More scrambling in North Wales...

Hiiii!!!!

Had the most incredible weekend with Jess in North Wales. We spent Saturday on Tryfan and Bristly Ridge and then Sunday on Snowdon.

Saturday was AWESOME!!!! We did the North Ridge of Tryfan, but started slightly further round than last time up a wee gully. It was quite a tricky start, but once we got over the first few moves, the going was a lot easier and the view North East was fantastic!



We then headed back round to the North and ended up on the usual route again past the Canon Stone. The sun came out that that point, which was fabulous and warmed us up like toast.



The views over the Glyders were pretty stunning too.



This was Jess's introduction to scrambling in the UK and she absolutely LOVED it. Of course, once you get to the top of Tryfan, the question is always going to be "to do Bristly Ridge, or not to do Bristly Ridge?"

Last time I was up with the Mal and the Gang, they'd pointed this out as a fantastic grade 1 scramble and Mal had shown us a starting point up a wee gully that wasn't in the books.

We couldn't resist and off we went.

Bristly Ridge is absolutely top banana. Sadly, the scrambling is not quite as long as Tryfan, but it's quite the treat as scrambling goes. There's a vid, which I'll post shortly.

By the time we got to the top, the weather had changed again and we were surrounded by cloud and drizzle. Couldn't resist this shot through...



The way back down was a good lesson in how to pack a rucksack properly for a day out. Jess's hands had become wet through her gloves and were starting to get quite painful. Luckily, I'd learned from George's advice and packed a couple of spare pairs, both of which came into use to save the day. We got down to the cafe at Llyn Ogwen in no time and wrapped our mitts round big, steamy cups of hot tea.

Next stop, PUB!!



Sunday's weather was very different - lots of low cloud, higher wind and low visibility. We'd decided to go up Snowdon, but the weather meant Crib Goch was out. We marched up the Pyg Track instead and, boy!, were we pleased with that decision.

The gusts were unreal as we came around the bend from Bwylch y Moch (first hill beyond Pen y Pass) and we could only see about 50 mtrs in front of us. Up we went. Despite the weather, there were loads of voices carrying up through the mist so it was still a busy route. We passed what seemed like 300 skool kids muttering varying degrees of enjoyment from the utterly excited to the down right miserable. Good to see them enjoying the hills though.

Here I am on the top trying to stay out of the horizontal hail.... Fat chance!


So, another great weekend in Wales. Definitely planning another return before long.

This is me in another 6 months....

Ultimate porridge

Right, another pound gone again so the cloud is definitely lifting.

Plus, I've discovered the ultimate breakfast packed with goodies and colour! It's dead easy, just fling a handful of blackberries, some mixed seeds, a splash of apple juice (or smoothie is better) into your porridge and yummy, yummy, yummy!!

Bonkers, but happy again

Well, the good news is that I'm already getting back on track.

Went running last night and again at lunch today (2.5 miles each time) and am already feeling better about myself and a lot more chirpy and have re-lost 2 of those pounds that I packed back on.

The trick, methinks, is to make the most of other people if you loose your way.

So to back track, the tip for the week really should be to involve other people. Find friends who are into the same exercise as you and commit to doing your thing with them. You're less likely to back out if you have a solid agreement with another person (but if you're group gets too big, it's just as easy to back out!!).

I also find that running with someone else means I run further and faster (oh, the hidden competitive streak) and, that aside, I get less weird looks from strangers if they think my nattering is aimed at another person.

God knows what my running-buddie thinks though.....

Needing a kick in the backside...

Sooo.... End of week 11 and it's not been a very good one. I've been feeling a bit demotivated over the last couple of weeks and haven't really got my head back to normal after Snowdon. I've been lame at doing my excrsize, making bad food choices (basically too many chips!) and drinking a bit too much beer. Result - I've put loads of pounds back on!!

Oh dear, I'm a long way from the straight and narrow so it's time to kick myself in the butt and get things back to order.

First things first, WATER WATER WATER!!!

Second: I'll have to get my running shoes back on. Did a 2.5 miler yesterday and am pleased to say that I'm still feeling very fit and capable despite the temporary slide.

There is one positive to drinking too much beer though - I seem to be incapable of spending an evening in the pub without agreeing some mad challenge or another.... A couple of pints in last night and I managed to agree to do the Great Edinburgh Run 2007 in May. While it's only 10k, it's bound to have a lot of up and down bits, so I figure it'll be good training for the fell run in October (or at least that's what I'm telling myself...).

Third: - I need more mountains!! I'm back up in Snowdonia this weekend with Jess - can't wait to get my hands and feet back on the Welsh rocks. YIPPEE SKIPPEE!!!!

At least my jeans are still slack!

:)

Tip of the week: I'm not sure I'm in any position to say anything this week. I spose my challenge now is to re-establish all that motivation and I'm finding that reading Chris Bonington's I Chose to Climb is doing a grand job of it. Plus, I've got a 10 year school reunion in June and I'll be damed if I'm going to show up to that without a killer bod!!

