The ups and downs of the UK's weather

Winter courses in Wales this week just missed out on the good conditions over Christmas - with the sudden change in wind direction bringing warm winds up from the South, thawing much of the snow and making the ice falls highly unstable - it just shows how variable our climate is !
It also re-enforces the the need for a plan B, C and D if you intend to make the most of the conditions in Britain's winter mountains. We were able to gain some experience in moving on snow, evaluating the snow structure and some winter navigation, the planning process required of winter expeditions and an introduction to the use of some of the technical equipment. and for a bit of fun we even had the opportunity for a few 'bum slides' in the wet snow.

Torpantau Falls

Fantastic day out in South Wales today - blue skies, good ice and the mountains looking majestic in their winter covering ! A quick walk in to Torpantau Falls was rewarded with 3 short pitches of good ice in a beautiful setting - some water still running despite the -6 C , and the top of the main pitch was detached but the main stress of the day was the road up from Talybont - very icy past the lower car park, showing some indications of previous epics !

   

Winter week

Chris on Jackals Gully 

After a few days in bed with a bad cold, getting outside again was a bit of a shock this week with the change in the weather - winter had arrived !
Unfortunately a few people couldn't get to the courses this week, and missed  some unique climbing conditions on the steep limestone of the Wye Valley in almost winter conditions ( well there was snow and ice on some of the holds ! ) Thanks to Chris for persevering with the course ! - he was rewarded with a rare chance at ice climbing in the Brecon Beacons - well worth the hour drive from the Forest of Dean.
Cancelled courses at the weekend left me free for a quick trip to Snowdonia for some more winter climbing, with good ice and the mountains looking very pretty in their snowy covering it was a great  to get out - Ogwen was particularly popular with ques on all the best ice falls - Idwal Stream, The Screen, South Gully etc. all had numerous ascents

Iwan on Glyder Fawr

Chris on Craig y Fro Brecons

A beautiful winters day in Ogwen