Sunday best

Last weekend brought a sudden flash of snow back to North Wales, it applied itself liberally to the majority of North facing peaks and flanks starting around 500m. With the front clearing quickly, Sunday morning opened bright and crisp, perfect  for a classic winter walk. The overnight storm had left the mountains with a stark two-tone appearance, sharpening and defining the classic ridges. We opted for a hike up the Eastern buttress of Pen yr Ole Wen, with the short gully scramble onto the ridge. As we progressed towards Ffynnon Lloer, treading carefully to avoid the burgeoning frog spawn, the Northern prospect of the Glyderau & Y Gribin  revealed the pasting it had had recieved the night before. Anyone venturing onto them from the south or east unequipped, without the knowledge of the conditions of their northern aspect would have been surely caught out. The ridge up to Pen Yr Ole Wen opened up the view down into Hourglass and Broad gullies, snow had been blasted into every niche & crevice. Summiting onto Carnedd Dafydd, Ysgolion Duon (Black Ladders) had received the same treatment. After the best of the day spent in no particular rush we were short on time we headed south and down at the turn on Craig Llugwy, catching up with the familiar stone wall handrail we headed back home.

A cautionary winters tail!

This year’s early snow has brought back  painful memories....

Late last year short on daylight, we opted for a quick slog up Grade 1 Banana Gully on Y Garn. A crappy start, was topped out nicely finally cruising through a firm cornice into brilliant sunshine. We decided to troll off via Y Lymllwyd ridge off Foel-goch, towards the mushroom garden.
The wind starts to pick up and a big heavy pink cloud starts to edge its way down the Ogwen valley, i reckoned it will be about 20mins before a bit of nasty winter weather slams into us. Late in the day and not particularly relishing  an argument with nature, we turned off the ridge and headed down into Cwn Cywion. 20mins later blizzard conditions and zero visibly, not too bothered as it would probably only last about half an hour at the most. At this point however i started feeling a cold spot breezing around the trouser area, pretty obviously i forgotten to fly up after a comfort break but i didn’t particularly want to stop so carried on for another 10 mins...... actually yeah, it was getting a bit cold i better sort it out, fumbling around i couldn’t get hold of the dam zip with the gloves on. Anyway the zip was down so in might as well have another comfort break before battening down the hatches again.
Cold and anxious at this point the tragedy happens. Take your time in these matters is the lesson learned. One vicious tug up brings the first burst of searing pain, (like no man should suffer) sh*t, sh*t, sh*t, bu**er, bu**er ~!@FFFF.....iiiiieeeeeeeeAAAGHH!.OK deep breaths Calm, calm... take your time examine the damage... i don’t want to, i don’t want to...got to, got too.
Peeking down, yes the worst had happened, the bird had been half out the nest during the zip up. And rump of PINK is showing through the closed zip. OK not so bad i haven’t actually cut the dam thing in half but what to do next. This situation is not in ‘Langmuir’ as far as i know, unless there has been a late appendix. Ok then ill finish zipping up and try and sort it out later. Two or was it three paces persuade me that this wasn’t the solution. Ha Ha haaaa! I’m delirious, how the f**k did i let this happen.

As the weather had been so foul i’d taken the precaution of roping up with a fig8 round the waist so we wouldn’t get separated in the whiteout. There was a fair amount of rope paid out but we weren’t on much of a slope so i guessed that as i had stopped then so had my climbing partner too, a few meters away but not visible. 

