Winter Skills with Jim

I have been out with Jim today who is on my mentor scheme. Jim had borrowed a pair of his Dads old crampons and some axes off me and we headed up into Cwm Cneifion to do some winter skills and suss out the climbing conditions. The ground was well frozen and it was below freezing in the Ogwen Valley when we left the car. As we headed up we practiced some crampon skills on the ice bulges in Seniors Gully and then on the frozen streams in the bed of Cwm Cneifion. The very light dusting of snow looked pretty but there was nothing substantial enough to play on. We climbed Easy Route (I) which allowed us to link up patches of old neve with frozen turf to give a fun outing. We then headed across the top of the Glyders getting some lovely views before descending into Cwm Idwal. The temperature was -5 degrees c on the summits with a biting NE wind. There were no climbers out on any routes anywhere which says it all really! A beautiful day to be out hillwalking though.