Running for the hills

End of Week 10 and no hills on the books for me this week. However, I did go out for a 4.5 mile run cross country. It's much more interesting off pavement and having to concentrate on where the feet goes mean I spend less time thinking "Urrrgh, bored! When can I stop! Argh - I've only been going for 3 minutes.... when will this end??"

I also managed a 5a climb on the indoor wall last week (albeit rather inelegantly!). Yippee!! Got to show off my new chalk bag - my treat for making it up Snowdon.

Still, I've managed to pile on about 4 lbs in Wales so fingers crossed that what they say about muscle weighing more than fat is true.... Good news is my jeans are getting slacker and slacker despite it so I guess it's good news at any rate.

No vid this week I'm afraid, but I promise to do one next week!

:)

Tip of the Week: Treats are a great way to keep yourself motivated to work towards goals. The trick, I find, is to set yourself a few big goals and inter-space them with smaller ones that you can tick off as you go. Allow for treats on an "appropriate scale" for each goal. It's a huge help with motivation and also gives you another reason to stem the flow of gear purchases - and anything that helps there is very welcome indeed!

Read all about it...

Ooohhhh - TRAIL's out!!
And - there's a whole section on Crib Goch!!

Plus, there's oooodles of info on the Fitness Academy and how you can make it work for you too.

:)

North East Ridge of Tryfan

It just doesn't get much better than the North East ridge of Tryfan (915 mtrs)!!! That is, unless you've got Mal to fill you in on all the history and stories to bring the mountain completely to life.



The weekend just couldn't have been any better at all. I loved absolutely every minute of it. So much so in fact, that I've already planned my return for later this month, when I've got my fingers crossed for some snow.

Here's a series of photos from the day..

Mal leading Claire, Jess and I on the East Ridge


Claire waiting for the rest of us to catch up. Claire is a right mountain goattie!!


Me on the Cannon on Tryfan


Mal and Jess and some idea of the route up

Me trying to muster the courage to jump to Adam from Eve, but having gone knee deep into a bog the day before, figured my spacial awareness was somewhat lacking...

George and Colin admiring the view from the summit


Tucking into sarnies at the top

Sian on the way down with Tryfan in the background. You can just make out Queen Vic's face in the rocks...

Moel Siabod

Just as I was thinking the weekend couldn't get any better, along came Mal and the Gang to spice things up a bit.


Mal enjoying a sarnie...

What a team they are too! Four very intrepid souls with a plan for all occasions. They took us up Moel Siabod (872 mtrs) along the East ridge, which is as easy or as hard as you want to make it so perfect for a group like us. Lots of scrambling to keep me quiet.


Mal and Claire on the way up...


Sian scrambling

We had wall to wall blue sky for it too so the freckles were out in full force by the time we got to the top.



Here's some more photos of the day:


Mal in the afternoon sun


Tom waiting for a good pose


Claire getting plenty of the wet stuff...


Claire setting another good example...

Snowdon via Grib Goch

Now THAT's what I call a day out in the mountains!

There was no snow (gutted!) so figured I needed something else to challenge me. Decided to depart from the plan of going up the Pyg Track and headed for Crib Goch (921 mtrs) and the ridge way instead.


(Click on the images if you want to enlarge them)

Of course, my route planning skills are not as sharp as they could be having not yet done the weekend of mountain skills training and I very soon found myself faced with a grade 1 scramble that I hadn't really been expecting. Not one to shy away from a challenge, off I went up the rock face.



LOVED IT!!!!

All the indoor climbing has really paid off and I found I was very comfortable with my own ability for route finding and foot/hand placement so off I went thinking I'd find a foot path up along the ridge.

Boy, was I wrong! I got to the top to find a knife thin ridge of rocks stretching out for what looked like miles and miles in front of me. But, it's a whole different thing trying to scramble DOWN so I really only had one option. Off I went.

I don't think I've ever concentrated so hard in my whole life.

I got over the first bit of the ridge and looked back at what I'd just done...



I did begin to question how many marbles I might be missing.

Still, there's always a guardian angel when you need one and it was at this point that I stumbled (literally) across a fabulous gent-come-mountain-goat who offered to show me the route over the rest of the ridge. There's lovely!


(View back from just before the half way point)

So off we set as a pair and were very soon admiring the view from the top of Garnedd Ugain a.k.a Snowdon's little sister (1065 mtrs). From there we had an eye-popping view of Snowdon herself with the clouds just lifting and promising panoramic views to rival any other.



So, just a short hike to the summit at 1085 meters.







YIPPEE SKIPEEE!!!! First mountain goal of the programme achieved and the highest point in Wales ticked off the list!

The view was utterly awesome:






I couldn't quite believe this was what I'd just come over.



So, time to head back to the car and the Pyg Track is another fabulous route. I couldn't resist stopping to take in the views once more (and I wanted to measure up the second half of the Horeshoe for my return journey...)


(Thank goodness for self-timer!)

Here's the vid from the journey in case you haven't had enough yet: Week 9 - Snowdon!!

And there was still two days of mountains ahead of me....