Eryri National Park
As the cooler weather started to come in I decided to take a spontaneous trip to Eryri national park in north Wales. The weather was cool and crisp and luckily enough we had one day with completely clear skies.
The aim of the trip was to get back into the mountaineering mind set and refresh some rope skills ahead of the pending winter season. Our first climb of the weekend was up the varied north face of Tryfan and following on to the well know Bristley Ridge, picking a route that was not exactly what you would call following the trodden path. This combined with the brisk winds and pelting hail took me back to fond memories battling off blizzards on Ben Nevis Last year and my enthusiasm for horrific conditions and climbing was re-ignited.
Following the battle on Saturday we were blessed with a crisp and cold winter day on Sunday and so I set my self the challenge of the double summit. I rose in the dark and desperately in need of a chiropractor after spending the night camping on the frozen floor. After moaning and groaning my way out of my warm sleeping bag and into the frosty tent I quickly woke up and became eager to chase up Crib Goch for sunrise. The arduous ascent seemed endless until I finally clambered over the peak on to the famous ridgeline for an incredible view. It was hard to take it all in and with a dash up and down the ridge for a few photos I quickly headed back down for the second climb of the day.
The final Climb of the weekend was a distinct ridge onto Snowdon called penwyn ridge which really brought me back into my element. This was a long steep ridge with several pitch of climbing involved and after my previous escapades that morning I was starting to feel the toll. The remoteness, however, made up for my tiredness as I couldn’t make out anyone else on that side of the mountain (a rare case in Snowdonia). After a long day climbing we summited on to the end of Crib Goch with an incredible view of Mount Snowdon and I collapsed out of exhaustion but it only excited me for the trips to come.
