November 2019
Crimpiau and Crafnant
For the second day of our Mountain Skills course we needed to stay below the majority of the snow line and so headed over to Crafnant from Capel Curig and then up over the Crimpiau [...]
Mountain Skills Course
I have been joined for the weekend by Clare, Jo, Kes and Kevin for our two day mountain skills course in Snowdonia. It was a bit of a surprise to be putting my winter tyres [...]
North Ridge of Tryfan – Intro to Scrambling
For the second day of our intro to scrambling course we headed up the North Ridge of Tryfan in some fantastic weather. Poor old Richard couldn't join us as he managed to lock his keys [...]
Intro to Scrambling – Seniors Gully & Ridge
I have been joined by Richard, Marcus and Keith for our two day intro to scrambling course here in Snowdonia and we kicked off the course today by heading into Cwm Idwal, up Seniors Gully [...]
A Fine Morning for the Snowdon Horseshoe
It might prove short lived but there was a fine spell of weather in Snowdonia this morning. I was out enjoying the sunshine with Gavin who after today has just one of the Welsh Hewitts [...]
Mountain Biking Snowdonia – Tour du Moel Siabod
After yesterdays soaking in the Rhynnogau I was all set to get wet again today, especially as I drew back the curtains to see nothing but cloud this morning. I had decided to start a [...]
Mountain Biking Snowdonia – Pont Scethin
Having spent the week in the Cairngorms in some lovely weather I was feeling psyched to get out on the bike and explore somewhere new for the day. My inspiration came from Pete Bursnalls book [...]
Half Term in the Cairngorms
We have enjoyed a family holiday in Braemar this week, staying at one of our favourite haunts. Mar Lodge is owned by National Trust Scotland and has been divided into apartments, this was our fourth [...]
October 2019
The Mountain – On ITV in England, Scotland and N Ireland on Monday 28th October.
"Snowdon - the King of Snowdonia's peaks. On the busiest mountain in Britain it's no surprise that the mountain rescue team is also the busiest". Series one of the "The Mountain" aired in 2014 on [...]
Mountain Biking on Snowdon
With a good forecast and a day off, Huw and I headed up Snowdon yesterday on our bikes for a day of Mountain Biking on Snowdon. It was a beautiful autumnal morning and I only [...]
Milestone Buttress and Tryfan Bach
No where near as wet a day as I was expecting but it's been pretty damp none the less. Chris, Jamie and me took scrambling as a bit of a substitute over rock climbing today [...]
Wet end to the ML Training Course
I swapped in for the last two days of the Mountain Leader Training Course. The end of the course is usually when we go out overnight and this is what we did this time. Starting [...]
ML Training – Hazards of steep ground
We have had another lovely day in Snowdonia today and the ML Training team and I have spent it looking at the hazards of steep ground. We looked at the emergency use of a rope [...]
Y Gribin, Lliwedd – ML Training
We have had a lovely autumnal day in Snowdonia today and I took the ML Training team up the Gribin Ridge onto Lliwedd for a day of security on steep ground training. We looked at [...]
Mountain Leader Training
We kicked off an ML Training course yesterday here in Snowdonia with Heather, Lizzie, Colin, Awi, Tim and Pieter - the latter three having travelled over from Holland to do the course - impressive! Yesterday [...]
Moel Siabod – Mountain Skills
It has been a significantly better day than forecast today and so it was a really pleasant surprise to spend the day under blue skies and sunshine as we headed up Moel Siabod via its [...]
Mountain Skills Course
I have been joined by Anne, Emma and Nigel today for our two day mountain skills course here in Snowdonia. We kicked the day off with a look at weather forecasting and route planning before [...]
Sierra Nevada, Spain
I am in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Spain this week and have been joined by Miriam, Claire, Steven, Bob, Steve and Sarah and ably assisted by my good friend Sandy. We have had a [...]
September 2019
East Face of Tryfan
The weather hasn't improved today but nonetheless Simon, Ben and I have had a good day of roped scrambling on Tryfan. We headed up Bastow Gully Buttress (2/3) onto the North Ridge and unto the [...]
Dad and Lad Day – Cneifion Arete
I have been out with Simon and his son Ben today, scrambling in Snowdonia. Simon first came out with me about 8 or 9 years ago and we have shared many adventures together all around [...]
Return to the Mountain. ITV Wales
Regular readers of this blog might remember Series 1 of The Mountain about 5 years ago on ITV Wales. The series was in six parts and featured 4 different peoples lives on Snowdon over a [...]
A beautiful week for photography
Last week saw a high pressure system settle over North Wales and so we had some lovely sunny days with very little wind - an Indian Summer! I made the most of the week, grabbing [...]
Bright and Breezy on An Teallach
We've saved the best for last on our Torridon and Wester Ross Mountaineering Week. Rob, Sandy and a big sociable team have been round to Diabaig to do a great little scramble, the West Spur [...]
Traversing Liathach in the Rain
Well we didn't get the views from one of Scotland's finest ridge traverses but we had a good time on Liathach none the less. Once again we've had another wet day and once again the [...]
Bleak round the back of Beinn Eighe
Rough weather again today and we tried to hide away from the gales round the back of Beinn Eighe. Scrambling on a route called Overlooking Rib on the quartzite slabs on the north eastern flank [...]