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Hi. Thanks for stopping by. My names Ian. I was born and raised in Sheffield left and joined the RAF did 25 years and now working in the Rail industry.

You can't buy that.

Thanks for stopping by. This is mainly an account of walks done by myself, alone, with Family or Friends and acquaintances, with the odd rant and mishap thrown in. If it bores you I apologise, if it inspires you i'm honoured. I have done this so when i'm old and infirm I can look back at some nice times and think I had achieved something outside of helping to bring some wonderful people in to the world. Hi to Leigh, Sean, Zara and Rebecca. I hope they grow up to appreciate the beauty all around them as I do. Its also so they can see what their Dad was up to when they were a little bit too small or too far away to come with him.

Thursday 21 January 2010

WELSH LESSONS - the WESTERN GLYDERRAU.

Snowdonia? There is a big mountain with a cafe on it and thats about all Wales has to offer. Or so I thought. I joined a Walking forum a few months ago and started to look at the Wales section. Its got a few hills thats for certain, I'd heard of a few. Tryfan, Snowdon, Moel Famau Cadair Idris. I'd seen a few impressive hills when I used to go to Barmouth a long time ago. So the opportunity came to climb some strange named hills ( Ifound out that Carnedd y filiast means peak of the greyhound bitch or something like that thanks Glyn, every day is a schoolday in the hills).
I was free on the 20th and a meet up was planned at the western end of the group of hills called the Glyders (I'd heard of those).

Welsh lesson number one: Glyders is pronounced Glidders.

So 5 peaks were to be attempted. Carnedd y filiast - west and north top. Myndd perfedd Foel Goch, Elidir Fawr and Elidir fach. Try saying all those when you have had a few. Largest hill was over 3000' Elidir Fawr and would be the penultimate summit of the day so I guessed it was mostly uphill. I wasnt wrong.

As this was a new area I was bound to meet new people. Exciting and worrying at the same time as you put yourself at the mercy of the elements and a complete stranger saying "its this way boyo".. Thats alright when on a pub crawl but two thousand feet up when you cant see very far is a bit different. I'd just finished a block of 4 shifts so tired was the emotion as I got up at 4:30AM. Granty arrived at a quarter past 5, we picked Mick up and sped off to Stoke to meet our tour guide and driver Geoff who knows the area well (Snowdonia that is). The short story was its a bloody long way to what i would describe as nearly anglesey. The A5 was shut and we had (what felt like) a 40 mile diversion and we went through at least 5 seasons worth of weather. I made the mistake of relaxing when we stopped off for a comfort break at Betws y coed.
Lesson number two: Its bets eee coh ead. (silent double u).

We got to Deiniolen (no idea how thats pronounced) which looked atypical of how I expected the area to be....a little hostile. I'm sure the people are lovely they just look like they want to kick your head in because they don't recognise you (or because your English).

We parked up at 09:35 ish and said hello to a whole car full of new people. GULP. Max, Arenig, and Glyn. I'd met mountain goat Mike on 2 previous meets so his was a familiar face.
We got ready quickly and the banter was flying about the road even before we set off. This was going to be a good day. Oh the weather? It was Welsh weather according to Geoff. It was pissing it down and freezing according to me!

Off we went up the hill on the road. The mountains were ahead but we were already at 900 feet according to pro trek.

Conditions were a little icy underfoot. I was a bit worried this was going to catch us out as me and Geoff had left the axes and crampons in the car. Others didn't have the gear though so its only fair to leave it behind. It looked a bit dodgy from what we could see higher up.
The first summit of the day. Carnedd y Filiast (west peak)

We hung around and Max pointed some stuff out. Anglesey, Puffin Island and some mountains which we could only just see. Yr Elen (Your Helen) was one I think.
We were off up to Carnedd y Filiast which was directly behind me in the last pic. It looked straightforward enough........till we got to here.

Some scrambling on icy rock and if you missed the rock, you ran the gauntlet of how deep is the snow between. It was great fun with a bit of pain thrown in. A bit like a trip to a massage parlour.

We got on to the ridge. Another of those "thats why we do this" moments. Here is the mountain goat.


And heres me and Granty on the ridge.


Another summit Pic. Carnedd y Filiast

I don't really remember the next bit of the walk so i can only presume it was straightforward but heres a pic of the way off the ridge, except it was too dodgy today so we about turned and went back a bit and down. We bore left and went over a ladder stile further down (or up).The next summit was Mynydd Perfedd and it was definitely getting colder and windier.

There was some good stuff to see, classic sea floor lapping on the mountain which was interesting as we were at least 1500 feet up in the air! I never took a picture either such was the level of gobsmackedness. There was information flying at me from Max and Arenig but I cannot for the life of me remember it all. Very impressive it was at the time though. I must write notes and not leave this three weeks or so as i forget all the interesting (and funny) stuff. What I remember is the classic jokes that always come out when you put a group of lads in front of a self timing camera. I bet you are all smiling and nodding now aren't you.

From here it was across and up to Foel Goch. This bit was Skiddaw little man to Skiddaw in a mirror, i.e. the fence was on the left not the right, it was heathery grassy type ground and boggy in places. Right up until the final ascent. Shit it was steep. It was also like glass. Damn those crampons sat in the car. Still good mountain skills would get us up. Kick steps then.
Wheres Mike, oh he's gone up and off already. Steps were kicked but he's got little feet. He's also got a different psyche going up. If i'm kicking its straight up for me. The goat does zig zags, but he's incredibly hard and has titanium legs.
I set up the slope bashing holes in the compacted stuff. Its called Neve or something. Note to Berghaus - please put a rand on the Explorer Trek MKII. They would be perfect then. Its incredibly hard work, not falling over and slipping to potential death beneath. I'm a tad scared of heights but I was loving this. Someone behind me wasn't though.



