Snow in Snowdonia

I have had a day off today so decided to make the most of the snow on the tops and go for a walk with the dog. As you can see from the photos the mountains are looking very pretty ad it has been nice and cold today too with temperatures of 3 degrees in the Ogwen Valley. I headed up onto the Glyders and there was a good hard crust on the snow and some good rime on the crags. North Wales will soon be echoing to the sound of picks being sharpened!

Rescues & First Aid

It has been a busy weekend with a definite Mountain Rescue theme. I have been on the ECMR First Aid course all weekend - yesterday this involved learning lots of new skills including injecting my team mates which lead to lots of general hilarity! Last night was the AMI AGM and on top of that we had 3 rescues yesterday and another one today. There has been a nice dump of snow down to about 400 metres and it is raining heavily now and with a temperature of 4 degrees c in Llanberis it will be falling as snow on the mountains. It looks set to be cold all week with a good frost tonight and blizzard conditions throughout the week.

ECMR First Aid Course

I am on a 3 day Emergency Care for Mountain Rescue First Aid course this weekend. This builds on the two day REC course that I did last weekend. I had a quick look at the mountain forecast for Snowdonia this morning and though I would share the overview with you:

A windy and cold morning with periods of rain at low levels and sleet and snow above 400 metres. Over the very highest peaks 4 to 8 cm of snow may accumulate. This should clear away by midday to leave a dry and fine afternoon with some sunshine.

Woo Hoo!

Scrambling in the rain

Well the last couple of days have been pretty wild. Yesterday was wet all day but the winds were only gusting about 40mph so Monica and I managed to do the North Ridge of Tryfan. It was nice to have the mountain to ourselves and blow the cobwebs away! Today we had 90mph winds and constant rain so we attempted the East Ridge on Moel Siabod but were beaten back by the weather - a hasty retreat saw us back in the cafe!

First Aid Course

I have been on a Mountain First Aid course this weekend with Active First Aid which is run by a friend of mine, Katherine Wills from the Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team. I have to update my first aid qualification every 3 years and so that what this weekend was all about. We had two full days of training with practice scenarios outdoors culminating in a grand finale Sunday evening. A great couple of days! I am now out with regular client and friend Monica for 3 days of private guiding scrambling here in Snowdonia.

If as a regular reader of the Blog you fancy a weeks ice climbing trip to Norway in February and have done some winter climbing before then drop me an email.

Navigation with Jim

I have been out with Jim today who is on my mentor scheme. We have had continual rain and forecast 100mph winds on the summits so we stayed low. Jim is preparing for hi ML assessment so we spent the day looking at micro navigation in poor visibility. Skye came along for the fresh air.

Two days advanced scrambling

Well the weather has not been great here in Snowdonia over the last couple of days but nonetheless Ian, Dave & I have got out and made the most of the lashing rain and strong winds! Yesterday we progressed there scrambling onto grade 2 ground in Cwm Idwal with the boys leading alternate pitches and looking at all of the skills involved in roped scrambling. Today we put it into practice on a very wild Cneifion Arete. A great week despite the weather!

Gribin Ridge, Lliwedd

Yesterday Bryn took Dave & Ian up the North Ridge of Tryfan whilst I caught up on some admin here at home. I have updated the location articles on the website - read them here for inspiration on places to visit. Last night Bryn and I ran a night navigation exercise for the Llanberis MRT whilst today I took Dave & Ian over Lliwedd via the grade 1 Gribin Ridge in lashing rain and hail! This evening we had a rescue where two males were lost on the Pyg Track on Snowdon!

5 day classic scrambles course

This week I have been joined by Ian & Dave for a 5 day classic scrambles course. The aim of the week is to pick off some of the best grade 1, 2 and 3 scrambles in Snowdonia. Today we headed up the Gribin ridge onto the Glyders and then descended Bristly Ridge. The winds were lighter than forecast but it was seasonably cold which is great after the warm weather of last week. We had some sleet and hail on the summits today so winter is on its way! On the Llanberis MRT we have had the usual rash of callouts that we get when the clocks go back from people who have forgotten a torch so don't forget its dark a lot earlier now!