Monday 22 February 2010

Snowdonia fun

I have been out of the office for the last week - a planned trip to Scotland for some winter action was halted when my camper van's head gasket went bang (and so did my bank balance!). So after staying home in Snowdonia I got up to a few things here.

Wednesday
Decided to head out with friends Alan and Alan (makes climbing a nightmare with shouting names!). The plan was a reasonably straight forward winter climb around grade II-III as I still struggled to look aver my right shoulder and down at my feet.
Alan decided he wanted to do Clogwyn Du Left Hand (5) and then move into Right Hand (III). I opted for leading the crux pitch as the conditions were too inspiring to miss and for the next hour dragged myself up the icy groove and made the exciting right exit and into easier ground.

Carried on up the Right Hand and the last pitch had a very tricky ice umbrella to pass which gave some tricky moves and spat Alan off at one point! We finished and walked back down Senior's Ridge and then home.


Thursday
Rory and I headed out to Carnedd Ugain - starting in true fashion at Pete's Eats with breakfast.
We did the sweaty walk into the bottom of Sinister Gulley (grade III, 4) and made our way to the main pitch. Snow conditions were a bit questionable on the lower slopes and so we took caution in traveling. Lots of graupel and wind-slab snow around.
I took the lead on the crux pitch which was in great condition, but a little short and then we did 4 full rope length pitches to the top of Garnedd Ugain. A truly great place to top out.

Friday
I had planned a relaxing day at home and the pager went off just before lunch.
We were called to a assist a chap who had got lost on Snowdon in poor visibility and wondered onto steep ground.
We walked up from the Snowdon Ranger Path and joined up with the other part of our team and managed to get the chap out of a steep section of slope on Clogwyn Coch (the search took a long time to locate the casualty). This involved lowering team members over 100m down steep snow to get to the casualty.

Once on better ground we walked down to a flat area below Allt Mosses and the aircraft was able to land on, but then got grounded in bad weather and we had to wait for 45min before we could fly away.

Saturday
Took a stroll up Snowdon via the Llanberis Path and was able to 'skin' up-hill with my skis all the way to the summit. Once there I had a bite to eat and enjoyed the fine views and skied down to the finger stone and went up to Garnedd Ugain. Once there, I waited for an hour for clear weather and then skied down on great snow to the half way house (about 3 min!).

It was a great day out and a ski that I had wanted to do for some time now.
The conditions are full winter with lots of snow and ice, so crampons and ice axe, combined with knowledge are needed for safe travel. I am glad to say that there were many folks well equipped, but also many ill prepared and unaware of the potential dangers (the Snowdon Crazy Award goes to the 2 guys who climbed Parsley Fern Gully with no crampons and ice axes!).

Sunday
I had planned a climbing day in Ogwen, but after arriving there and seeing how much snow had fallen, I opted for a walk around Cwm Idwal and an afternoon of film watching!

Bryn
MLTW National Development Officer

nb. here's a pic of the graupel from Cwm Glas - take care now as it's snowed a lot on top of this layer over the last few days.

Sunday 21 February 2010

Another snowy weekend

Today I visited the Black Ladders with Chris Forrest, the Chief Instructor from the Joint Services adventure centre ("Indefatigable"). We met quite a few folk from the Bangor Unifversity outdoor Education department, including Tim Jepson and his wife Dodie, all headed to the same venue, and all just as nonplussed by the surprisingly deep build up of new snow on top of a thick graupel layer. A significant avalanche hazard in open bowls, and also hard work for any technical climbing. Eventually we settled on a mid-grade line that neither of us had done, called Passchendale Direct. The online guide had disappeared last night so we only had a rather poor topo, resulting in a bit of a tussle with an unclimbed groove before we settled on an easier line to the left. We just followed our noses for the rest of the route, though in retrospect the pitch descriptions seemed to work ok. A nice antidote to yesterday, half of which was spent writing a report to submit to the next MLT Board meeting on March 6th.

Saturday 13 February 2010

Another dry Saturday

Today I spent several hours wrestling with Microsoft Project 2010 beta; I'm trying to develop a more systematic approach to complex project management to sit alongside our project-based accounting system. After a few hours in front of a computer I noticed that this was a sad way to spend a dry day off, so when Sion came back from Friday night's party I dragged him out to the quarries. It might be dry but its absolutely freezing on the rocks! We climbed a couple of recently bolted lines at about Fr. 6a on the Skyline Buttress, giving about 80 metres of climbing before dashing home to a warm fire. The photo shows Sion following "The Skyline Club".

