
58. Group: 4: Dave, Sue, Wyn, Al - my biggest group!. Pen yr ole wen to Pen yr helgi du, back over rough terrain. forecast: 30-50mph S, snow showers. Planning to bail out around the east of Pen yr ole wen if conditions are too poor, then head up to Llewellyn direct. Duration: 7 hours.
My first direct ascent of southwest path up Pen Yr Ole Wen. Ascent slow, Sue was much slower than the rest of the group, which led to some fragmentation, but I managed to keep the group reasonably together. Regrouped on top. Fog on top, got in some navigation practice, and also some teaching re: pacing/timing (group seemed impressed!). The thin snow on the tops affected pacing. Cloud cleared near Craig Ysgolion Duon. Managed both main Carneddau, then bailed down the waterboard road and missed out Pen yr Helgi Du due to time constraints. Avoided the worst of the weather, although as we headed back along the base of Ogwen Valley via the old Roman Road, there was one lightening strike and a huge hailstorm. Started at 0900, Everyone back by 1600, a couple of hours later than hoped. Note for future: what is 5 hours for ex-fell runner Dave is likely to be 7 hours for slower people.
Area :
Carneddau
The Carneddau (lit. "the cairns"; Carneddau is a Welsh plural form, and is sometimes anglicised to Carnedds) are a group of mountains in Snowdonia, Wales. They include the largest contiguous areas of high ground (over 2,500 or 3,000 feet (910 m) high) in Wales and England, as well as six or seven of the highest peaks in the country—the Fourteen Peaks. The range also encloses a number of lakes such as Llyn Cowlyd and Llyn Eigiau, and the Aber Falls waterfalls. It is delimited by the Irish Sea to the north, the Conwy valley to the east, and by the A5 road from Betws-y-Coed to Bethesda to the south and west. The area covers nearly 200 square kilometres, about 10% of the area of Snowdonia.