of taking the Bwlch Eryl Farchog Ridge we strayed all the way over to Carnedd Dafyd. Instead of getting lost further we made the decision to drop down to Llyn Ogwen and hitch a ride back to the car.

Rombald's Moor Wild Camp

Here is a map of my wild camp round Rombald's Moor. The route was completed clockwise.

Lots of interesting lessons learned.

1. Gators are godsend. The snow was knee deep in places. The gators kept my feet dry all day.

2. Meths won't light when its cold.

3. Sit on Meths to make it warm then it will burn, yey!

4. Walking poles split into 6 massive pegs to pitch your tent in the snow, however, careful they may freeze solid to the ground.

Practice Snow Pitch

We have had about 8 inches of snow here in West Yorkshire.

Thought it was the perfect opportunity to practice pitching my tent in the snow.

Will try this weekend up higher where the snow is deeper.

Some good snow pitching tips can be found here

Ingleborough in the snow

A night on Creigiau Gleision

Managed to convince my wife to come this time. Had to buy her a North Face nupste jacket and loan her my alpkit pipedream 800 as part of the deal.

We left Keighley for Betws-y-Coed about 5pm and somehow missed the traffic. Things were looking good.

Halfway down the M62 the Bongo lost power, the lights dimmed, radio turned off and the speedo went wild. Disaster. i was convinced the weekend was over. After drooling over the weather forecast (the best weekend in weeks) things were not looking good.

the very nice men from the AA turned up popped the Bongo on a truck and drove

us to the nearest service station where, an AA legend (in my opinion) was waiting for us.

He checked the battery and knew instantly it was the alternator. The alternator had rattled loose, lost a bolt and torn its wires out. In true Mc Gyver style he rigged up a new bolt from some scrap laying around in the back of the van and a new plug for the wires

going into the alternator. The weekend was back on!

We arrived in Betws-Y-Coed just in time for all the pubs to stop serving food. We eventually got a table at the Chinese restaurant (the Red Dragon I think) the Beijing beef was amazing.

We then drove to the parking spot I discovered SH 79514 56809.

This was a great little secluded spot that reminded me of a campsite. Not free during the day but their were no signs to say you couldn't park overnight. We awoke to be in a prime location to choose a free spot (SH 79479 56434)

to leave the bongo for the weekend while we hiked and wild camped. This spot seemed quite secure as it was in full view of several shops and a pub.

We were heading for Creigiau Gleision taking in Llyn y Parc

,

llyn Glangors,

Llyn Geirionydd

and Llyn Crafnant

before

climbing up through the forest at the end of Llyn Crafnant to Creigiau Gleision.

This was my full winter wild camp and I was really pleased with our kit.

Because my wife was with us I took our Vango Tempest 300 that we bought for Croatia instead

of my Laser Comp. Although over three times the weight it compacts quite small and had plenty

of room for me and Jo, the dog and Tom could fit in to eat with us and play dominos.

Jo said she was really warm in the pipedream 800. I was using My Snugpak Kestrel which has

a comfort rating of 0. I was ok through the night but I had to wear all my clothes and Jacket.

I was so pleased with the views and conditions in the morning, and I hope you can tell from the

photos it was hard not to take a good photo.

After packing up we continued along taking in the other peaks and then dropping down back

into the forst and back to Betws-Y-Coed for Sunday dinner.

Flickr Slideshow to follow with all 400 photos!

Links to GPX files for the route.

View creigiau-gleision-day-1-gpx

View creigiau-gleision-day-1-gpx

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