Category Archives: Hiking

Kinder downfall

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10.20am Grey start with hill fog visible above 400m. heavy rain later.kinderdownfall

Walked with Chris along the southern edge of Kinderscout plateau. Once on the plateau, we took a diversion to see a WWII crash site then returned to our main route.

The intention was to see Kinder downfall after a night of rain. We even considered the possibility that the downfall would blow upwards. The waterfall is at the head of quite an angular valley facing the oncoming wind. As it turned out, visibility was so poor, <50m, we could not see any water although heard it clearly.

Rain started around the time we descended becoming quite heavy as we popped out of the cloud base.
I had a flask of hot water waiting at the car. The choice was soup, coffee or tea in the form of sachets or infusion bags. the kit list was about right. I had normal walking trousers plus thermals under. Even when the rain started, I didn’t feel such a strong urge to put the waterproof overtrousers on.
Note for future: (1),this worked really well. the water had kept hot for 8 hours. If I were to take a flask on the walk, it should be a bit smaller than this one. I’ll keep it for sharing.
(2),I barely used my new camera, but it’s better to take a light camera and not use it rather than a heavy one and not use that. One problem, it has a strong magnetic field. It deflects the compass by a good 30°C. It’s awkward taking compass readings at arm’s length.

3: Carned y Gribeau and broken bridges.:

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9°C. fog and no wind, no change from yesterday.

Wild-camp-> end: Woke to more fog and the sound of grouse. The night was utterly silent apart from the gurgling of the spring. Occasional soft drizzle and the odd waft in the calm air.

Back to the fenceline and head north. Back at L. Edno was a big pile of rubbish caught in a fence. The day before, made a note of this and returned to clear as much as possible. My storage was limited because I had my own rubbish, but I got the worst of it.
Next, walk north along the fences again. Net a fell runner heading south who seemed a bit troubled by the navigation. I know the conditions are tricky, but all he has to do is follow the fence line. His route round Edno is unnecessary, and probably slippery.
I continued passed the bwlch onto Carned y Gribeau. There was a brief moment of clear air which urged me on. The summit has a nice little lake which made a good place to shelter and eat.​
 For a small lake, it was amazingly deep. Even at the edge, I could plunge a fully extended walking pole.

The descent was aimed for the footbridges at SH673560. the ground in that area was horrible to walk on, lots of plunge holes and hidden streams. It was a struggle to get there only to find the bridges long destroyed and deeply rusted. Take note, they are clearly marked on the OS map, but not on Harvey’s.

Eventually, back at the car, I was glad to get my wet boots off and dip in the lake to wash my feet. You have to treat wet feet as soon as you can to prevent unspeakable problems later.

2:Wild camp in the Molwynion

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11°C, hill fog above 300m. Light SW.
By the time I broke camp at Hadfod y Llan, and re-packing my expedition bag, it was 11am.
I parked by Llyn Gwynant and started the day’s walk. The first part was through dense forest. Autumn looks different here, colours on the ground are very vivid. Even in the forest, bracken was almost fluorescent. I should have stopped to take more photos but the day’s walk is long.
Wild-camp after a 5 ½ hour walk in hill-fog. START: Llyn Gwynant then walk up the woodland to the hills (SE). Hillfog above 300m, no wind so no change.

Pitched at the top of Cwm Edno.

Lots of micro-nav Llyn llagi was invisible though I could hear it. I actually found the turn to make the gully onto the plateau. I missed it last time in clear summer air. I managed to pass Llyn yr Adair without seeing that either. Heading east, eventually I met the fenceline to confirm my position. There is a real complex of hollows, valleys mounds and mountains here. An area worth more exploration.
Northwards eventually, I got to Llyn Edno, my intended camp. To avoid the cool breeze, I headed down to Cwm Edno and found an ideal spot next to a spring.

Looking for a bag.

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I’m after a winter sleeping. I’m in the Mountain Leader consolidation period where I need more mountain days (and nights). While I’m searching for a new bag, I can’t develop my mountain Dlog.
Why hesitate then? You may ask, but not that many bags meet my requirements:
Long, at least 215cm internal length,
Warm, cosy down to -6°C,
Compression, packed down, it must fit into my expedition rucksack.​

This one is top of my list.

There are a few bags that may suit. Mountain hardwear, Montaine, and Snugpak.

Once equipped, I am free to have adventures. Camp near Llyn Edno, explore Moel Hebog and then the Berwyns. I plan to go in a few weeks, at half-term. At least one wild camp too.

Gold and Silver qualifying expeditions.

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One cool and windy week in the black mountains, South Wales.​

On the road to Cafl-y-Ffin

Chris took the Gold group and I did the Silver with Carl.
Silver do 3 nights and Gold 4. Carl took the Silvers home and then I stayed with Chris to cover the Gold’s last day. Most of the Silver girls were carrying heavy bags, up to 16Kg which is a bit much for the smaller ones. It turned out that the excess was clothing. Many brought a change of clothes for each day. The Golds didn’t make that mistake, but conversely, they were cold at night. Mind you, the Gold group complained of cold too. Especially the sole male in the group. He was the only one sleeping alone, (as far as we know).
The picture above shows a defaced sign in one of the narrow lanes. Many were so narrow that both sides of the minibus were scratched at the same time by overhanging vegetation.
The staff base, a youth hostel, was up to am hour away from the kids’ camps. In response, Carl and I drove over after supper and pitched in near the gold and silver groups’ site. They were all quiet and inside tents, probably asleep by then, 10pm. It turns out that most nights, they were asleep by 7.30pm. That means nice, long sleeps which can only help their daytime progress.

