Yesterday I was out in Snowdonia with two clients, Mike and Hayden. Both are pretty experienced in the hills and are on the ML trail, having completed their training. They were after a day on steep ground including some easy (grade 1) scrambling on classic routes to gain further experience - and they don't come any more classic than the Tryfan N Ridge - Bristly Ridge - Y Gribin round !
We met at the lay-by right under Tryfan just after 9.30 am and after the usual faffing set off at almost 10 am in pretty reasonable weather, cloudy but dry and warm with good visibility, though we knew the forecast was for significant deterioration in the afternoon.
A plague(?) of Scouts ... Almost immediately upon starting the route, we were amongst a large group (20-30) of young scouts aged we thought, around 13-15 with some leaders dotted here and there. Now I don't know the level of competency of these kids, or the qualifications of the leaders, so I don't want to cast too many aspersions but I thought the level of supervision looked suspect and I was glad I didn't have the responsibility - however, my two clients who are both teachers and CCF leaders were aghast at what they saw !
Tryfan Rescue ... With a little thought on route choice, we largely managed to avoid the main crowd apart from at the usual bottlenecks, though some of them seemed to follow our route once they had seen us ! Otherwise, it was a very pleasant ascent of scrambling and rough walking until we encountered a father / son pair who asked for help. They had become cragfast after venturing too far round to the west on one of the steeper sections. The father was able to retreat to safe ground but his teenage son had got into a position where he couldn't go forward and didn't want to go back over some wet slabs. After a quick recce, I decided the quickest and safest approach was to drop a rope to provide him some security to climb up to me. He was able to climb easily onto a ledge more directly below me, I put a sling round a huge block, dropped a rope loop down to him and asked him to step into it and tighten it. I then set up an Italian hitch and belayed him up to me. The poor lad was shaking like a leaf and struggling for footholds, but with the security of the rope and some gentle coaxing made it to the security of our position, still shaking. His Dad joined us shortly after and with a mumbled thank-you and something about having done the route ok previously, set off with his son up the next section - nice to know our help was appreciated and that the father had his son's well being at the top of his agenda !! My guys were impressed with the simplicity of my solution and we debated the fact that use of this system is not within the ML Summer remit.
The rest of the ascent happened without incident and on reaching Adam & Eve, we scuttled straight off to the south summit for a bite and drink to ensure a bit of peace and to be well away from potential 'Scouts fall while jumping Adam & Eve' incidents.
There is a message here, which is ... Tryfan is a serious proposition and is often underestimated by walkers beguiled by its roadside location. In poor visibility, it is especially difficult with no clear track and many false trails. Make sure you are properly equipped and have the experience to deal with it in poor conditions, or seek the services of a qualified mountain professional.
Bristly Ridge in the wet ... After a bit of ML ropework practice on our way down, we reached Bwlch Tryfan and started up towards Bristly just as the cloud came in and a light rain started - the forecast was going to be pretty accurate it seemed. Bristly Ridge, though shorter, is a tougher proposition than the standard Tryfan route (though Tryfan can be made harder) and in the wet requires a lot more care as some of the rock is quite smooth. My two guys certainly found it more of stretch and towards the limit of their comfort zones, though no rope use (planned or unplanned !) was required. Surmounting the headwall at the top of the gully got the award from both of them as least comfortable moment, even though we took the old style 'thrutching' option through the hole. The pinnacle also lived up to its 'intimidating' description as we approached it, but once the guys saw the fairly easy descent to the gap, they relaxed. Once through and round the pinnacle back to the ridge, the scramble peters out onto the plateau of Glyder Fach and we passed the cantilever, climbed onto the summit - made much more delicate by the greasy rock - and found a spot for a second bit of lunch and hot drink in now dry and clearer weather.
Back down via Y Gribin ... Sadly the respite form the rain and cloud was brief and by the time we set off, the cloud was closing in, wind rising and rain starting again. After a brief detour towards Glyder Fawr (I initially missed the route onto Y Gribin in the murk - doh !) we headed back round the lip of Cwm Cneiffion and found the top of Y Gribin. We had just started the descent when we bumped into a party coming up - a group of teachers out with an instructor for some ML steep ground work and a wild camp. They were most impressed with my scrambling gloves - in reality a cheap pair of gardening gloves with rubberised fingers - and in the weather conditions they were certainly going to get their wish for a wild camp ! A slow, careful descent of the steep upper section in heavy rain and low viz got us to the football field and then down to Llyn Bochlwyd where a bit more 'naving' was required to get us onto the path back to the car park and the car at about 7.30 pm. All in all a great 9.5 hour day out, which the guys seemed to enjoy, good company and a little added rescue drama- now that's what I call a Quality Mountain Day !
