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Arenig Fawr, A Winter Wildcamp

Arenig Fawr, A Winter Wildcamp


Postby mountainstar » Tue Nov 16, 2010 3:45 pm

Hewitts included on this walk: Arenig Fawr

Date walked: 15/11/2010

Time taken: 1.5

Distance: 4.45 km

Ascent: 483m

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Arenig Fawr wildcamp 15/16 November 2010
Weather: - Sunny start, cloud and sleet showers in the evening, freezing overnight, fiery sunrise, sunny morning.

Arenig Fawr is one of my favourite mountains, not one of the big ones, but it has a bit of everything….lakes, crags, ridges, a nice pointy summit with 360 degree views… being a fairly lone mountain, and about the nearest “real” mountain from my home. It must be a close call on if I’ve climbed Snowdon or Arenig Fawr more times (possibly about 30 times each) and I’ve camped on or around and stopped in the wee Bothy on around 10 occasions, so I like it! :D
Now I haven’t been walking or camping in Wales for about 2 months (Been a bit busy in Scotland of late) So with a small window of good weather at last (Even though it said that some wintry showers would pass over in the evening) I was of at 12.30pm for the hour or so drive to the start of the walk.


our_route.gpx Open full screen  NB: Walkhighlands is not responsible for the accuracy of gpx files in users posts



I was walking in sunshine to start,

1 Arenig Fawr Bothy (600 x 307).jpg


2 Llyn Arenig Fawr (600 x 357).jpg


but as I passed the tiny Bothy and lake, I could see some cloud nearing to the west. :(

3 Arenig Fawr, Shower clouds aproaching (600 x 314).jpg


It’s a bit of a climb from the Bothy, but then eases across the grassy slopes where some paths can be found.
By the time I was nearing the summit, the clouds looked really threatening, so I skipped going to the summit and headed for the northern grassy ridge where I was going to camp tonight, just in time because as I pitched the tent in the wind the rain started, but I was in before it became to heavy.
It remained cloudy with wind and sleety showers battering the tent through the evening, so my hope of some nice sunset pictures was dashed.
I kept warm through the evening, 1st with a cup a soup, then a meal of curry and rice, and when it went dark I lit the gas lamp, which warmed the tent to a barmy 16 degrees C at its warmest! (Not so warm in the night though as the temperature inside fell to 0.9 degrees.)
The showers and wind eased as I hit the pillow at about 10.30pm, although I was still in the mist and cloud. At around 4 or 5am I popped my head out to see a fabulous sea of bright stars in view, so it looked as if I would be rewarded with a good sunrise after the non-event of the sunset.
As dawn arrived the horizon was clear, but high herringbone cloud was overhead, the type that sometimes gives you a great red glow as the sun nears to rising.....

4 Dawn from Arenig Fawr (600 x 192).jpg


5 Dawn from Arenig Fawr (600 x 450).jpg


6 Dawn from Arenig Fawr (600 x 308).jpg


7 Dawn from Arenig Fawr (600 x 450).jpg


....I wasn’t to be disappointed, it soon turned to a fiery red, fantastic! :D

8 Sunrise from Arenig Fawr (600 x 450).jpg


9 Snowdonia from Arenig Fawr (600 x 325).jpg


10 Snowdonia from Arenig Fawr (600 x 450).jpg


11 Sunrise from Arenig Fawr (600 x 310).jpg


12 Sunrise from Arenig Fawr (600 x 450).jpg



After wandering around taking pictures in the bitter cold breeze, I packed the partly frozen tent, and headed back down the slopes to calmer and warmer conditions by the Bothy.

13 Fog over Bala Lake (600 x 238).jpg


14 Arenig Fawr (600 x 450).jpg


15 The Aran Range (600 x 354).jpg


16 Arenig Fawr (600 x 450).jpg


Another 20 minutes got me back to a still frozen car.
Most of my freinds and family think I'm mad doing this sort of thing, so its good to share it with some who also do this type of thing :thumbup:


Watch the short video here:- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2MvQ7Bw4rQ
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mountainstar
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Re: Arenig Fawr, A Winter Wildcamp

Postby Merry-walker » Tue Nov 16, 2010 4:05 pm

:thumbup:

I was reading this and wondering if you'd done a video for it, and glad you did!


The pictures are marvelous, luv the dawn sun, you've captured it well :D
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Re: Arenig Fawr, A Winter Wildcamp

Postby mountain coward » Tue Nov 16, 2010 10:11 pm

Superb pics MS! :D Your tent in the evening with the lamp lit was warmer than my house!

And I'm surprised to see I've actually been up Snowdon a lot more times than you have... only been up Arenig Fawr once though - it is a nice hill though...
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Re: Arenig Fawr, A Winter Wildcamp

Postby Red Peak » Wed Nov 17, 2010 2:15 pm

Did you go up on horseback, as there's definately a horse's shadow on your second photograph ... :D
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Re: Arenig Fawr, A Winter Wildcamp

Postby mountainstar » Wed Nov 17, 2010 2:20 pm

So there is! 8)
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Re: Arenig Fawr, A Winter Wildcamp

Postby malky_c » Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:09 pm

Well worth the effort for those skies! :D

I've also only been up here the once. Should probably do again, but my visits to Wales are so brief these days that I tend to stick to the stuff close by (which is Aber, Ogwen, Llanberis and Beddgelert at a push) when I'm down.
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Re: Arenig Fawr, A Winter Wildcamp

Postby kinley » Wed Nov 17, 2010 7:40 pm

MS wrote:Most of my freinds and family think I'm mad doing this sort of thing, so its good to share it with some who also do this type of thing


Sanity is greatly over-rated I've heard :lol: :lol:

Looks great 8)
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Re: Arenig Fawr, A Winter Wildcamp

Postby malky_c » Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:34 pm

You know you've managed a good report if you've managed to convince Kinley there are other hills outside of Scotland :lol: :wink:
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Re: Arenig Fawr, A Winter Wildcamp

Postby mountainstar » Thu Nov 18, 2010 1:40 pm

Same mind-set on wild camping: :thumbup:
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Re: Arenig Fawr, A Winter Wildcamp

Postby Merry-walker » Thu Nov 18, 2010 6:33 pm

Hi Mountainstar,

Can I ask, what kind of camera did you use for your pictures and any particular settings when capturing suns (same for you video camera?). Ive only got a cheapy but am sure I can tweak it to get the best out of it.
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Re: Arenig Fawr, A Winter Wildcamp

Postby mountainstar » Thu Nov 18, 2010 6:49 pm

I have 2 cameras, a pocket one (Canon powershot A2100)for when I'm multi day backpacking, and a bigger( for day walks or overnight camps) Olympus SP-560UZ, its got a fixed lens:- with a 27mm wide and 18x optical zoom (fantastic). To be honest I'm pretty lazy with the settings, I put it on landscape or sunset/rise settings and let it do the work.(same for video)
I used the olympus one on this trip.
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Re: Arenig Fawr, A Winter Wildcamp

Postby Merry-walker » Thu Nov 18, 2010 6:55 pm

Thanks, they certainly do the job. I'll have to twiddle about with mines and maybe see about new gear :)
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