ron-t climbing
04 February 2018 ................ A wintry Elidir Fawr
A good sunrise to start the day, a cold but clear day with a northeast wind - and the weather forecast for the next week or so is not good, with frost and snow to be expected.
I haven`t been up to Elidir Fawr for a while, so it seemed a good idea to use the weather of the day to go and say hello again - it turned out to be a bit different to what I had expected, as there was a fair bit of snow on the higher levels.
Heading up towards the dam it was getting more and more icey, so I sat in the entrance to the tunnel and put on my crampons - they were certainly useful on the earlier stages of the climb up from the dam, as there had been some thaw / freeze cycles, so the snow was a bit icey in places.
Higher up it hadn`t ever thawed and there was a bit more snow, so they probably weren`t really necessary but I kept them on to help with the climbing over all the blocks. I am not sure if they helped or not.
Up above the steep part of the climb up and on the upper section past the bigger blocks, and time to take a few pictures - there was a lot of snow on the tops - I don`t know when it all arrived, I wasn`t really expecting it, but there it was.
Looking back the way I had come, over the Marchlyn Mawr reservoir, across to Carnedd Filiast and a bit of the Carneddau, all looking very white.
Round to the right, and looking over Mynydd Perfedd and Foel-goch to Pen yr Ole Wen and some more of the Carneddau -
Further round again, looking over the very white Foel-goch and Y Garn towards Tryfan and the higher Glyders at the back -
Up on the summit of Elidir Fawr now, and for once Crib Goch and Snowdon were completely free of cloud -
A rather magical shot looking straight into the sun, looking southwest towards Moel Hebog and the Nantlle Ridge -
Looking away down the west coast of the Lleyn Peninsula, and Yr Eifl stands out in its usual inimitable way -
A closer view of some rather nice lighting catching Tryfan, Bristly Ridge, and the west face of Glyder Fâch -
Along the summit ridge, then down to Elidir Fach, and some super lighting looking southwest towards Moel Hebog and the Nantlle Ridge again -
Looking up at the flank of Elidir Fawr -
Heading north along the ridge of Elidir Fach was the coldest part of the whole day, straight into the north east wind - then that long and quite steep descent down to the lower Marchlyn Bach reservoir - I don`t know what it is about that descent, I have done it a few times, and it just seems to go on and on, and it is quite a relief to get down onto the road.
It was a good day, all the snow was fairly unexpected, but it added an extra dimension to the day - and it was nice to get away from the midges.
I really don`t understand what is going on with the midges on Anglesey - all through the year they have been there, but not too much of a problem. But in the last two of three months they have just exploded in number, and they are becoming quite intolerable now - they are all round the house, inside the house, in clothing, in boxes, in drawers, everywhere. I am sure they are increasing exponentially now.
In Scotland you get respite from them for six or seven months of the year, but in Anglesey with its mild climate they are there 365 days a year - whether it is just some areas of Anglesey or something to do with sheep I don`t know, but it was nice to get away from them for a while.
And I can tell you, whatever the experts say about the life cycle of midges - it does not apply to Welsh midges, which are quite different.
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