Once again the club ventured out to North Wales in not ideal weather and mixed forecasts (never believe Apple Weather Akaash!), but as usual a hard core few know: whatever the weather, there is always fun and adventure to be had in Snowden. We are a mountaineering club after all. We ventured to the MAM hut in the Ogwen Valley once again due to its excellent facilities. 

Myself, Kevser and Akaash went up earlier on Thursday to make the most of the poor weather conditions. Thursday night saw Kevser crowned Uno champion in the hut. Then on Friday we were up early and the three of us managed to make our way up the fabulous Bastow Buttress (grade 2) scramble up the sheltered East face of Tryfan. The poor visibility and winds hit us on the North Ridge so we decided to scramble back down to the promise of a warm fire and an outstanding drying room.

Ben drove up by himself arriving after Jamie and Lisa (after helping to repair her father’s car) to join us on Friday afternoon in the hut and we made plans for the next day. Ben decided on a solo ascent of the North Ridge of Tryfan in the poor visibility and high winds, while the rest of us opted to do the Idwal Buttress Scramble all the way to Seniors ridge in a slightly more sheltered environment. Ben sent some interesting videos and photos to show us the poor conditions on the summit of Tryfan (which dissuaded the rest of us from going to the top of the Glyders). Myself, Kev and Akaash descended via the waterfall scramble to the left of the Idwal slabs which was great fun in the constant rain we were enjoying. Again the drying room proved useful for us all. Saturday night we went to Plas Y Brenin for a well earned pint and to hear an inspiring talk about kayaking in Kyrgyzstan. If you’re up that way it’s always worth emailing them or popping in as they have lots of great talks usually on a saturday night at the Brenin.  

Sadly Ben and Akaash had to shoot off early Sunday, so to make the most of the poor visibility; myself, Jamie, Lisa and Kevser went up out the back of the hut into the hills to perform so micro nav exercises and practice using timings and pacings to relocate ourselves (great skills to practice in relative calm conditions). Needless to say as we drove away from the mountains the sun was shining and the weather was warm (not the conditions we had all weekend!) However, we were all buzzing from the adventure. 

In memory of Ben’s phone which sadly never turned back on…