In the end, they all passed easily. On the return journey, they seemed less tired and generally satisfied. So were we.

Packing for DofE, last expedition of the year.

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12°C, rain.
Gold and Silver groups go on qualifying this coming week. I think they’ll be fine, but the conditions are very different to their summer Practice trip. A new terrain, The Black Mountains, earlier sunset and cold nights.​
Staff are staying in a Youth Hostel, but a few of us are taking light camping gear for a planned wild camp. The kids will break camp before dawn and we would like to be on the ridges before the get there. So Carl says, why not camp up there. He wants to bivvy, I will take both a bivvy and the small tent. We both want some mountain days.
It would be nice to appear at the and of a long climb to encourage the kids. Or, help with any problems.
I hope they did some preparation over the summer to keep fitness. Their practice was very good.

Crash sites.

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Up to now, I have found air crash sites while hiking. Remote mountainous areas are a threat to low flying military pilots. Our intended camp was confirmed when we found aircraft wreckage by a small lake. We all pitched together by some crags.
On Mull, a Dakota; Dark Peak, a Lancaster and the Carneddeau, a Camberra.

This picture was taken on the Dark Peak near Kinderscout. The plane was well scattered such that I only saw one engine and some pieces of fuselage. The engine was a radial, possibly a Hercules.

RAF Camberra , here is a turbine engine of the type common in early post war jets.​

This next shot shows what I think may be a tail pipe, also from an engine.​

ML training expedition.

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12°C, cloud from 50m, strong wind 40mph at 900m.​

Heavy pack was a drag on this climb. But to walk in a group, I was not left behind even though my bag was the heaviest (at 18kg).

We got to Foel Grach and I took the navigation from there to the next summit. 40mph wind and rain was quite a force away from the shelves of a wall. Paths are, however; easy to follow up there. Jenny navigated to the next summit which has a mountain rescue shelter that we recovered in for a while.
Descent to the lake also offered some respite, although the wind dropped, gusts were stronger.
Our intended camp was confirmed when we found aircraft wreckage by a small lake. We all pitched together by some crags.
I was glad to climb in and change into some dry clothes.
Night navigation: u that was hard. Wind, hill fog and bouts of rain made visibility poor at best. We had to figure where we are at any time from the slope of the land in a circle 20m around. Occasionally, you can use a arch as a landmark, or grass but that’s all. But, it is actually enough.
Two obstacles were tiredness and the visibility. If only there was a clear sky above.
I think I did okay.
Mike, the trainer thought so too. However, I have a few problems to solve:
Poor vision in rain,
Keeping warm,
Feeding in the night.

Mountain Leader training.

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Day 1; micro-navigation,

Day 2: moving on steep ground. We climbed Pen-yr-ole Wen by the route from Llyn Ogwen. Our tutor demonstrated how a rope could be used on the scrambling section to get a group of novices up.
Day 3: steep ground practicing with ropes. Tried out several belaying types and the Sth African Abseil method. That one could be very useful on solo trips. Then we climbed up to L Tryfan ( the one by the Llanberis track).
Day 4: Confidence roping and river crossing in Nant Gwynant.

Day 5 & 6: expedition. This 36 hours of my life deserves a separate post.

Cluanie Ridge

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Creag a’Mhain, (m), 947m,
Druim Shionnach (m), 987m;
Aonach air Crith, (m), 1021m;
Maol Chin-dearg, (m), 981m;
Sgurr an Doire Leatham, (m), 1010m;

Started with cloud at 800m with some breaks. After tricky path finding up Drochaid an Ullit Ghubhais it got easier, though steep. Once on the ridge, paths were easy to find despite no visibility. Concentration was needed to keep a track on location. Ahead lay a string of summits and bealachs. With visibility no more than 30m, other techniques were necessary to keep your position in mind. At 12.30, I pulled the storm-bivvy bag out and climbed in to read the map and eat sandwiches. These things are amazingly warm, even by myself.

On the next summit, a guy appeared out of the mist heading my way. He was James, a real Munro bagger. He had 90 odd and was keen to get as many as possible today. He suggested we walk the whole ridge together to his car and he could drop me back at Cluanie Inn. That’s not much more than my planned walk and I’d get 7 munros ‘ticked off’.​

Part of the ridge, from the road.

Finally, the skies started to break on approach to the last climb. The bonus munro would be free of hill fog. Better than that, the light sharpened revealing fine views south into the deep Glen and even out to sea. Skye could be seen and possibly, Rum.
Feeling tired and thirsty, I hoped for an easy descent. But no, the rounded boulders underfoot would require concentration all the way down from 900m to the river. On another day, that would have been fun. I will have to come back.