Spring Time

Were enjoying this fine weather up in Snowdonia at the moment.
Snowdonia Nat Pk is so dry it's unbelievable and there's still pockets of snow on the tops which makes the Park looks stunning.



We have been busy running navigation courses over the last few weeks.
All the course's have varied from the NNAS Award Scheme to Mountain Leader Refresher Course's and Night Navigation.

Next weekend is the first of our Welsh 15 Peaks of the season and the forecast is looking good.

Everyone on the May Toubkal Climb have been trying to squeeze in some training and reports from Jamal our man in Morocco is that all the snow has now cleared and it's warming up nicely, which is great news as were camping.



See you on the hill

Jim

Welsh Ridge Walks

Spring is finally here and we've also had some great sunny days.

It's been a fab winter, but were happy to see spring finally arrive.

Our first weekend this spring was spent doing some of the lesser known walks in Snowdonia, but just as stunning as the popular walks, the bonus being it's very quiet and free from all the more popular routes.

On Saturday we headed out for the Nantlle Ridge, with stunning views of Snowdon and the coastline plus some easy scrambling the Nantlle Ridge is a must for all those looking for something new away from the crowds.

Once we had got over the initial shock of a very long steep climb onto the ridge and were rewarded with magnificent 360 views.

On the ridge the route starts on a broad ridge then narrows into a smaller brother of Crib Coch the great thing about Nantlle is you can take the more challenging route or the more relaxed route.

Sunday we climbed Cnitch known as the Matterhorn of Wales this is one of those quiet parts of the National Park that when your there you think why have I not been here before it's simply stunning again great views of Snowdon, Cadir Idris and the Coast.

There's a short scramble to the summit which just adds the whole experience once on the summit it was lunch time before following a short wide ridge then finally descending to our start point.

Both these routes get very little visitors which make it's such a special place.

Remember mum's the word.

Scottish Winter Skills

We Loaded up our Land Rover for what was going to be a slow trip to the Scottish Highlands.
The joy of driving a land rover, well we would be going slow enough to enjoy the stunning Scottish Highlands but get a very numb backside in the process.

Arriving in Aviemore and the sun was shining, Wow this is going to be a good week. Of course it was't to last about an hour in fact.

So our winter skills started off ice axe arrest then moving onto snow pack asessment and winter navigation skills and finally crossing step ground.

After 3 days practising all our new skills in strong winds and zero visability we headed out on our expedition.

Once on the Cairn Gorm plateau we were down to zero visability so good navigation was need to find a venue for our night in a snow hole.

After 3 hours digging we finally had our cosy little home and a brew on.

Everyone had a good night's sleep if not a little damp.

The folowing day we spent practising our navigation before covering some steep ground decending Fiacaill Ridge and finally a controlled bum slide into Corrie Sneachda.

After a hot shower we headed out for a curry and well earn't beer..

Everyone then headed home the following day.

I stayed on a few days to make the most of the last few weeks of winter conditions, another day on the Cairn Gorm and then climbed gulley number 4 on Ben Nevis in glourious sunshine before heading back to Wales justv in time for more snow.

What an amazing winter this has been, lets hope we continue to have more winter like this year.

Rjukan Ice Climbing

We arrived in Norway with a bang that was our landing the runway was a sheet ice pretty scary.

Outside the airport it was blowing a gale and about -12 the adventure had begun.
Our first 5 days in Rjukan were really cold average daily temp -16 so it made the ice really brittle so it was coming away in huge pieces. One of our group ended up with a split eye and great black eye.

We headed for the lower gorge for the first 2 days then we checked out Ozizmosis these were great intro's into the area and ice climbing.
Norway is'nt cheap and £5 a pint at happy hour we only had a couple of beers before maxing out the credit cards.
With such cold conditions and huge amounts of snow our next planned adventure to MAEL was going to be full on.
MAEL is a true adventure with an absail into the gorge then a 4 pitch WI 3 cllimb out for the hard core there a WI 4 & WI 6.
After a long full days climb everyone was rewarded with 5ft of snow towade through a tough but awsome day.
It was time for a rest day for me but the remianing of the group climbed every day.

