A few weeks back Donatella, Nik and I went up to Cader Idris with the intention of doing the Cyfrwy Arete in some Winter conditions. (It's all in the previous blog entry) We didn't make it! We were rather hampered by our lack of time or rather our lack of preparation. This time minus Donatella and with winter climbing newcomer Shane, we set off on Saturday to finish off the route.

We got up at at 6am. It had been a comfortable night and hadn't seemed as cold as the previous time. However, it had remained below freezing as snow had settled overnight.

A quick breakfast of pot-noodle and green tea, we were quite quick to set off!

Made it in good time to the foot of the climb and Nik led the first (as he was to lead all) pitch. I followed and Shane came up third. As Shane appeared on the ledge he complained of cold.

It all went very smoothly all the way to the top. We managed about 1 pitch every hour (we did it in 7 pitches) and had a longish snack on the table in bright sunshine.

Nik High on the Ridge

Nik led the last pitch and I took a rather posing photo of him as he climbed up towards the arete's high point.

Both Nik and Shane did very well and both seemed to enjoy themselves.

We arrived back at the car around 17.30.