My First Leadership experience: the Snowdon Horseshoe

Having completed my Mountain Leader training back in April of this year I now have to rack up a number of Quality Mountain Days (QMDs) before I can think about going back to do my assessment. As well as working on improving a number of skills I also need to get some experience of actually leading groups of people (which may prove tricky since I am not a Mountain Leader yet, thats the whole point, but we shall see. And I digress).

A friend of mine, Caroline, recently attempted Crib Goch with the assistance of a guide that she had hired for the day. However, the weather was against them and they had to turn back. So, I posted on Caroline’s Facebook wall that if she wanted to try again then she should let me know. I have to admit that I wasn’t expecting a response a short while later suggesting the following weekend and asking if we could attempt the full Snowdon Horseshoe!

However, keen to not turn down any opportunity of another QMD and an opportunity to practice some of the stuff we covered on the ML course I accepted Caroline’s request. There followed a frantic week (mainly on Caroline’s part) to find accomodation and come up with a strategy. As the week progressed the weather forecast looked like Saturday might just offer a window of opportunity so we agreed to camp at the Swallow Falls hotel and drive up to Pen Y Pass bright and early Saturday morning.

We both made it up to Betws – y – Coed in pretty good time on Friday evening and after a swift drink in the bar retired to our respective tents. I woke the next morning just before my alarm went off at 5:30am. We got up, had a quick breakfast and cup of coffee before heading up to Pen Y Pass. By the time we had parked up, got a ticket and sorted out our kit it was probably around 7am by the time we set off, heading up the Pyg track on the start of our big adventure.

The morning had started with clear blue skies and bright sunshine. However, as we progressed along the Pyg track, so the cloud started to build so that by the time we left the Pyg at Bwlch y Moch the clouds were obscuring the summit of Snowdon and the top of Crib Goch. As we were about to start the first scramble it started to rain and by the time we were half way up the initial ascent it was hailing! Hailing, in June!!

By the time we reached the ridge the rain and hail had ceased but the ridge was still wreathed in cloud.

We managed to make our way along the ridge, only descending slightly to work our way around a gulley that almost cut the ridge in two. There must be a way over the top as the group behind us managed to overtake us somehow on this section.

We had made it along the Crib Goch ridge to Bwlch Goch, only to be faced with wall of Garnedd Ugain. The phrase that sprung to mind was “How on earth are we going to get up there?”

But, get up it we did. After an initial false start trying to find a route myself, we ended up following another group who had had more success at route finding than we had. Once at the top of the wall we found ourselves on another narrow ridge, which almost imperceptibly got easier and wider until the trig point at the summit appeared through the mist and we had made it to the summit of Garnedd Ugain.

Descending from the trig point it was almost as if we were strolling across open parkland – although there were rocks on the ground and we were still on the summit ridge I knew that the drop off to my right was about 100m away (because I had navigated to it on the ML course). A whole 100m!! That was huge when for the last two hours we had been working our way along a knife edge.

Before we knew where we were the Snowdon railway was on our right and the marker stone at the top of the Pyg track was on our left. We were on the final approach to the summit of Snowdon. By this time there were a few more people about and we were passed by the little steam engine working hard to push a single carriage of tourists towards the top of the mountain. It was very odd to look in at these people sipping their coffees as we slogged up the slope, the wind gusting around us. It was even odder when we finally made it to the summit to see some of these tourists in their designer label open toed sandals and casual outfits strolling around the summit.

Sixth time on the summit, sixth time with no view.

Although this was my sixth time at the summit, it was the first time I had been there when the visitor center was open. So, we popped in for a coffee. Such a bizarre experience, knowing that you are on the top of the highest mountain in England and Wales, and yet it was just like being in a fast food outlet in a town somewhere. I hope the people who work there get the train to work.

After the coffee we headed back out into the mist and started our descent, heading towards the South Ridge until we came across the marker stone at the head of the Watkin path, where we turned and headed down the scree slope.

