York Alpine Club Blog

A week after climbing in 22 degrees of sunshine in Greece, Carmen and I found ourselves with a boot full of winter climbing kit on the way to the club meet in North Wales. The snows had arrived, and it was touch and go whether we'd even make it to the hut, in the remote Crafnant valley. All 14 of us did, though the cars had to be abandoned in the field below as the last 100m was impassable.

Saturday saw Andrew and Karen go heather bashing round Llyn Cowlyd, while the rest of us eventually decided on a mass ascent of Carnedd Llewellyn. Going was slow for the first few miles of mostly trackless terrain, with some deep snow and even deeper heather, but the views once we reached the tops were worth it. The ridge above Craig yr Ysfa was narrower and trickier than some had expected, but easy enough with care. The weather had started out cloudy but by now had changed to the normal Snowdonia blue skies and sunshine, though with a bitterly cold wind that kept us moving. We descended via Craig Llugwy to pick up the long but easy path by the reservoir feeder canal to pick up the outgoing route just as it got dark. About 3400 feet of ascent and a little over 12 miles, but felt a lot longer!

The day finished in perfect style with a massive meal courtesy of Clare (who even baked her own bread to go with the soup!), with apple pie but no custard from Peri.

The next day most people decided to get their cars out of the valley, and headed for a fine day's walk on Moel Siabod, above Capel Curig. Rob, Carmen and I opted to explore some of the hills near the hut, and did a short circuit over Crimpiau, Craig Wen, and Creigiau Gleision. Only 6 miles, but the weather was so glorious that we took it slowly and dusk was approaching by the time we reached the hut. Luckily the roads were much clearer than on the way in!

A great hut in a quiet valley, I'm sure we'll go back for another visit sometime. It's quite a way from the main climbing and walking areas (though only 2 miles from Capel Curig as the crow flies), but there is a lot of documented rock climbing in the valley, as well as unfrequented hills to explore.

Carmen's and my photos .
Debra's photos .
Rob's photos .

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 4th, 2010 at 2:03 pm and is filed under Walking, Weekend Meets, Winter. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.