Pen -Y-Fan, Central Gully

I'd had a fattening Christmas and hadn't been watching the weather. I was tipped off about the approach of snow - so quickly made it back to South Wales from England, packed a bag and met up with Ed Abbley. We wanted ice (doesn't everybody). We were disappointed not to find Nirvana - 'roadside ice'. The temp at 400m was still 1 degree C. In fact it was positively warm. So Ed Abbley and I set off for the Pen-Y-Fan North Face (actually E facing) t0 try a little mixed. We were pleased to find the temperature dropping and it reached freezing at about 600m (at last). On the ridges and summits the wind was strong and was moving the old and new snow about. We found Central Gully - and I instantly wished for an ice screw or 2 (left in the car at road side), at last we found ice. The turf was frozen (just), and there was a huge amount of rime on the rocks. It was difficult to get the camera out most of the time (or it was frozen), so I missed all the action. On the way down we found masses of sledge tracks, and we wondered who had been having the most fun. Roll on the winter...

Take care with your climbing everybody - 2 people died on the Ben this morning, tragic news. Let's all have a safe winter season...

20th Dec, A Day Of Digging In The Snow

There was deep fresh snow everywhere. Ice on the cars, on the roads, and on the climbs. We joined the queues waiting for the road to open to get to the top car park, then joined the mass of people heading for Coire an t-Sneachda. We decided to get away from the crowds and aim for the ever popular Invernookie. Just like everybody else that day we had to dig for belays and runners - all were hard to find - so it all got a bit run out..

The climb was excellent - and a great reminder of the delights of mixed Northern Corrie climbing. We waded back out to find our car yet again burried under fresh snow - we drove off knowing there would be more to come tonight - so more digging to be done tomorrow, for a car or a belay, let's wait and see..

Usk, Talybont To Llangynidr

Back on the river, we started at Talybont and made our way to Llangynidr. We stopped to enjoy Mill Falls above.

Although I like Kayaking, I can't wait for Snow and Ice that I will have to travel to Scotland to find. This week the ice toys come out of the loft :)

Wye - Erwood to Boughrood

Kayaking today, the team started at Erwood, making our way to Boughrood. I managed to get some film at Hell's Hole. We ran it twice at 2 spots. The hole was at medium height, so there were some breaks in the hole that we took advantage of. A great trip.

Adventure Training At Sennybridge

Another week at Sennybridge, further development of core values. The environments were sometimes not challenging enough for the soldiers, so we found ways to test their courage and develop their commitment to the group. Most of the environments involved icy cold water. All good fun. Hope they thought so..

Afon Gwili - Kayaking

Joe Jones and I decided to check out the Gwili. The river runs past White Water Consultancy (WWC) - and it recently flooded his car park ! But for us it was at a reasonable spate level, running fast and high (below the car park - we'd previously parked there to check out WWC).