Rjukan is a world class ice climbing area with over 150 water falls to climb with climbing routes to suit every level.
We headed out for the Krokan area once everyone was feeling strong this area had some of more technical climbing in the area there were some pretty knarly ice colums to be climbed for those good enough of mad enough.
We spent a couple days in the upper gorge there was some full on multi- pitch routes to be climbed including the world class Lipton good knows how people manage to climb it.
After 10 days we were all well and truly wasted everyyone climbed really hard but we all left Norway very happy and planning next years rtn trip.

Winter Skills

Fantastic weather here in Snowdonia over the weekend, we had clear blue skies and great snow conditions for the winter skills course.
Both days were spent in Cwm Lloer learning and practising new skills.
Sunday managed to bag a few summits on the Carneddau and the views over Snowdonia were just magic.
There seemed to be alot of people on the hill who must have though it was mid July , with very little equipment, there were no crampons or ice axes to be seen, even a pair of boots would would have been good for some walkers.
The mountains in the U.K. can be very dangerous places to be with the wrong equipment so make sure you have all the right skills & kit before heading out.
You don't want to be in the paper come monday morning !

Sorry about that just a little rant.
lets hope the winter conditions continue.
Were of to Norway in 10 days to enjoy some world class ice climbing.
Have fun.

Toubkal Jan 2010

After a short 3hr flight from the U.K. we touched down in Marrakesh to a perfect temperature of 19c, We then headed straight off for some lunch and then spent the afternoon wondering around the sights and souks of Marrakesh.
A short 2hr drive through stunning valleys we finaaly arrived at out guest house in Imlil.

After meeting our Moroccan guide Rashid the evening was spent getting our kit ready for the climb and a quick briefing before our early morning departure for the refuge.

The forecast for the next 3 days was possible snow on day one and two and and clear skies for our summit day.

The snow line was at 3000mt so things were looking good, our climb to the refuge at 3200mt would be quicker and easier.

As soon as our donkey's were loaded up with all our food and supplies for the next 3 days we slowly made our way to the refuge at 3200mt a climb of nearly 1400mt so a big day at altitude, it took us nearly 7hrs to reach the refuge stopping for tea along the way, thankfully the Moroccans like drinking tea just as much as the us so we were in good company.

Everyone was feeling pretty good with the altitude just a few mild headaches.

Once at the refuge it was tea time once again then we had just enough time to practise our winter skills and play around in the snow.

We awoke early the next morning to a total white out the wind was blowing at about 40kph which would mean we could only spend the day in the valley due to high avalanche risk.

All though we did manage two short walks up to 3400mt to help everyone acclimatise along with playing in the snow, plenty of tea and the odd game of cards.

By mid afternoon two of us headed out to check the conditions on the summit ascent route only to find the snow pack in very dangerous condition and a high risk of avalanche.

We would need a miracle for us to summit the following morning.

After another great evening meal and a birthday cake plus more tea and of course a game of cards we headed for bed praying for the conditions to change.

We woke early to check the weather only to find a foot of snow on the door of the refuge and the wind still blowing strong so we decided for the leisurely breakfast as we couldn't make a summit attempt in such adverse weather conditions.

After breakfast we started to make our way back down to Imlil along with everyone else staying in the refuge. Its was hard going trying to break a trail in over a foot of snow and of course the strong winds.

Finally after 1hr on the trail the weather finally broke and we were rewarded with breath taking views of the High Atlas and only our foot marks in the snow, it was like a winter wonderland and the snow was as low down as 1500mts which was not to common in Morocco.

Once back in Imlil we had time to chillout wounder around the village before dinner and a few celebration drinks.

Another early start back to the airport but to finish off our adventure we found ourselves stuck on the road due to a landslide so it was all has on deck or rocks in this case as we cleared the road and finally to the airport.

Despite not making it to the summit due the weather we had a great trip with alot of laughs and the trail back down after all the snow fall just made up it.

Snowdonia

We have some great winter conditions at the momment in Snowdonia.

So we've been out making the most it.

We got some great winter routes done on the Glyders and Cwm Idwal.

The snow is still a little soft in the gullies but fingers crossed we get a hard frost tonight and it's back out tommorrow for more fun and games.

Some of the team who are coming on our Toubkal Winter Climb in January are out on the hill tomorrow getting some training in.

Were off to Scotland over Christmas and New Year, Our plan is to start off on the West Coast then were heading East then finishing on the Isle of Skye should be a blast.