Plans changed rather abruptly this weekend, from “scrambling and climbing” to “not getting blown off icy mountains”. The weather on Saturday was looking a bit mean from where we were staying in Beddgelert, so we took a wander over Cnicht and the Moelwyns.

We did pretty well with the weather, and managed to liven up the route a bit by trying to get blown off several bits near the summit of Moelwyn Bach, before bailing out and just heading up a steep slope instead. It was a really nice route for the day; I’d not done it before, but the Moelwyns are now officially on my List of Hills I Like.

Sunday’s forecast was pretty dire (blizzards, 50mph winds), so J didn’t bother coming through. I was therefore rather surprised to wake to glorious sunshine reflecting off the snow at 8am! We got up pretty sharpish and a slightly more detailed weather inspection suggested Moel Siabod might be the best place to avoid the brewing snow clouds. Sure enough, we spent most of the day sheltered behind the main ridge, and had a brilliant scramble up Daear Ddu ridge in just enough snow to make it fun.

From the top it was clear that pretty much everywhere else was either in cloud, or taking a hammering with snow and hail. The descent back to the car was pretty quick, with only one vicious wave of hailstones blown across from the Carneddau to distract us. So despite not exactly matching up with the planned programme, it was another great weekend in the bag!