Some days are just meant for relaxing – Day 3 of my Mountain Mooch in Snowdonia was a thoroughly relaxing affair – The Snowdon Horseshoe did tire me out a bit the day before so all I wanted was a stroll and some hammock time.
I set out for Llyn Geirionydd on my own (everyone was doing their own thing on this day) with my rucksack packed with sandwiches, cameras and my hammock.
Chilled Day
Llyn Geirionydd is a stunning lake and thankfully had some nicely spaced trees to relax and watch nature go by. I did take a stroll around part of the Lake and tried to capture some of the colour that was around. It was late winter with little new growth happening but still enough to keep me happy.
Back to Nature
Feeling relaxed and renewed I headed back to camp to await the arrival of the rest of our group.
Last February the London Area Seacadet Adventure Training team headed up to North Wales for some staff training. This annual trip is one I really look forward to as it gives me a chance to test my mountain skills once again.
An advance group of us – Perry, John, Jacques, Jenny and myself all headed up a few days before the main group arrived. For our first day we headed out into the less touristy part of the Snowdon range – the Carneddau Mountains.
Heading Up
Our aim was to take a slow hike up towards Carnedd Llewellyn doing a bit of nav training, scrambling and winter work. All the winter work we planned was to play about in one of the lower snow fields where it is perfectly safe.
I went on ahead of the group at the beginning to find a good spot or two for photography. Jacques soon caught up with me and started playing about with some ice in a pond.
Firstly it was just a case of seeing if he could move the whole sheet with his poles but then as usual – he stepped on it 🙂 We found when it broke that it came out in quite neat triangles.
Peaks in Peaks
Jacques soon had a little range of ice peaks made up so I decided to make up a little video with him – titled by Jacques as ‘Peaks in Peaks’.
From the ice pond we were soon scrambling along ridges, throwing snowballs and watching Kestrels hovering overhead – quite dramatic scenery and hardly any another souls around.
Scrambling
Once below the summit of Carned Llewellyn in a gently sloping area we had a little play with some crampons and ice axes.
Winter Skills
The return home was just as slow as the ascent as everyone was pretty tired out from this first days hike however we were treated to some great views and a fly past by the RAF.
I put together a short video of the day below.
Daty 2 of the trip found Jacques and myself completing the Snowdon Horseshoe in ‘slightly’ wintry conditions – more of that in the next blog.
I spent last weekend up in the beautiful mountains of Snowdonia in North Wales. The winds were particularly strong and the rain was pretty continual.
I was with fellow instructors from the Sea Cadets working on our navigation skills. Although the elements were against us from the start and we did not top out everyone kept up good spirits. This picture of my friend Dave captures for me the tough conditions however it also shows the high spirits of folk.
January is usually the time that as outdoor pursuits instructors in the Sea Cadets we venture up into the mountains and moors to do a bit of skills training. This is just not as a bit of extra training for ourselves but as a way of introducing some of the newer instructors to the world of hillwalking and mountaineering.
There was a smattering of snow on the mountains when we arrived but not a great deal. The winds had been very high in the few days leading up to our weekend and had blown most of it away. The weekend was organised in quite a relaxed manner. One group decided to walk over Moel Siabod and the surrounding area while the group I was with decided to do a bit of scrambling and winter skills around the base of Mt Snowdon.
We had arranged to meet up with some non-Sea Cadet friends that day who were also training in the area and set off early on Saturday. We were not aiming to summit that day but concentrated on working on our micro-navigation skills, leadership and group management. For me, it was also a good opportunity to practise my photography skills. I have a separate post on these pictures in this post on Special Snowdon Scenes.
While we were ascending up to The Horns and then onto the base of Crib Goch some of the lads took the opportunity to get a bit of bouldering in. The weather was cold but clear, making it ideal for keeping what little snow we had and perfect for photography as well.
Bit of Bouldering
We got some good views as we worked on taking bearings on near and far features so as to double check our positions. Also we spent some time working on rope skills, learning to ‘dog lead’ a nervous student over tricky terrain.
