{"id":2936,"date":"2013-04-09T19:24:59","date_gmt":"2013-04-09T18:24:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.haydnwilliams.com\/blog\/?p=2936"},"modified":"2022-04-11T21:33:14","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T20:33:14","slug":"a-grand-national-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.haydnwilliams.com\/blog\/a-grand-national-weekend\/","title":{"rendered":"A Grand National Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

I had a weekend which was both Grand and National, involving an excellent wedding in Berkshire on Saturday, and some running in North Wales on Sunday and Monday.<\/p>\n

After bidding farewell to the happy couple on Saturday night, we returned home on Sunday to rescue the dog from his first ever night in kennels (he survived), and I raced west to seek out the snow.<\/p>\n

\"Cwm

Cwm Idwal looking promising. \u00a9 Haydn Williams 2013<\/p><\/div>\n

It was so warm on Sunday morning that I ran up to Devil’s Kitchen in a t-shirt and shorts. There was still plenty of snow cover around though, with the axe being brought out at Idwal Slabs. I knew John and Ben were planning on climbing the Devil’s Cellar, so I traversed below all the ice routes just in case they’d ended up on something else.<\/p>\n

\"Nice

Nice snowy path up to Devil’s Kitchen. \u00a9 Haydn Williams 2013<\/p><\/div>\n

There was no sign of them, but I did spot a cheeky git on The Screen removing John’s peg that I’d failed to extract when seconding the route with him earlier in the year. After cursing the thief, I carried on up the Kitchen. Speaking to Ben and John later in the day, it transpired that the thief was actually Ben, and I just hadn’t recognised him! So John got his peg back but I didn’t even say hello!<\/p>\n

\"Two

Two chaps at the top of the slog from Llyn y Cwn to Glyder Fawr – where I’m going next. \u00a9 Haydn Williams<\/p><\/div>\n

The steep slope up to Glyder Fawr is always more amenable in the snow, and there’s some serious bum-slide potential there at the moment. The sun was still shining, and I was having a wonderful time.<\/p>\n

\"Sun

Sun halo. Never seen one of those before. \u00a9 Haydn Williams<\/p><\/div>\n

The leisurely jog across the plateau was disrupted slightly by the sections of snow with a solid icy crust which wasn’t quite weight-bearing, resulting in bashed-shin syndrome. Nevertheless, I was soon past Castell y Gwynt and on to Glyder Fach. It’s usually a pain to get around the summit, but with so much snow around it was a simple run past the cluster of rocks and right to the foot of the Cantilever. <\/p>\n

\"Obligatory

Obligatory silly pose under the cantilever. \u00a9 Haydn Williams 2013<\/p><\/div>\n

The steep screes at the side of Bristly Ridge looked a bit dicey in running crampons, so I flew down the east flank of Glyder Fach and then cut back along the Miner’s Path towards Bwlch Tryfan instead. The head of Cwm Tryfan was decidedly steep, and a slip would have meant a loooong slide – funny how normally innocuous terrain can become so much more serious in winter.<\/p>\n

\"Invading

Invading someone else’s snow hole. \u00a9 Haydn Williams 2013<\/p><\/div>\n

At the bwlch I had a chat with a bloke about how Bristly Ridge probably wasn’t advisable with a walking axe and no crampons, and then descended Bochlwyd Stream (so easy in the snow!) to Ogwen. Lovely.<\/p>\n

Monday morning saw an early start, with sheep causing maximum disruption at Pen y Pass while I got ready in the car park.<\/p>\n

\"Sheep

Sheep setting about increasing the entropy of traffic. \u00a9 Haydn Williams 2013<\/p><\/div>\n

The aim was to head to Y Lliwedd from the Miner’s Track, thus avoiding the strong westerly winds which were forecast. <\/p>\n

\"Y

Y Lliwedd. And me. \u00a9 Haydn Williams 2013<\/p><\/div>\n

Another glorious morning found me in solitary bliss as I left Llyn Llydaw and started climbing. The wind noise akin to a train coming over the ridge as I ascended the last steep snow slope made me re-think my plans, and I beat a hasty retreat to the lake. Having lost my hard-won height, I once again climbed – this time onto the Horns.<\/p>\n

\"Y

Y Lliwedd. I made it to the ridge at top-left before retreating from the gusts. \u00a9 Haydn Williams 2013<\/p><\/div>\n

From the Horns, with time pressures mounting, I dropped down the Pyg Track in it’s full winter garb. Normally a awkward knee-jarring rock-fest, it was fast and fun all the way back to the car park. From there the real-world kicked back in as I drove home for an afternoon of work, the pain softened somewhat by a cracking weekend.<\/p>\n

\"It's

It’s no wonder un-prepared people get in trouble when even the first section of the Pyg Track looks like this. \u00a9 Haydn Williams 2013<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had a weekend which was both Grand and National,...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[420,117,118,120,309,855,954],"class_list":["post-2936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-outdoors","tag-fell-running","tag-glyder-fach","tag-glyder-fawr","tag-glyders","tag-snowdonia","tag-welsh-winter","tag-y-lliwedd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.haydnwilliams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.haydnwilliams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.haydnwilliams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.haydnwilliams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.haydnwilliams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.haydnwilliams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.haydnwilliams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.haydnwilliams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.haydnwilliams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}