03-08-10, Ogwen - Scrambling

A wet day in Snowdonia today. James, Liam and myself headed into Ogwen to do some scrambling. They both have an MIA assessment coming up and we thought we make use of a soggy day by ascending, Tryfan Fach, and then South Gully on Tryfan's east face, and finished up on Bristly Ridge on Glyder Fach. It was good practice for short roping and decision making. We met up with a few teams of hill walkers on the summit of Tryfan but had the scrambles to ourselves.

06-06-10, Ogwen - Scrambling and Rock Climbing

This weekend I have been working for Kathryn Bromfield Mountain Instruction with Julian and Eddy. They are regular hill walkers that have started to get into scrambling. On Saturday we did some roped scrambling by ascended the right hand side of the Idwal slabs and then climbed up the classic grade 3 scramble Cnefion Arete which lies high in the Nameless Cwm. We climbed quite fast so managed to do a quick route on Clogwyn y Tawr on the way back down as well. Today we went rock climbing and climbed Idwal slabs via the classic VDiff Hope. Along the way the guys learnt various ways to tie into belays, what makes good runners and anchors, managed to build some belays of their own and learnt techniques to abseil safely and efficiently.

The weather has changed over the weekend. Very hot and muggy on Saturday and today was overcast and showery. It looks like the weather is set to be mixed over the next week, so it will take some time for the mountain crags to dry out again.

Photos - Above, Cnefion Arete (grade 3) scramble or Moderate rock climb. Right, Hope VD on Idwal Slabs.

01-05-10, Ogwen, Snowdonia - Scrambling

Today I was out scrambling in the Ogwen Valley. I was working with Oliver for Sea2Summit. Oliver has aspirations to climb Mont Blanc later this summer, so wanted to get out into the mountains, have a journey over scrambly terrain and get used to his super stiff boots. We headed into the Glyders, to the base of Idwal Slabs and did some roped scrambling on the far right hand side. A quick lunch stop in the base of the Nameless Cwm and then we decided to ascend the Cneifion Arete. The arete was busy but was still as good as ever. Today the weather was much better than forecast, there were a couple of minutes of drizzle but in general was dry and fresh. There are a few snow patches left but there is definitely a spring feel about Snowdonia.

Oliver seconding pitches at the start of 'Direct Approach to Seniors Ridge'.

The classic and brilliant Cneifion Arete (grade III scramble or Moderate rock climb).

The top of Cneifion Arete.