Cheers to both Mike and Hayden for making it such an enjoyable day, I think they got quite a lot out of it and MIke has a further two days booked with me soon.
Wednesday, 29 May 2013
Monday, 13 May 2013
Fast and light in the Carneddau
This week-end saw me return to the mountains of Snowdonia in summer mode - sort of ! With winds gusting up to 50 mph, the 0C isotherm at 900M, cloud base at 700-800m and with sleet and hail across the plateau it didn't feel much like summer !
I was out with Mike, an experienced trail runner and triathlete, who wants to build up his mountain days whilst pushing his fitness. So, with some trepidation (I'm not the fastest runner in the world) I agreed and we set off from Chester at around 6.30 am with a plan to do the Carneddau from Pen yr Helgi Du round to Pen yr Ole Wen and possibly up onto the Glyderau.
When we arrived at our start point we quickly agreed that in the conditions a Carneddau round would be sufficient, something for which Mike's dog William, affectionately known as 'Willy', would be grateful !
The plan was always to walk briskly up hill and run the flats and downhill where possible, keeping moving and hopefully warm with relatively little kit.
Kit / equipment: I wore running leggings, my amazing X-bionics thermal, a thin fleece gilet, trail shoes rather than boots, a hat and thin windstopper gloves. We each carried the bare minimum I considered safe: energy drink, energy food (a couple of bars and a bag of walnuts), waterproofs, first aid kit, belay jacket and spare gloves. Mike also carried a small flask of coffee. I must say it did feel quite exhilarating to be so light after a winter lugging round heavy packs in winter boots. In future though, I think will add a blizzard bag to the list.
To avoid getting lost in the murk that was enveloping the plateau, I had a map and compass and my trusty Garmin fenix watch as a navigation aid and GPS fall back tool. I had also calculated some rough timings based on a brisk walking pace of 5kph and 30s per 100m just as a guide for how we were doing.
We set off at a good pace up the broad southern shoulder to the summit of Helgi Du, waterproof jackets already on as it was raining hard. I elected not to wear waterproofs trousers at this stage but Mike did -his was probably the right decision as my legs did get quite cold and wet and when I eventually donned them higher up, my legs took quite a while to warm up. Once on the top of Helgi Du we were slowed quite a bit by the steep scrambley descent on the far side - it was slippy in the wet requiring caution, but the main issue was Willy - he really didn't like the steep descent much at all. Once down to the col we made good time back up and onto the summit of Llewellyn in around 1:45, some 45 mins faster than my schedule - not bad, maybe there is something in this fast and light thing. Some careful nav was then required off the summit in very poor visibility to ensure we headed across towards Dafyd rather than continue out to Yr Elen. With the aid of a bearing we set off in the right direction and soon picked up the main path across the plateau and despite being pelted with hail in our faces made reasonably swift progress across to Dafyd and then on towards Pen yr Ole Wen where we slowed a little by numerous pee stops - despite having drunk only half a litre ! As we approached the summit we saw our first people of the day, fully kitted heading in the opposite direction - enjoy !
With the need to get back to the car, we took the east ridge option off the Ole Wen towards the col near Ffynnon Lloer to save about 2km walking along the road. This is an interesting descent route, mainly steep walking but with a little easy scrambling and here again we hit a bit of an issue with Willy, who despite being a collie is definitely not SARDA dog material. By now he was looking petty tired and bedraggled and not at all happy with our choice of descent. Eventually, he was coaxed, cajoled, dragged and occasionally carried over the trickier sections and we made it to the col. He got his revenge on the remainder of the descent though, as I executed a number of perfect banana skin slips onto my back whilst trying to run down the sodden wet grass, while his four legs kept him comfortably upright. A quick jog of just over 1 km back up the road brought us back to the car, a rest for tiring legs and a very relieved looking dog who jumped straight in the boot and didn't move again !
So had the fast and light ethic worked ? we covered 15.5km including 1200m of ascent in 4:15 - an average speed of 3.6 km/h. But we had been stationary for about 54 mins for a variety of reasons - mainly dog / steep ground related - and our moving average was 5km/h. These figures don't sound fast in running terms but they are both significantly faster than an average walking pace in that terrain - we were about an hour faster (20%) than my 'fast walk' estimate. It was a actually faster than that though really, because my estimate made no allowance for slowing down on the steep descents when my recorded track showed that the slowest parts of our journey by far were the descents off Helgi Du and Ole Wen.
