ron-t climbing
17 November 2018 ................ Not a good trip up Elidir Fawr
This was not a good trip up Elidir Fawr - nothing went acording to plan, and if something could go wrong, it did.
The plan was to see if I could cycle up to the dam, then climb up the north east end of the ridge that forms Elidir Fawr.
Cycling up hills is not something I am good at - I don`t know what it is, my muscles just don`t seem to have the ability to do it. Even years ago in my peak of Munro bagging, I could spend 8 to 10 hours walking over the hills bagging two or three or four Munros in the one day, but even then I couldn`t cycle up hills.
However I thought I would give it a go, it was a super afternoon, not a cloud in the sky, and very warm for mid November.
The first thing that I discovered that as soon as you start from the road end, it is uphill, and you are struggling right from the first push - absolutely no chance to get a warm up with an easier bit of cycling.
Now I might have have been able to cope with the gradient, but what I really didn`t expect was the south east wind that was blowing over the Bwlch y Brecan coll, across the Marchlyn Mawr reservoir, over the dam, and blasting right down the valley - so not only did I have to try and cope with the hill, I had this vicious wind against me.
Why are east winds so vicious - a gale from the west produces a lot of wind, but it isn`t anything like the viciousness of an east wind with half the wind speed.
So I had no chance - and I spent far more time pushing my bike up the road instead of cycling - sometimes I would be on a stretch of the road that was a bit more sheltered and I could get on my bike for a while, but I ended up walking an awful lot of the road.
Eventually I got up to the dam, locked up my bike and set off up the end of the ridge.
However it very quickly became very obvious that I wasn`t going to be going up the end of the ridge - the wind was screaming across it, and trying to climb up over all the boulders in that wind was going to be a total no-no.
So I headed round to the right, and into the sort of area between the flank of the Elidir Fawr ridge and the shallow ridge that ends in Elidir Fach.
Now this was a route that I haven`t ever done before, so didn`t know the best way to get up to the summit - I climbed up the flank of Elidir Fawr in a sort of diagonal way, going upwards and forwards at the same time, a bit like an old fashioned stalker track.
Eventually I got up to the top of the ridge, and thought I wasn`t too far away from the summit, so headed along the top of the ridge - it wasn`t a good idea, climbing over the huge blocks with the wind blasting me from the side, it was quite hazardous.
It turned out that I had arrived away at the wrong end of the ridge, and I spent a good 20 to 30 minutes struggling along the ridge, eventually getting to the summit and the shelter.
By the time I got there the sun was well on its way down, and I was really going to be pushed to get back down before it got dark.
So no time for a tea break, I grabbed a few pictures, and headed away.
What a shame, if only I had known that I was away at the south west end of the ridge, I would have just stayed there, I could have enjoyed the super views and a tea break, and then headed down over a much easier route than I did have to take.
And so onto the pictures - the low angle of the sun was producing some amazing colouring, I wish I had had more time to enjoy it all.
To start, looking across to the Carneddau -
More strange lighting on the Glyders -
Just the very summit of Tryfan catching the sun -
It would have been good to see the lighting on Snowdon from the other side, for example, from Moel Hebog or the Nantlle Ridge - this wasn`t the best view of it, as this side of Snowdon was mostly in the shade -
Looking straight into the sun to get a good view away down the Lleyn Peninsula, with Yr Eifl standing out as usual -
There really wasn`t any time to hang around on the summit, with the sun that low it was going to get dark fairly soon, so I headed straight down the flank of Elidir Fawr to the dam, picked up my bike, and then it should have been a super whizz all the way down.
Except it wasn`t, the gusts of wind were so strong that I had to completely stop quite frequently so I could brace against the wind - if I hadn`t there is no doubt I would have been blown over. It was quite scary at times.
So it was just about starting to get dark by the time I was back down to the public road, and within another 15 minutes or so it was pretty dark - it gets dark so quickly at this time of year, it is all too easy to get caught out by it.
I got there, and I got back, but it wasn`t a good trip - a lot of effort for very little reward.
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