A return visit to the Chester MC hut just outside Llanberis, by the road on the way up to Cloggy. And once again, all plans of climbing there were dashed by rain, wind, and more rain.
Saturday dawned relatively bright, with blue sky and sunshine in between the clouds. A few of us went off to look at the Parson's Nose arete, near Crib Goch, and inevitably as we neared the end of the hour long approach walk, the last of the sun disappeared and the clag began to descend.
We considered the Diff start, and the scrambling start, and opted for the one in between, a Mod up the side of the slab. I led it, Carmen, Peri, and Peter climbed together on the rope, then Rob soloed behind to take the gear out. It felt rather precarious for the grade, but cold rock and a general air of dampness probably had something to do with it.
The rope went away just before the hard bit (typical), which was the downclimb into the notch where the scramble comes in. The rest of the route was easier, but didn't always feel it due to wet rock and a cold wind – the rope nearly came out again a couple of times, but not quite. And the proper rain held off until a few metres from the top, which was nice.
Peri hadn't been to the summit before, so we headed upwards, soon joining the massed hoards who'd come up the tourist path next to the railway. The highlight was the group of 'lads' decked out in Bermuda shorts, plimsolls, and cans of lager, zig-zagging precariously up the path.
A quick pause at the top, with the horizintal rain continuing, and we decided to avoid the crowds by descending the top of the Snowdon Ranger path along the top of Cloggy (which was black and dripping), then cutting down to the valley and back to the hut.
On the way down we met Gordon and Maragaret on their way up, and they'd just passed Annie and other Margaret on their way down. Nobody met Simon and Debra, who'd got half way up a slippery scramble on Cloggy, thought better of it, and then walked up Snowdon with everybody else instead. It is rumoured that Donal and Mike went mountain biking, but we only have their word for this.
Mike kept us all entertained for the evening with his sparkling wit, and Mike and Rob between them kept us well fed. We then stole Annie's cake for pudding.
Sunday dawned wetter and windier than the day before, so nothing much was achieved, apart from a session at the climbing wall for a few of us, and lots of shopping for everyone else. Being a vegetarian, Mike didn't have enough strength to cycle uphill, so was last seen looking for someone to chauffeur him to the top so he could use gravity to get down again.
Tags: Parson's Nose, rain, sparkling wit, wind