After a soggy grey week, expectations for the weekend were low. But it was the YAC club hut meet in Snowdonia so in went the crampons and ice axe, though most of us were convinced wellies and a snorkel were likely to be more useful. Guido and I had arranged to share a lift and as I was in London the previous day decided to travel up on the Saturday morning at 6am – yikes.
As we drove over, the weather didn't seem to improve much. We decided a low grade scramble was a good bet, and picked on a combination of Central Buttress on the East face of Tryfan followed by Bristly Ridge (which is on something else). Arriving in Snowdonia things started looking up – the tops were definitely white – looked like a light sprinkling of snow on top so into the sacs went the crampons etc.
As we gained height the snow cover got thicker, we couldn't spot the path so it was heather bashing for us in deepening snow. By the time we reached Heather Terrace and the start of our route, conditions were definitely wintry, but it was all soft loose snow. Guido pronounced the initial obstacles to be on the tricky side so as he had a complete winter novice – me – in tow, decided we should rope up. Since the snow was too soft to use axes effectively I was then introduced to the dark art of Dry Tooling. Which I have got to say is huge fun – once I got the hang of it, I was suprised what a good hold (is that the word? sounds wrong) you can get on small edges and cracks with your axe, and how solid it felt.
Solid is not the word I would have used for the snow – it was of the "steps that collapse under your weight" variety, which felt quite exciting on a steep slope. At one point I had both legs submerged up to the knees in snow, struggling to achieve a balance between pushing hard enough to extract my feet without making it collapse further. We also took longer than expected as we only had a short rope with us, so had to rebelay every 30? metres or so. Never mind, it was completely exhilarating, the sky was now blue with the crags outlined sharply against it and every now and again I remembered to look round slack jawed at the views down into the valley. Arrived at the top completely blown away by the experience and very chuffed to have done my first winter route.
Unfortunately we ran short of time to do Bristly Ridge – by the time we got there the sky was turning pink and we decided not to spoil a brilliant day by pushing our luck so headed for a traditional finish at Petes Eats.
Arrived at the hut, and several hours after darkness Simon Carmen and Rob also arrived, having spent the day searching for ice on the Black Ladders. Carmen and Simon then fed the masses with haggis and neeps and Carmen's amazingly good soup. Next day it pished down but who cares after such a brilliant Saturday so me Guido Carmen and Simon headed off to beast ourselves at the Beacon Climbing Centre, Rob went for a walk and the bikers did something bikey.
