Friday 13th Dec 2012
During the mid-week the excitement and expectation was creeping up on me....at last a decent spell of settled weather was forecast for the weekend. It had been a long time since we had high pressure slap bang over the UK

So Friday came and saw me driving west to Snowdonia, but disappointingly it was fairly cloudy as I drove West, not exactly what the forecasters had said, and by the time I reached Betws y Coed there was pretty much no blue sky to be seen at all, and worse still the cloud was shrouding the peaks of Snowdonia

But onwards I went regardless, hopeful that it would improve later

I parked by the east end of Llyn Ogwen where I would finish the walk the next day, from there I walked back along the A5 to the access road that leads to the Ffynon Llygwy Cronfa reservoir. By now the cloud had started to break and I could now see many of the high peaks, perhaps my planned camp on Wales’s second highest mountain Carnedd Llywelyn would not be a damp squid after all


The Ogwen Valley, the cloud breaking.
This access road gets you deep into the heart of the mountains easily, but steeply in places.

Access road to the reservoir

Cwm Llugwy

Cloud rolling over Tryfan and the Glyders
The reservoir was a pretty picture….totally still and reflecting the mountains above.

Ffynon Llygwy Cronfa

Ffynon Llygwy Cronfa

Ffynon Llygwy Cronfa
A good path leads from up from the reservoir to Bwlch Eryl Farchog, where part way up my rucksack became somewhat heavier with the water collected that I needed for my high-camp tonight.

Last chance saloon!

Wild pony passed on the path.

Pen yr Hegi Du
Once at the Bwlch I followed the ridge north west, narrow at first then broader as it got higher.

Pen Llithig y Wrach & Pen yr Hegi Du

Cloud over the Glyders

Carnedd Llywelyn
The cloud continued to come and go, but luckily my high destination was always clear


More cloud over the Glyders

Pen Llithig y Wrach & Pen yr Hegi Du
I reached the chilly summit at around 3.30pm, good timing to set camp before the sunset at 4.30pm.
I found a nice grassy area just west of the summit, with great views towards Snowdon to the south west. I was rewarded with some spectacular pictures of the sun dropping down towards the low cloud in the west


West for Carnedd LLywelyn

Carnedd LLywelyn, my tent pitch

Sunset from Carnedd LLywelyn
The tent was already starting to form a coating of frost before the sun had set…it was going to be a cold night


Sunset Inferno!

Sunset

Sunset
Time for hot soup and food before darkness fell….then into my sleeping bag for the night, together with every bit of clothing I had brought along. A few hours later I popped outside to take some pictures the moon-rise, on what was now a clear and star filled night, an amazing sight


Orion looks down

Moonrise
The outer tent had a white layer of frost inside and out, with the temperature outside probably around -10 or so, but my little candle lantern kept the temperature inside my inner cocoon at a barmy +2 degrees…until I put it out to go to sleep, when it fell to a low of -3 degrees very quickly.
Not a breath of wind disturbed the tent through the night, so I slept well until 8am when I woke to catch the sunrise.
Day 2. 14th Jan.

Sunrise

Early morning sun
After some breakfast I was packed and away by 9.40am, to enjoy some high walking over Carnedd Dafydd and Pen yr Ole Wen.
Today there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the views of distant hills were crystal clear and made even more photogenic by the haze that had formed in the valleys.

Mountains above the haze

Mountains above the haze

West from Carnedd Dafydd

Pen yr ole Wen
After Pen yr Ole Wen I descended towards the valley by its rocky east ridge.

Pen yr Ole Wens east ridge
Lower down Tryfan dramatically stood out silhouetted by the sun behind its towering bulk.

Tryfan

Tryfan

Tryfan & Glyder Fach
I arrived back at the still frost covered car (in the shade of some trees) at 12.20pm, the end another great high wild-camp adventure

My short 5 minute video of the 2 days can be seen here....
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZhOENd1Uxs&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]