Route finding is always a good skill to practise, whether that is to avoid great big coils of barbed wire or picking your way across a stream.
Skills training
While we were wandering around having a good time a shepherd and his collie dog came by. As soon as the shepherd stopped the collie sat perfectly still. They both looked around, scanned the mountainside and then were away. In a couple of minutes both the shepherd and collie had disappeared. This moment reminded me that our playground is also someone else’s workplace.
Later in the day Graham and myself came across the Cym Deli pipeline that feeds water down to the oldest hydro electric station in the valley below. It is known locally as ‘the chapel in the valley‘ due to its design. I did not know this until I read the wiki page on the site but the pipelines appeared in the James Bond film ‘The World is Not Enough’
Working Snowdonia
We had hoped to scramble up Cribau but decided against it as there was a lot of ice at the top. Not everyone had crampons or ice axes so we decided to head down to Llyn Llydaw instead. We walked around the southern shore of Llyn Llydaw to get off the beaten track and concentrated on micro navigation.
The route is not obvious but well worth the effort. When we reached Cwn Dyli it was time for a snowball fight. Needless to say no prisoners were taken.
Enjoyment in different forms
We all decided to stay down low on the Sunday morning. Some of the guys went to the Pinnacles to do a bit of rock climbing and the rest of us walked from Capel Curig Training Camp up to the cafe in Capel Curig.
It was a stunning morning with low-lying mist and beautiful sunshine.
Sunny Sunday
We did a little bit of navigation but to tell you the truth we mainly just enjoyed the walk. It got a bit muddy in places but we just took our time.
Navigating and a bit of R & R
Just before we reached the cafe at Capel Curig I met up with Dan Keefe and his lovely family. They had all come up for the weekend and were staying at Llanrwst to celebrate Dan’s birthday. This was also the first time I had met Dan’s little lad Oscar.
Meeting the Keefe clan
The rain came in just after I took this picture so it was time to get a bit of lunch before heading off home in the minibus.
While we were walking and climbing in the park I set myself the challenge of photographing the beauty of the park in as many ways as possible.
I aimed to try and capture the big scenes, the little ones, the natural ones and the man made ones. This is my record of that attempt.
Stunning Snowdonia – big or small – natural or man made
Those who have ever been to Snowdonia will know that water is a very dominant force in this mountainous terrain. I found beauty in simple drips hanging off branches, the outflow from a stream monitoring station and the drip drip from an icicle.
Water – beauty in many forms
I have always been fascinated by reflections on water. I tried to capture the full reflection of Crib Goch in the picture below but could not quite get the angles right to get the top of the mountain in the picture as well.
The bottom picture I liked not just for the reflection from the mountains and the small rock but the texture of the water surface, with half of it semi frozen and half of it unfrozen.
Reflections – big and small
The geology of the park always catches my eye. I aimed in these two pictures below to capture the ruggedness of the scenery both in the sharpness of the rocks in the near distance and the rolling majesty of the land in the far distance.
Geology – sharp and rolling
While walking around Snowdon I came across these hardy little souls. The mountain goats were well at home on the steep slopes and hardly fazed by our presence.
I stood watching them for a good half hour as they jumped about in search of green shoots and even got some of their tracks in the snow.
Fauna – the beautiful mountain goat
The pictures below of a large bird of prey do not do the actual moment any justice at all. My lens is not the telephoto type so I could not get tight onto the bird to get a close up.
We were walking as a group in the woods near Capel Curig when I spotted the large brown bird land in a tree. We walked as close as we could to it and managed to snap these long range shots as it flew away. I am not sure if it was an owl, a hawk or buzzard but it was big and beautiful and majestic in its flight.
Fauna – the airborne sort
Lastly not to forget the beauty poking its head out of the snow. I spent a lot of time lying in the snow getting close up shots of whatever plant life I could see.
At this time of year the ferns, mosses, grasses and heathers are the dominant flora on the mountainside. To really appreciate this beauty you need to get down close and personal.
Flora – spikes in the snow
I find that photography is starting to awaken in me a greater awareness of all the beauty that surrounds me, even in environments where I think at first glance very little is going on.
