North Wales Day 2 - I'm Scrambling in the Rain

The fellow Mountain Leader trainee I wanted to spend the day with had bailed out, so I was on my own again. For once the forecast had been true. There was a bit of sun and the clouds were generally higher up. Even the rain had stopped and the winds were less strong. That constant noise of the wind speeding through the valley had ceased. It had felt like sleeping next to a motorway in rush hour the night before. Sometime during this night I had realized that I heard only the rain dropping onto my sturdy tent. The mountains had stopped singing their war song.
It's weird how we percieve the hills or mountains almost as people. But sometimes it seems they have a temper even a soul of their own. Maybe that's why I am so intrigued by them. It's almost like they speak to me. Like giant animals I try to read them, figure out if they will let me mount them or if they buckle when I try.
I have the highest respect and admire their raw beauty. I am such a tiny short-lived being compared to those huge aeons-old beasts.
I can hardly take my eyes off them and if I could, I would just sit down and stare at them for hours. I have to know all the names of the hills or mountains I can see when I'm walking somewhere and I'll stare at the map until I've got it all figured out. It's like knowing all the names of people around you when you're in a training course or something. And finally.... that sweet cramp in my stomach when I see a hill or mountain. The one that gets your pulse racing and puts a stupid smile on your face. I'm in love. As simple as that.
I want to be close to the hills when they let me and leave them alone when they're upset. Yesterday they had been upset and seeing the mountain rescue in action justified my decision not to force myself onto them.

Sunday, I decided to drive the very scenic road to Bethesda again and give Carnedd Dafydd a go and maybe head over to Carnedd Llewelyn depending on circumstances.

As so often actually getting out of town into open country proved a bit difficult, but eventually I made it and was heading ever up just after 11am after passing some sheep farm and relocating after realizing that I was following the wrong river. Infact, I hadn't even realized there were two streams. Duh.
Practiced some aligning of contour features to the map and naming what I saw around me. The sun was out and I was walking up in my baselayers. Ha! It was almost like shopping in your pyjamas. I zipped off the lower part of my hiking trousers and really liked the combination of my icebreaker leggings and the now shorts. Warm and freedom for my legs. Cool!

I could see the top of Carnedd Dafydd clearly ahead and only now and then some clouds passed it low enough to actually hide it. What a fine day so far, but I knew it was going to change soon, so I made good speed.
Reaching the first outcrop of the Carneddau named Mynydd Du the views got ever better. The drop to my left got steeper and steeper and soon was I walking along the ridge passing another two rocky humps before the actual ascent of Carnedd Dafydd started for real.
The views of the cwm below were lovely with Afon Llafar winding it's way down towards Bethesda. Ahead I saw the rocky slope of today's peak with patches of snow strewn over it.

Looking back down to Bethesda

The top of Carnedd Dafydd before clouds swallowed it

I lost the faint path pretty soon but navigating wasn't too difficult since I just needed to go up. This way I tried to find the best and easiest way over large boulder fields that required more scrambling than I had expected. The clouds dropping down now and the wetness from the last few days added an extra level of difficulty. I certainly scrambled over more rock than needed but with the view getting worse it was hard to see far enough ahead for an easier route.
About 20 metres below the summit, a hail shower washed over me just as I was passing a patch of snow. I slipped into my waterproofs and fought my way to the top. Didn't even bother to take a picture since there was nothing to see anyway.

Snow!!!

With the now difficult scramble back down in mind I decided not to head over to Carnedd Llewelyn and started my decent. It wasn't as bad as I had pictured it. I carefully chose my route down and before I knew it I had left the scrambling area. I checked my GPS just to make sure I wasn't getting too close to the ridge on my right.

Scrambling down

The walk back down was nice although I couldn't see much until I was over the first hump Mynydd Du again. Some slight showers washed over me every now and then but I didn't care much.

There and back again

Back in Bethesda around 4pm I went for coffee and found the Fitzgerald's Cafe - a classic motorbike themed cafe. How cool was that!!! They had a Triton in the window and a 60s Triumph Bonnie and lots of old photographs on the walls. I got a gluten-free chocolate cake and a coffee and was totally happy.

Ahhh... a Triton!

Shower, cider and food back at the hostel, then spent the rest of the evening reading in the common room. Monday is said to be the best day with a pleasant mix of sun and clouds and only short showers if at all. I may give the Tryfan north ridge a go. Or Pen yr Ole Wen and Carnedd Llewelyn... or Moel Siabod on the way back home. So many choices.