This was a new experience for me on two accounts. It was the first time that I had descended via the Watkin path and it was the first time that I had seen the Watkin path in its entirity, without it being covered in mist. (Note to self – in future keep to the left on the ascent and aim for the marker stone rather than trying to ascend via the scree slopes).

Thanks to the clearing weather we were able to make it down the scree slopes relatively quickly and easily and made it safely to Bwlch y Saethau, from where we could see the route we had taken so far, the slope of Lliwedd looming in front of us and tremendous views of Glaslyn, Lln Llydaw and the Cribau ridge (which I had ascended on the ML course).

And now we were into the final leg. An easy scramble got us to the top of the West Peak of Lliwedd via some spots for a brief rest and a look back over the route we had travelled.

Once on the West peak there was a short down before another quick up to the summit of the East Peak. From there is was literally down hill all the way via Lliwedd Bach and the path down to the Miner’s track and then back to Pen Y Pass car park and another well earned cup of coffee in the cafe.

Total time, about 8 hours. During that time I managed to point out some interesting features and talk to Caroline about lichens, hexagonal columnar cooling,  and various other topics.

A full set of my photos are available on my Flickr site here. And a map of the route is here.

Plas y Brenin Nature Trail and Moel Siabod

At the end of last year we were due to attend the Big Christmas Walk, the weekend before Christmas. Unfortunately a small amount of slush brought Oxfordshire’s roads to a standstill and it took us two hours to get from Oxford to Warwick. When we heard that the A5 in Llanberis was shut due to snow we rang Plas y Brenin to learn that it was still snowing and the snow plough had already been past twice. They advised us that our money could be saved and put toward another course, so we took this option rather than risking the journey. We later found out that out of 120 planned attendees only 60 made it and the staff spent all weekend trying to dig cars out of the car park.

So, the money was put towards another course and we chose the Nature Trail weekend. We are both interested in the environment and I thought that the extra information would be a useful addition to the stuff I’m learning for the ML. We both had Friday off work so headed up to Wales, setting off just before lunch. At Banbury I realised that I only had one test strip for the whole weekend, so instead of spending Friday afternoon relaxing at the Brenin, we spent it dashing from the GP surgery in Betws to the Asda pharmacy in Llandudno, before finally reaching the Brenin around 7pm.

We had dinner and a couple of pints of Boot Liquor in the bar before heading off to bed.

Saturday

Saturday morning we met in the conference room for the normal briefing from the duty instructor before being introduced to our instructor (Louise Beetlestone) and the other three delegates on the course. Along the way I happened to bump into Stu and Steve, two of the instructors from the ML course.

Of the other delegates Steve wanted to brush up on his geology knowledge for his IML assessment and his wife Hazel was along for the weekend holiday. Debs was there to see more plants while her other half was doing his 2 star kayaking with Spike.

After the introductions we grabbed our packs and boots and headed out in a minibus to the minor roads north of Dinorwic and the edge of the National Park. Louise parked the minibus and we headed up the track towards Carnedd y Filliast. The route took us along the ridge to Mynydd Perfedd and then across a narrow ridge, Bwlch y Marchlyn to Elidir Fawr. From there we descended the scree slope towards Elidir Fach and then back to the road and thus back to the van.

Along the way Louise talked about the geology of the area, the different ages of rock and showed us the anticline at Marchlyn Bach. We also identified numerous plants and several birds including the Wheatear (previously named the White Arse before it was changed by the Victorians), the Skylark, the Raven and Meadow Pipit.

On the way back to the Brenin we stopped off at the bus stop car park to visit the viewing point for the Llanberis slate quarries. They are huge! And amazing to see how structures have been built on the piles of waste slate.

