Tuesday 27 January 2015

Snowdonia 2

This weekend, forty of us set off for a wintry weekend in Snowdonia. In case anyone was wondering what we got up to, I thought I’d write a brief trip report! 
Going crazy on the Carneddau
On the Saturday, ten of us optimistically set off up the Miners’ track in search of a winter climb on the Trinity face of Snowdon. Despite the thaw the day before, we found Central Trinity in slightly slushy, but climbable condition.

One party soloed, and two parties roped up for the snow gully, which cuts straight up from Glaslyn to the top of Snowdon. It had a chockstone and a teeny bit of almost ice to give interest, and it was great to get the axes out. We were slightly bemused when we topped out to see crowds of people crawling up to the summit in trainers, and then sliding back down again.




An intrepid group of UBESters on the wintry Glyders
Other walks took on the Carneddau and the Glyders, finding plenty of wintry excitement and a fair bit of scrambling too. Tim lead one of his classic slogs, taking in twenty kilometers of epic Welsh hills, and returning late enough that people were talking about getting in touch with Mountain Rescue (It's okay; they were either joking, or had had a considerable amount to drink). 
We all returned ready for a nourishing dinner, however we were not aware that disaster was about to strike. A hole was discovered in the rice pan. The starchy water gushing onto the stove somehow managed to ignite, creating a small fire and a lot of excitement. After consuming copious quantities of delicious slop, cooked at last, the Saturday evening contained its usual dose of organised fun, a bonfire and a disco! 

One of the climbing officers gearing up for a very serious climb
On the second day, which was warmer, wetter and windier, several groups set off to take on some of the smaller peaks. A group of twenty took on Moel Siabod, some of us attempting to run it, to greater and lesser degrees of success. Other walks included a miniature 'three peaks', involving the all important driving aspect of the more grandiose UK wide challenge.

There were many lakes bagged this weekend, one of the more ‘heroic’ ones on the Sunday walk up Cnicht, was described by the bagger himself. “It was too shallow so I had to wade out into thigh deep mud, and the weather was like a moist apocalypse, but less exciting.” Sounds like great fun!I had a great weekend; I really hope everyone else did too.

A massive thank you to everyone who helped organise it, and I look forward to seeing everyone soon!
A postgrad officer looking like a pro!
Topping out on the summit of Snowdon


Monday 26 January 2015

Central Trinity (I/II)

Saturday 24th January 2015. A bunch of intrepid UBES'ters set of up Snowdon in search of a winter adventure. The conditions had been brilliant all week but were just starting to turn. This meant that we all ended up on one route, central trinity, a 3 star grade (I/II) gully!

10 of us were on the route in total, with experience ranging from winter climbing newbies all the way through to seasoned alpine mountaineers. We decided to split up, with some more expereienced members soloing the route to avoid the crowds, whilst the less experienced roped up for some security.

Everyone got the route done with ease and had a thoroughly enjoyable day, with George and Clay going back for more and getting two routes done in one day!

Check out the video below!

Scottish Highlands!

After a great trip to the West Highlands over New years, our very own Lucy Rand wrote this wonderful article in the Epigram for us!

Check it out here!


Sunday 25 January 2015

Head Torches are BACK!





After the success last year, we have just got in another order of Alpkit Gammas!

You've probably seen a lot of the committee and other people using them and we can sell them to you for the discounted price of £14!!!



It is essential that everyone has a headtorch for safe walking on the hills, as the days are still quite short!

If you want to buy one then get in contact with Duncan by ubes-kit@bristol.ac.uk


Here are a couple of links that give you some of the information:


 


Sunday 4 January 2015

Castle Ridge (III), a winter adventure.

Castle Ridge, a classic winter route on the UK's highest mountain!

Check out the short video below! 

Ben and myself set out early on Sunday the 28th December 2014 to tick my first winter climb of the season, and Ben's first ever!

After an early morning 5am alpine start, we walked in from the North face car park up to the CIC hut to start our route.

The line of the route can be seen as the ridge on the far right of the picture below.


We were met with beautiful views as the sun finally rose over the mountain side and lit up the snow covered slopes.

We got to the start of the route, geared up and got excited.

Once on the route we started moving together up the easier angled slopes, only stopping to pitch the 2 difficult sections, including the "awkward chimney."

The whole route seemed to last a lot longer than the 200m stated in the guide book, with us topping out Carn Mor Deag just as the sun was going down, after a full day of alpine style winter climbing!




 
 



Laurence