Pen Y Fan Snow & Climbing Conditions

The mini ridge (II) between the Far Right and Near Right Gully

The East Face (popularly called the North Face) of Pen y Fan started off quiet on New Year's Day. But soon by early morning, there were many keen climbers looking for fun climbing conditions. Several teams headed for Central Gully (III) taking slightly different lines in the upper sections. One team is shown in the video. Other climbers spread out over the other gullies and ridges. My first climb was the ridge between the 2 right hand side gullies.

The ground was frozen, but unfortunately it was frozen without much water content, so there was lots of grass and moss covered in powder topped off with an icy crust. The rock was fully rimed up though. We're still waiting for the fabled South Wales ice climbs to come into condition.

Best wishes everybody for 2010, and safe climbing..