Ty Powdwr - Easter Weekender
Members in attendance: Emily Pitts (leader), Andy Stratford, Jo Stratford, Dave Dillon, Dave Wylie, Colin Maddison, Mary Stuart, Robert Clark, Jim Symon, Philippa Maye, John Evans, Fiona Dixon, Steve Graham.
Friday 30thMarch
Colin Maddison’s handwriting looks like a spider did a Welsh jig across the page (see Evidence 1 below). All that I can make out from the Ty Powdwr logbook is:
‘Pen Y Pass’ at the start and ‘Pen Y Gwryd’ at the end. Plenty in between, so it looks like he had a fine yomp over the hills, finished off with ‘lots of snow over 800m’, ‘dry and cloudy’, ‘blowy late afternoon’.
Evidence 1 - see photos: Colin Maddison - charming, but largely illegible handwriting, seen at the top of the image.
Dave W, Fiona and John – north Ridge of Tryfan.
Andy and Jo: Walking, eating and retail therapy.
Saturday 31stMarch
The forecast looked decidedly questionable, so a large part of the cohort stayed put at Ty P, nevertheless staying productive and undertaking a range of minor hut upgrades, cooking tasks and filming (see Dave Dillon’s winning entry to the new ‘short film’ category in the President’s Hotpot competition).
The outdoor adventurous contingent, now to be known as the Famous Five – Andy, Jim, Fiona, John and Steve set off at 8.25 for the 9am bus to Capel Curig to embark on a bog trudge through the drizzle up Y Foel Goch (805m), at which point the snow flurries set in and visibility reduced to 40-50 metres. Reaching Glyder Fach, the team took some piccies and a lunch stop before continuing on. There appears to have been a period of ribbing directed towards Andy about his navigational announcements, along the lines of: ‘you haven’t got us lost again, have you?’, ‘are you sure about that GPS location?’, as the group tottered their way up and over to the top of the Gribin.
With cairns as a guide, the Famous Five took in Glyder Fawr, then Llyn Y Cwn at which point a decision was to be made – would the five remain a team or would a split drive them apart? Andy, Jim and John took it on to continue walking back to the hut, whilst Steve and Fiona took to walking down to Pen Y Pass toward the warm glow of the bus (and beer?). They arrived back at the hut just after 5pm.
The AJJ detachment continued on: Y Garn, Foel Goch, Bwlch Y breean, Bwylch Y March Lyn to reach a strong wind on Elidir Fawr, returning to the hut looking wet, windswept and interesting at 18:25pm, in perfect time for a 7pm meal. A grand day out.
Time: 8hrs 45mins
Distance: 22.5km
Ascent: 1500 metres
The evening's affairs
Cooking kept the hut nice and warm amid the varying drizzle of the day and everyone who stayed back chipped in with preparation. We managed to feast on veggie chilli, steak chilli, garlic bread, baked spuds, a selection of salads, home-made coleslaw, profiteroles, cream and chocolate sauce. No-one seemed interested in fruit salad!
Sunday 1stApril – Easter Day
The forecast looked set to give a large dump of snow on the Monday, so some of the group decided to go out for the day and head back to Manchester to avoid getting snowed in. Thus, the meet petered out somewhat from Sunday morning, with everyone going their separate ways. These are the records I have of what people got up to:
Dave W, Dave D, Rob, Fiona, John and I did the Daear Ddu grade 1- scramble up Moel Siabod. A gentle amble up turned into a jump and a hop over the squelchy bog to the start of the ridge. Towards the top there was some snow, which Wavey took time to photograph, entering one of the shots into the photo comp – a curious formation of snow, almost like tentacles. After the summit, we hunkered on some rocks for a lunch stop before ambling back down. We were met with a few rays of sunshine and a handful of tiny snowflakes throughout the day, which finished in plenty of time for cake, pizza and a cuppa – always a bonus to finish in such fashion.
Andy and Jo headed back along the A55 for a walk and then home before a busy week.
Colin and Mary nipped off with Rob (?) to Holyhead Mountain where they climbed. Another photo, of Mary on New Boots & Panties (S4a), found its way into the Hotpot photo comp.
Lots of hotpot entries from the meet and full bellies – a good result.
Emily Pitts
