Clay and Cat took me out for my first road bike ride, a casual 20 mile route taking in Winnats Pass. I later found out its one of the top 20 hills in the country, which made me feel better about getting off a few times for a breather.
One final route for 2018 - the Peak District’s “longest scramble”. 70m of crumbly limestone, moss and mega winds. Next time we’ll go to North Wales.
Coaxing a very hungover Blackmore, and a rather more sprightly Anja, on a hike up Kühberg.
As the M6 closed, we battled on through the Blizzard to the Lakes on Friday night. Greeted by mostly clear skies and high winds on Saturday morning, myself and Clay headed up onto Brown Cove Crags to climb Right Buttress Crack.
It was a fairly intense day with no goggles, heavy spindrift, 3 left gloves and chest deep powder in the gullies, but a good chance to try out the GoPro in some poor weather.
...just! To compensate for a Saturday spent in t-shirts in the sun, we had an early start and soloed Central Trinity up to Snowdon. There was still plenty of snow, and a tasty piece of ice just next to the bottom of Left-hand Trinity. By the time we summited, the mist was back and we hurried down over the top of Lliwedd for breakfast.
As an introduction to winter skills I took Erinna and Keelin into Stob Coire nan Lochan for some axe arrest and crampon practice. Once the sliding was over we carried on along the ridge to Bidean nam Bian and descended back into the Lost Valley. Sunday was another dry, overcast day so we opted for a climb onto Buachaille Etive Mor before the drive back to catch flights home.
