Cadair Idris

(December 2014)

I dropped Dave a message last minute to ask if he could put me a pair of crampons and an ice axe in. The snow had been pouring down across the UK, but mainly in Scotland. I was hoping to get in my first days winter walking with the guys from the WMC (Wolverhampton Mountaineering Club) of the season. 

I rolled up outside Dave's house with the sun barely breaking the hold of darkness on the sky and waited for the John and Rich to arrive. John was fighting fit as usual chomping on a McDonalds breakfast to soothe the previous nights drinking session. 

John feeling a little better on the summit

 

I drifted in and out of sleep in the back of the car crammed in with John and Rich, and suddenly awoke to John requesting Dave to stop the car as soon as possible. Rich and I eitherside piled out of the car to enable John to empty his stomach contents on the side of the road. (That's why you don't drink too much kids!)

View up into the cwm and summit in the middle

 

The air was cold and crisp as we pulled on our boots in the carpark and the outline of Cadair Idris backed by pure light blue sky and the odd whisp of white cloud. Cadair lies on the Southern edge of Snowdonia National Park, Wales near to the town of Dolgellau.  

Llyn Cau

The path followed a set of block cut steps that criss crossed via slab bridges over a fast following stream that fell to form a number of small waterfalls and white frothy plunge pools. The stream was feed from a large lake (Llyn Cau) at the base of Cwm, the water of which seemed black compared to the white snow around it's edge. 

Following the rim of the cwm

View across the surrounding peaks

 

We followed the rim of the Cwm that opened out onto a snow covered ridge, plodding up in a line staring out at the view for miles across the Welsh countryside. The route led across several stiles with the adjoining wire fence eitherside encrusted in wind blasted ice. As we crossed the col towards the summit trudging through deeper snow that had drifted in the shallow depressions. 

Panoramic summit view

Me and Rich at the summit cairn

 

The summits cairn was encrusted in snow and ice from the strong winds blowing down from the north. We all stood in amazement at the breathtaking view across the Snowdon range and out to the Irish Sea. The wind soon began to pick up and the air cooled further, so we headed for shelter for lunch in a small bothy (a small brick shack) hidden in the hillside. 

Descent across the summit ridge

Wind shaped snow on the descent

The afternoon came and we began our descent stumbling and sliding down a scree banks the otherside of the horseshoe shape of the Cwm. We arrived back at the carpark as the sun was slowly sinking in the sky and the stream growing from the additional of the days melt water. The return home was somewhat mard by a trip to the toilets before leaving that were flooded with raw sewage, the sink I'm sure didn't help John's hangover.

Last view before heading to the car park

 

Cadair Idris is a true gem at the edge of Snowdonia with several classic mountain routes that can escape the weather systems trapped over the National Park itself. Well worth a visit!