Anyway, this is my problem and i have to sort it out, Andy Kirks had his epics and this is mine. One thing’s for sure, THERE IS KNOW WAY I’M CALLING MOUNTAIN RESCUE.
Holding onto this one tangible and unassailable resolution i realised that i had to make the ultimate decision..... NO NOT GET A KNIFE OUT AND CUT IT OFF you idiot. The logical conclusion is that I now have to retrace the process that has led to the damage. It will probably be a bit like pushing a broken bone back though the skin or even bashing a dislocated shoulder back into place. Nooohh it will be worse than that.
I take some comfort in assuming that the cold like a local anaesthetic has numbed the affected area. The brave moment arrives, grabbing the zip with one hand and the top of my salopettes with the other, I start to reverse the sequence. HANG ON, HANG ON STOP! How fast should i do this, quick like taking off an elastoplast or slow, the cowards way. It’s gotta be quick then, the way of the warrior. OK set up ready again...... take a breath.....take another breath and 123.....WAIT STOP!!!!! am i going on three or that bit just after! Decision made I’m going on the bit just after, take a breath 123 ‘THE BIT JUST AFTER’ and iieeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEFFFFBKAAAAAAAAAGHHHH!
The cruel calm before the pain receptors kick in ends, and my tears are instantly frozen.
Seconds later my climbing partner casualY arrives with the opening lines of ‘sup’.. SUP, SUP WADDAYAMEAN SUP, I’VE JUST EXPERIANCED THE MOST PAINFUL THING KNOWN TO MANKIND AND YOU SAY ‘SUP’. I realise that i may have overreacted and briefly explain to my climbing partner ‘she’ my wife, what has just taken place in the last five minutes, that seem like hours. Concern lasts a brief second before she is convulsed in half a is now pi***ing herself laughing. ‘Let’s have a look at it then’ she says, NO i say it’s never coming out again EVER.  I indignantly stomp off into the now clearing storm, trip over the rope and fall face down into snow. AAAGGGHHHH echoes around the Cwm for the third time.

Time is a great healer....

Crampon or not to crampon?

                So, with the winter hardware dug out from the cellar as the 2010/2011 snows bit early. The sad reports of near fatal and fatal mountain accidents start to roll in , most recent i believe on Swirral Edge. With the lack of freeze and thaw, the snow conditions in North Wales back in December started soft and powdery. A few trips up Ddaer Ddu and other ridges revealed some windblown ice and the odd patches treacherous verglas.

                Years ago i used to be reluctant to fit crampons until it was  absolutely necessary, due to the hassle of fiddling around with the old style bindings. An eventual investment in a decent pair of step ins, made a massive difference as they are pre primed for speed and efficiency, so fitting is easy.

                I can’t count the number of times i heard the passing comment ’Ohh, you won’t need your crampons on mate’ come from a guy i’ve just observed fall over 10 mins earlier and from the echoing obscenities obviously hurt himself. Am i alone in thinking that there still prevails or used to be some macho bravado for NOT putting your crampons on until you have drawn first blood on your shins or at least twice slipped and slid 10 metres down a gully and smashed your face in.

                Seriously though, I have been winter mountaineering for around 30 years and i still see folks carrying crampons on there packs and not using them when i consider conditions to be at least dubious. Maybe it’s my definition of ‘dubious’. With the first falls of snow, on a recognised walk in trail, hard packing occurs quickly once it’s received some repeated use. Off trail or in virgin snow most of the time your boots are making contact with wet rock or the vibram pattern of your boots retain the snow structure and make progress reasonably safe. One infamous location for this type of hard snow packing is the Snowdon zig zags. It’s high enough to maintain a constant cool temperature and in shadow enough to reduce the likelihood of melt from the sun. The queue’s that build up here are notorious in the winter. Here, with the top is in sight, for folks carrying crampons to fit them for this last little section appears to be a real pain.  I’ve had guys whizz passed me from a higher zig or zag above, any accident resulting from taking someone else out on the way down rather than the fall itself. It’s so quick to fit crampons, would it be good practice for the more experienced winter mountaineers to set an example to hasty by taking the time to fit crampons at the start of difficult sections instead of bashing up a trail trying to avoid the tumbling masses.

                On the flip side, in the early spring with the snow gone, the state of the rock on the track below Devils Kitchen, or any usual route up Tryfan, looks like the scene of a domestic between Mr & Mrs Wolverine. So, again, pretty obvious, but good practice to take your crampons off as soon as you feel conditions improve.

                Quite a few of the accident reports i’ve read ‘slipped on frozen turf’ i would accept that this makes for a difficult choice on whether or not to fit crampons, as they can cause a massive amount of environmental damage very quickly