It was about this point i hoped there was another way off. Much like Skiddaw last month it was a bit tricky going up and very dangerous to come down. I was paying attention to the quality of step I was kicking, hoping they weren't needed on the way back.

Soon we were at the top. Phew.



We didnt come back down that way. No brainer.

We could hear the MRT RAF helicopter flying around the area, hopefully training. We all hoped it wasn't going to be needed. Max, Glyn and Arenig discussed what to do. The rest of us tried not to be scared.
The plan was made and it was a trot off down the gentle incline in the general direction of Y Garn, then fall off, errrm turn right down the hill and pick up the path on the 600M contour (they didn't say that bit, they said lower down. I just checked the map as it sounds good)

I relaxed, this was very easy compared to the last hour or so. It didnt last long. the path was OK, wide enough to look up from your feet and admire the grey all around. Then we hit the neve again, it was about ten metres wide and an almost perfect band running vertically. More steps needed but straight across. With hindsight technically we did this wrong but got away with it. We went straight, whereas a diagonal going up slightly would have been better. Theres the path without the neve nasty icy bits.



It was time for some food. We hadn't done the 3000 footer yet............. We passed a lone walker who was going from whence we came. Hope he made it OK. Lunch was a quick affair at the bottom of the Elidir Fawr ridge. We followed the path round and some of the lads went for the high ground.



As they climbed I faffed about with the camera. The way cleared and I saw the path come up and meet the ridge further along. ha ha I thought and strode off. Glyn saw the same and came back down followed by everyone else.





The ridge got narrower and the slope became pronounced. More care needed again. Granty who's scared of heights was traversing at 6'2" not his full height of 6'7"


We were above 3000 feet now and it was gloomy.


Every now and again we'd get a glimpse of the reservior below:




Then finally it all cleared or blew away and there we were on the summit of Glyder Fawr. Max and Mike then started rooting through the stones near the summit shelter. They were indulging in a bit of geocaching, which basically is looking for a tupperware box with useless bits of stuff in it. They were obviously enjoying it so I left them too it and chatted to Granty who looked a bit peeky. To say he's shit scared of heights would probably be about right and he'd conquered a few demons today. well done mate if you ever read this.

Heres Team Red on the summit, notable that everyone was drinking eating and looking rather pleased with themselves. It was "hard" in every sense today.
The physical side of the day didnt bother me, my brain however was tired and i knew i'd been on a good one.


Everyone was in great spirits now and there was incessant chatter and laughter as we could all walk and see each other coming down off the mountain.
Glyn pointed out some stuff we could see and Geoff and Max joined in. Their passion for the area was infectious. I was wanting to come back and do the route again in better weather and we hadn't finished the day. We'd come off the ridge and were heading down to pick up the fence to take us to Glyder Fach where we came across an area of compacted snow perfect for sledging.
The biggest cheer of the day went up as Mike went arse over tit, I have never heard so much (good natured)abuse levelled at an individual ever. Mike was laughing the most. We all joined in the general larking about that grown up lads who do and should know better, but are back to being 8 year olds. Theres few better feelings in life though.
Max went swallow diving down the hill,there were a few snowballs flying around and some attempts at human ten pin bowling as we descended the rather steep slope down. My sides were aching from laughing as it was almost impossible to stay upright on the ice and snow. My sides were also aching from falling over. Me and Micky taking it in turns ripping the piss out of each other for the campness of fall. The slope must have been bad...the Goat got to the fence and handrailed all the way down. He's human after all!

Here we are all watching Granty (and Degsy)hoping they fell over (sorry lads). They didnt.


That was about it. Over to the summit of Glyder Fawr and a discussion about classification of mountains as it didnt look like 50 feet of relief. Without theodolytes and other surveying equipment (its in my other bag)we bowed to the OS people.


From here we walked off down to the road to pick up the cars. These crags caught my eye on the way down.


From there it was back to Bethedsa for a pint in the Y llangolen to met a legend who goes by the name of Squirrel. He wasnt there so he will have to wait. Geoff took us to a place called Ogwen Cottage, not sure why its called that but it was LSD for the eyes as we could see sonme outstanding peaks and ridges in Pen Yr ole Wen and the very very impressive ridge of Tryfan. We completely forgot the cold, the tiredness and the 4-5 hour journey back as we squealed and pointed out potential routes to climb. It was over too soon as it was now dark so we got back in the car and headed for home. An accident on the A55 near Wrecsam (whe heeey) saw us sat for about an hour and we got back to stoke at about 9PM. I fell through the front door of mine at just gone 10PM, an 18 hour day to walk seven miles and see almost bugger all. Bloody brilliant!

Credits:

Micky - Sparring Partner, loves his walking as much as I do.
Granty - Scared of heights he might be but had the heart of a lion today
Arenig - or Derek i think is his "real" name. Very funny man indeed, razor sharp.
Max- sounds a bit girly but a genuine lovely feller
Geoff - same again, lovely feller and knows Snowdonia without a doubt
Glyn- Another funny chap, knew the hills like the back of his hand.
Mike- Mr Mountain goat. Great guy and what he doesnt know about mountains aint worth knowing.
Me- Grade 1 pillock and amateur mountaineer.

2 comments:

  1. An excellent account of a great day in the Welsh hills. I was pleased to read that you had enjoyed the day and equally pleased to learn that you would be returning soon. Great photos btw, not one of the best days for photography tho'. I look forward to catching up with you again soon. Robbo (aka Arenig or even Derek)

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  2. Nice stuff Pearsy! Im gonna try raise me game Your kids will be proud of you when they get older and look back on what you did, I'm sure!


    Dave aka amnesiacjimmy

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