A little known gem near Tremadog

Last weekend my old friend Ed Stobart and his son came up to Wales for the weekend. Saturday was a cloudless day so we made a leisurely start to let the frost burn off and headed out to the South Face of Moel y Gest, the hill opposite Tremadog that was presumably an island before William Madocks drained the estuary. We climbed the delightful 3 pitch Bulkhead Route, graded diff but rather sporting for the grade with interesting little buttresses linked by short heathery scrambles.

Tuesday 9 February 2010

Mountain Training Trust meeting

Bryn Williams, Andy Say and myself met the management team from Plas y Brenin to discuss the long term strategic vision of MLT and the delivery mechanism through Sport England's National Centre, Plas y Brenin. This is part of the process of negotiating a tender contract for the next 15-20 years management of the facility by MTT, a charitable Trust originally set up by MLTUK, MLTE and the BMC to manage Plas y Brenin. Given these close links it is no wonder that Plas y Brenin has been so effective at delivering training in mountaineering activities on our behalf. This is our opportunity to ensure that PyB continues to deliver both reliable and innovative training opportunities for the next 20 years.

Monday 8 February 2010

Great weekend in Snowdonia!



This weekend was pretty good here in North Wales (apart from the Rugby, but lets not mention that!).
On Saturday Tanya and I headed up Parsley Fern Gully (grade 1), which was in fabulous condition with bullet hard neve.
The cloud rolled around in the valleys and made for very atmospheric conditions.


On Sunday I went to upper Cwm Cneifion in the Glyderau to climb on Clogwyn Du. We followed 2 teams up Y Gully Left hand (grade V,5), which was one of the very few lines left. The ice was brittle at the start, making for hard climbing (not helped by chunks of ice coming down from the other teams - I hate being behind people on ice routes!), with a very exciting set of thin moves left onto the main ice - good lead by Gareth. The upper two pitches were in great condition with the top being my pitch and truly excellent ice!

Back in the Snowdonia office today, and its cold and grey outside. Feeling very keen now so fingers crossed that it stays cold.

Bryn

MLTW National Development Officer

Forthcoming MLTE/W Events

MLTE/W will be hosting a workshop at Ogwen Cottage on Saturday 26th of June. This is essentially a day when the MLT Officers deliver a training day for all those who are either currently involved, or maybe involved at some point in the future in delivering MLT courses. The morning theory sessions will be backed up with some outdoor practical sessions during the afternoon and this is a great opportunity for all to discuss with the Officers various issues.

A further event is planned for Friday the 24th September at the Dalesbridge Outdoor Centre near Clapham in Yorkshire.

Places are limited at both events so get your booking in with the office early!
Mal

Me 'an my shadow....


Hi All
Had another great winters day out yesterday, no wind and blue skies, just an easy days wandering around Y Garn which is still holding enough snow in the easy routes and it was rock hard!Great views of a Broken Spectre as I wondered down the ridge just a bank of mist formed in the valleys..

Wednesday 3 February 2010

Meeting with the UIAA President

Jon Garside and I met the President of the UIAA, Mike Mortimer from Canada at the BMC offices on Monday February 1st in order to explore ways to meet the growing demands from all around the world for the UIAA Training Standards. Several UK qualifications have been approved at this level.

Major job opportunity at Mountain Leader Training

We are looking for an Executive Officer for Mountain Leader Training: this is a very exciting job opportunity for the right candidate! Find details at http://www.mltuk.org/docs/height-news.html

Winter Walking


Saturday was the first day off since getting home from the Alps.
Tanya, Charly and I went for an afternoon stroll in Ogwen. We went up the East ridge of Pen yr Ole Wen, with blue skies and a gentle dusting of snow underfoot.
Higher on the mountain a fair amount of ice was around, and the surrounding North faces and higher Cwm's had quite a bit of snow left in them.

We came down the South face back to Ogwen Cottage (a descent I have not done in a long time, and probably best avoided in poor weather as route finding could be tricky).
A great day out.

Bryn

Tuesday 2 February 2010

Another great winters day


I had another great day on the hills on Saturday - nothing hard mind but it was just great being out in the sunshine on some great neve. Got a good view of these guys on El Mancho on Clogwyn Ddu.


Mal