Winter Ascent Of Snowdon On 4.1.02 And Our Epic Drive Up In Vera Van

Last Updated on October 1, 2002

Into the wilds once more....

just after new years 2002 5 of the field and trek and the L2C crew headed up to snowdon for an days winter climbing. the day started at 3am with us piling into vera the vw van, and heading up to north wales, the vans heating system is legendary...i.e.....er....there isnt one so with the guys all huddled in down jackets and sleeping bag with -6c temp we drove on. some of the guys had new toys to play with, axes and crampons and a mini crampon work shop was set up in the back to fit new crampons to old boots.

we arrived at 7.30am in north wales and parked up in the carpark at penny pass. by 8.30 we were on the hill in wind chill of -15c.

full winter gear was needed and as you can see the snow was fantastic.

lunch was had on the summit with a gold budda we found perched on the top cairn...we later found out it disapeared 1/2 hour after we saw it! some friends came up behind us 1/2 hour later and on chatting to them a few weeks later discovered it had gone missing in between us and them. now there wasnt many folks out that day...we saw no one else....so where did it go??? mistery!!!! if you took it...put it back next new years!

lunch in -15c is cold, ever tried eating sarnies with thick gloves?

then all of a sudden the wind died and the sun came out! it was magnificent! the mountian could have been in the alps not wales!

the walk down was more of a slide down and the drive home was exciting as first the radio died then the lights, we only had full beam or nothing! bit worrying! at least the vw's lights were dim enough to start with so we didnt dazzle any other drivers.

enjoy the pics!