Snowdonia, North Wales
May 2005


Mountains are big things for us. Well, their obviously big in size. But they're also a big part of what we do. And we have made a point over the past four year to spend the first May bank holiday weekend with as many scouts as possible on the hills. This year we made tracks for Snowdonia, home to some of the best mountains south of the border. The weather forecast was not good, but that has never stopped us before, so off we went.

What, no traffic?
It was Bank Holiday Friday and we managed to do the M25, M40, M42 and M6 without hitting one traffic jam. Amazing - we don't know how that happened.

Milling about
We stayed at Coetmor Mill, a fabulous hostel operated by Hertfordshire Scouts. It is very comfortable and spacious and is the ideal place to base yourself for adventures in the mountains of Snowdonia, just outside Bethesda. We had exclusive use, so took as us much space as we could.

Cloud to Sun
Saturday started cloudy, which was a bit depressing, but the higher we got ont he hill, the sunnier it became. By the time we reached the summit it was blue skies and time to slap on the suncream. By contrast, on Saturday we began the day in shorts, t-shirts and sunglasses. As soon as we reached Bristly Ridge it was waterproofs on as the clouds unleashed a gale!

Moel Siabod
Our intro hill day was an ascent of Moel Siabod. We took the long gentle slog in to the corrie before hitting the nice and friendly scramble up the ridge to the summit. Stunning views, great hands on rock action and some exciting moves made time pass quickly as we got to the top. Taking in the views and the sunshine before heading down to the bus, happy but exhausted.

Glyders
We decided to traverse the Glyders on Sunday. Heading up Bristly Ridge to Glyder Fach, then walking west to Glyder Fawr. We took a variety of routes to avoid the precarious bits on Bristly Ridge (it was very windy) and our three groups congregated at the summit of Glyder Fach. We posed on the cantilever and clambered on the boulder marking the summit of the mountain. Then we fought some very strong winds to enjoy a drink in the wind at the summit of Glyder Fawr. We then descended to the valley via the Devil's Kitchen. One group even had enough energy to add an extra summit, Yr Garn, to their day - well done to Gareth I, Adam M, Peter F, Charles R and James C. The views were breathtaking as the cloud lifted for the day.

OVMRO
We visited Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation to present them with a cheque for a stretcher we have bought them with some of the money we have fund-raised. The team were generous in their thanks and gave the scouts a tour of Oggi Base, and a demonstration of various different flares. Then it was time for business and we presented them with the cheque and stretcher, with the news even making it onto the BBC website.

A super weekend on the mountains encompassing all types of hillwalking in all types of weather. The scouts were outstanding and can be proud of their achievements.