Earlier this week I managed to snatch an impromptu couple of days playing around on the frozen streams in the shadow of Crib y Ddysgyl. With the good conditions, Sunday was very busy – but on Monday I soloed two routes and had the entire place to myself.

Having been cheated out of what I’d hoped would be at least a couple of winter routes in Fort William a couple of days previously, I persuaded James to accompany me to Snowdonia on Sunday. The aim was to climb some water ice, given that my only such experience to date was a foray with Hamish. We planned to check out Sargeant’s Gully (II,**) and Parsley Fern Fully (I) on Cyrn Las and Clogwyn y Ddysgyl respectively. With an early start from Chester on Sunday, we found Sargeant’s Gully in good nick with lots of ice. We also found seven other parties on it, all of whom arrived within about ten minutes of us!

The original plan was to inspect Sargeant’s on the way up to Parsley Fern, the idea being that we’d start actually climbing on a simple Grade I and just have a look at Sargeant’s to get an idea of Grade II terrain. However, the bottom section of the route is quite friendly, so we let all the competent people head up, and then spent some time placing screws and generally getting used to proper ice.

As we reached the gully proper, our lack of suitable equipment started to become apparent – it was clear that seconding with a pair of walking axes just wasn’t feasible, so we bailed off to the side. Even so, it was a useful session to build on my rather limited experience, and to give James a first taste of swinging an axe.

The next day, in a fit of enthusiasm, I returned to find a sprinkling of snow and quite a lot more ice on Sargeant’s than the previous day. The aim was still to make it up Parsley Fern Gully, but this time solo as James had to work.

I hadn’t been able to get a guide book, and so didn’t really know much about my proposed route, Parsley Fern Gully (I). I knew even less about Sinister Gully (III), but stood in Cwm Glas, that looked to have more ice on the bottom section, and to be more fun.

On a whim, I took it, and it did indeed prove to be fun. Granted, it was a little intimidating once I was up there. However, the only way out was back down, and that wasn’t really an option by the time I’d realised it was getting a bit hairy. The gradient eventually eases off before the really hard bit, so I moved across to Parsley Fern Gully at that point. I joined that line just below the point where Parsley Fern Left-Hand (II) splits off – it looked fun, but after the excitement of soloing the first half of Sinister Gully, I plumped for the normal line. It was a mix of bomber neve (which I was quite relieved to see) and water ice, with the odd steep ice step, and then a nice stretch of neve to the top ridge line.

Once at the top, I walked down Crib y Ddysgyl and the cloud quickly cleared to give blue skies and sunshine. While not exactly pushing the boundaries of winter climbing in the UK, I’m quite pleased with the result. It was a very useful couple of days, with some valuable lessons about water ice, reading a guide book before you set out, and how inadequate petrol station croissants are for lunch.