Animal safety

General

OK from the headings below you can pretty much see where this is going. I’m trying to put together a guide of what you should do when you’re out enjoying the moors and you come across the various animals who make it their home, for their safety and yours. Please feel free to help me build this resource in the comments section.

Cows

Sheep

Alpacas

Llamas

Highland Cattle

Birds

Mountain Hares

Links

• You and your dog in the countryside

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snowdon in the snow 2011

Previous years photos

Only a handful of people at Marsden on a drizzly grey morning and most of them new faces to this event which was great. No snow on the roads this year saw an easy journey, stopping at the usual spot on the A55 for breakfast where we also met Hawksey. I was pleased to see several groups of people already waiting for us at Electric Mountain carpark but not so happy about the rain. Still, it was forecast to brighten up and the forecast wouldn’t let us down, would it?

39 people in all (one – the mysterious cagoule man) turned up. After a quick talk indicating some of the danger areas and pointing out  the guides, helpers and first aid kit carriers we were off, a huge line of us snaking through Llanberis.

We paused briefly at Pennceunant Isaf to warn Stephan that there were actually twice as many people than I had told there would be when I rang him the previous day and that we would be calling in for tea and bara brith on our way down.

I must admit at this point to being a little more worried than usual about looking after such a large group. This year, in order to prevent the group spreading across the mountain too much, I decided to lead from the front. With the ever dependable Richard Statham at the back and the expertise and experience of Jeff, Mac, Stephen Fraser, Jude, Judy, Woody and others in the middle knew it was covered.

One of those waterproofs on, waterproofs off days left us quite well spread by the time we reached the half way point but conditions were fair and everyone was having a good time.

half way

People were happy to drift off up to Clogwyn Station at their leisure where I arrived later to find them all waiting. 

Conditions ahead were foggy but fine and with no snow on the ground the path was unmissable. I didn’t get to do the usual stop at Cloggy and lead straight through and up to the summit. Before nipping back down and brining up the rear with Richard and Mac.

Though there was no snow on the ground this year, almost as if to qualify the name of the trip it did snow during the time were on the summit. Then, on the descent the fog lifted and we were treated to 20 minutes of  scenery before it fell again. All too soon I was back at the bottom and after making sure the rest of the group were safely down retreated to Pete’s Eats for a hearty fill.

It was a great year for many people who had decided to conquer their fears and give this sort of thing a try for the first time. I’m proud and honoured to have spent the day with so many wonderful people.

Lots of photos and stories of the day by other people who came can be found by following the links below.

Barnsley Kilimanjaro Charity Trek 2011 account

mrMark’s photos on flickr

Snowdon in the Snow meets Spencer’s vertigo

Up Snowdon and Up my vertigo – Spencer Wilson

Ken Eastwood’s photos

 
 
 
 

half way

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snowdon weather

Started to keep my eye on the weather. Bloody awful from now until Friday – wet, windy and claggy. Getting better on Saturday clouds lifting and getting cooler with excellent visibility. Fingers crossed for Sunday.

Snowdon weather forecast

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pule on a snowy winter night

It was probably about -8 when Diver-Driver, Dr Ali and I set off up Pule Hill at 8pm on a frosty Monday night. The air was crystal clear and there was still lots of snow on the ground from the week before.  I don’t think we’d got off the track that leads up to Intake Head Farm before Diver-Driver’s appreciation of mine and Dr Ali’s comedic and intensely funny Scottish accents wore off. By the time we arrived at the air shaft Diver Driver was walking off into the darkness  by himself and threatening an early bath. Gritting his teeth he stuck with it and was still there to provide a flask of fortifying brandy on the summit of Pule. This along with Dr Ali’s hip flask of whiskey warmed the cockles and raised the spirits as expected.

Under shooting stars we set off down towards Worlow Quarry then followed ‘the bumps’ down to Hades Farm where we paused again to take on more fortification and admire the stars. We were back down to the village and in the pub by 10 where we were greeted by several chaps drinking whilst huddled round the only source of heat in the place – a small fan heater perched on the bar. Happy days. 🙂

Awaiting photos from Dr Ali.

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Cairngorm

Ooops! thought I’d done this in June. Oh well here’s a video and some photos, I’ll get round to a brief write up soon(ish).

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cuillin ridge #1

A couple of videos I found that give a good idea of the ridge.

Some good footage of the whole route in this

Stick with this there’s a great footage from the TD Gap and some of the climbs

The Cuillin Ridge – Tips for success by Mike Lates

I think this is the one that Dr Ali emailed around.

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snowdon – weather forecast

The weather forcast for tomorrow from http://mwis.org.uk And it couldn’t really be much better.

Snowdon Mountain Weather forecast for 21st Feb 2010

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