Saturday Evening

We made it back to the Brenin in time for tea and cakes and then spent some time in one of the class rooms talking more about geology and attempting to identify some of the plants and lichens we had encountered. My photos from both days are shown on my Flickr site. I have tried to identify all the plants but would welcome any comments on the ones I haven’t identified or if you think I have made a mistake with any of them.

After dinner we attended a talk by Ollie about some of the expeditions to Chile and Greenland he has undertaken in recent years. The photos were very good and most of the talk was very interesting but it didn’t flow very well and Ollie was prone to mumble quite a bit as he talked to the screen rather than the audience, so some parts were difficult to follow.

Sunday

Sunday morning we met at 9.15 under the canopy before heading out, in a car this time, to Ogwen Cottage. From the car park we headed up towards Cwm Idwal, skirting to the east of Llyn Idwal and passing under the (in)famous Idwal slabs. We climbed towards Twll Du (Devils Kitchen) and, crossing the stream we headed up a narrow “Sheep track” to the right hand side. It was indeed narrow in some places, with quite  a lot of exposure. I don’t think I would have had the confidence to go that way by myself, although now I know it is possible to get out on to the ridge I might try it again in future.

The path led us underneath the “Curtain” and the water falling from it gave us our own localised rain storm. Apparently this freezes in the winter and makes for a major ice climb. After a bit of a scramble the gulley opened out and we made it on to the top.

Crossing the stream that feeds into Twll Du we examined the rock for pillow lava and ripples before heading down the path on the other side of Twll Du and following the footpath through the moraine around the western edge of Llyn Idwal. There was a brief detour to look down the Nant Ffrancon valley. Louise pointed out a roche montanne and we all took ages to spot it, picking our own features in the valley before being directed to the correct one. (A discussion of the gacial features of Cwm Idwal and Nant Ffrancon can be found here).

Then it was time to head back to the car via a whetstone quarry, before heading back to the Brenin. We had a debrief over much needed tea and cakes before heading our separate ways.

Sunday Night

Rather than heading home we went a few miles down the road to Dol Gam campsite. It being a bank holiday weekend we were planning to spend Monday in Snowdonia as well. I had tried to get us a room at the Brenin Sunday night but they were full. So we went down to the campsite and tried out our new tent – a Terra Nova Superlite Quasar.

We had dinner, pizza and beer, in the cafe just up the road from the camp site. A great little place with copies of Climber magazine from the 1960s and 70s. Interesting to see that although kit technology has moved on the issues, particularly surrounding litter in the mountains, have not.

We spent a very comfortable night in the tent, with lots of room for both of us and woke refreshed on Monday morning, although as soon as we stepped out of the tent the midges attacked us in swarms and encouraged us to leave the campsite asap.

Moel Siabod

We drove back the Brenin to check the weather forecast and since it advised that the rain of the morning would clear by the afternoon we decided to have a go at Moel Siabod. We drove back towards the campsite and left the car in a hotel car park – £3 a day isn’t bad for someone to keep an eye on it for you.

We headed down the road and turned right down a minor side road and right again up a track. A well signed path led us around a farm and on to moorland. Crossing into open access land we passed a reservoir and headed up into some old mine workings. We passed an old quarry that is now filled with water. Nothing particularly strange about that as there are several of these across the Snowdonia National Park, but this one looked really deep. We could see the rock faces just dropping away under the water with no sign of the bottom.

Walking on above the quarry we followed the path as it contoured around the lower slopes of Moel Siabod, above the streams that flow into Llyn y Foel. Daear Ddu, the south-eastern ridge sticks out from the summit with a sheer face and gulley running up the side. As we climbed away from the Llyn we had a choice of heading to the ridge or following the gulley. We chose the gulley and slowly worked our way up the scree covered slope, which seemed to get steeper and steeper as we neared the summit. Finally an easy scramble up some wet rocks bought us out onto the summit, just a few meters east of the trig point.

After admiring the view we headed down the North Eastern slope, aiming for Plas y Brenin and soon picked up the path that led us into the wood and back to the car.