Put another way, we covered a full days walk for many people in half a day and could have been faster. Plus, I felt that in those conditions moving quickly and unencumbered was more pleasant (less unpleasant ?) than the slow, steady slog involved with bigger sacks and thicker clothing. Ill certainly be doing more of this. BUT it does rely on having competent, fit participants and decent equipment - if we had got lost and/or moved more slowly in those conditions we could easily have got hypothermic and been in trouble, so I certainly won't be doing it with clients generally.
I was out with Mike, an experienced trail runner and triathlete, who wants to build up his mountain days whilst pushing his fitness. So, with some trepidation (I'm not the fastest runner in the world) I agreed and we set off from Chester at around 6.30 am with a plan to do the Carneddau from Pen yr Helgi Du round to Pen yr Ole Wen and possibly up onto the Glyderau.
When we arrived at our start point we quickly agreed that in the conditions a Carneddau round would be sufficient, something for which Mike's dog William, affectionately known as 'Willy', would be grateful !
The plan was always to walk briskly up hill and run the flats and downhill where possible, keeping moving and hopefully warm with relatively little kit.
Kit / equipment: I wore running leggings, my amazing X-bionics thermal, a thin fleece gilet, trail shoes rather than boots, a hat and thin windstopper gloves. We each carried the bare minimum I considered safe: energy drink, energy food (a couple of bars and a bag of walnuts), waterproofs, first aid kit, belay jacket and spare gloves. Mike also carried a small flask of coffee. I must say it did feel quite exhilarating to be so light after a winter lugging round heavy packs in winter boots. In future though, I think will add a blizzard bag to the list.
To avoid getting lost in the murk that was enveloping the plateau, I had a map and compass and my trusty Garmin fenix watch as a navigation aid and GPS fall back tool. I had also calculated some rough timings based on a brisk walking pace of 5kph and 30s per 100m just as a guide for how we were doing.
We set off at a good pace up the broad southern shoulder to the summit of Helgi Du, waterproof jackets already on as it was raining hard. I elected not to wear waterproofs trousers at this stage but Mike did -his was probably the right decision as my legs did get quite cold and wet and when I eventually donned them higher up, my legs took quite a while to warm up. Once on the top of Helgi Du we were slowed quite a bit by the steep scrambley descent on the far side - it was slippy in the wet requiring caution, but the main issue was Willy - he really didn't like the steep descent much at all. Once down to the col we made good time back up and onto the summit of Llewellyn in around 1:45, some 45 mins faster than my schedule - not bad, maybe there is something in this fast and light thing. Some careful nav was then required off the summit in very poor visibility to ensure we headed across towards Dafyd rather than continue out to Yr Elen. With the aid of a bearing we set off in the right direction and soon picked up the main path across the plateau and despite being pelted with hail in our faces made reasonably swift progress across to Dafyd and then on towards Pen yr Ole Wen where we slowed a little by numerous pee stops - despite having drunk only half a litre ! As we approached the summit we saw our first people of the day, fully kitted heading in the opposite direction - enjoy !
With the need to get back to the car, we took the east ridge option off the Ole Wen towards the col near Ffynnon Lloer to save about 2km walking along the road. This is an interesting descent route, mainly steep walking but with a little easy scrambling and here again we hit a bit of an issue with Willy, who despite being a collie is definitely not SARDA dog material. By now he was looking petty tired and bedraggled and not at all happy with our choice of descent. Eventually, he was coaxed, cajoled, dragged and occasionally carried over the trickier sections and we made it to the col. He got his revenge on the remainder of the descent though, as I executed a number of perfect banana skin slips onto my back whilst trying to run down the sodden wet grass, while his four legs kept him comfortably upright. A quick jog of just over 1 km back up the road brought us back to the car, a rest for tiring legs and a very relieved looking dog who jumped straight in the boot and didn't move again !
So had the fast and light ethic worked ? we covered 15.5km including 1200m of ascent in 4:15 - an average speed of 3.6 km/h. But we had been stationary for about 54 mins for a variety of reasons - mainly dog / steep ground related - and our moving average was 5km/h. These figures don't sound fast in running terms but they are both significantly faster than an average walking pace in that terrain - we were about an hour faster (20%) than my 'fast walk' estimate. It was a actually faster than that though really, because my estimate made no allowance for slowing down on the steep descents when my recorded track showed that the slowest parts of our journey by far were the descents off Helgi Du and Ole Wen.
Put another way, we covered a full days walk for many people in half a day and could have been faster. Plus, I felt that in those conditions moving quickly and unencumbered was more pleasant (less unpleasant ?) than the slow, steady slog involved with bigger sacks and thicker clothing. Ill certainly be doing more of this. BUT it does rely on having competent, fit participants and decent equipment - if we had got lost and/or moved more slowly in those conditions we could easily have got hypothermic and been in trouble, so I certainly won't be doing it with clients generally.
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