Sump To Summit

The conditions on Monday were looking pretty good—cloudy and windy, but not bad considering Eryri was still in full winter mode. Days like this aren’t exactly common, so I decided to take the day off work! El and I picked up Tarquin and headed out with the plan to climb Eastern Arête, not far from Crib Lem, where we’d been on Saturday.

The walk in was tougher than expected—much more snow had fallen overnight, making progress slow. Tarquin took the lead breaking trail, which we were grateful for. As we got closer to the route, a storm rolled in, battering us with hailstones and even throwing in a bolt of lightning for good measure. Exciting, but not exactly reassuring! None of us fancied getting caught mid-climb in a storm like that. Thankfully, the storm passed as we neared the base, and the clouds parted just enough for us to see our line.

With the deep snow slowing us down, it had taken three hours to reach the start. I took the lead, kicking steps into the snow, and we quickly gained some height before traversing to the beginning of the climb—an exciting start! We geared up, got the ropes (2x 60m) ready, and made a plan to lead two 30m pitches each to save time and make sure we finished before dark.

Tarquin led the first two pitches, with the second offering some awesome climbing. I took over next, leading the route over a shoulder and into a gully. By now, the wind was howling, so we opted to stick to the gully for some shelter. At the top, only a bit of climbing remained, which El led beautifully to take us over the top. We packed up the gear and made our way to the summit of Carnedd Llewelyn.

The wind was relentless, and snow was whipping into our faces. El and I had, of course, forgotten our goggles, which made it all the more “fun.” As we started descending, visibility was next to nothing, so we relied heavily on GPS. About 15 minutes into the descent, darkness fell, and we switched on head torches to navigate the rest of the way.

Back at the car, soaked and knackered, we dropped Tarquin off and agreed there was absolutely no way we were cooking when we got home. Indian takeaway it was!

Two incredible days out in the snow—I couldn’t have asked for better!

I figured I’d start to keep lists of gear I used on the bottom of some of my posts – It may help decide what gear to use in future when planning adventures:

Clothing:

• Scarpa Ribbel B2’s
• Paramo Cascada2 Trousers
• Paramo Cambia LS Base Layer
• Omm Rotor Vest
• Paramo Velez Adventure Light Smock
• Berghaus Gortex Jacket
• Rab Cirrus Jacket
• Jottnar beanie
• Black Diamond Guide Gloves
• Arcteryx Alpha SL Gloves

Gear:

• Grivel Air Tech C2 Crampons
• Edelrid Loopo Air Harness
• DMM Cortex Ice Axes (Yes, overkill!)
• Mountain Equipment Tupilak Rucksack
• Petzl Meteor Helmet
• Beal Cobra Half Ropes
• DMM Renegade Harness