Alps Training...

Some of you who visit the shop fairly frequently will probably know by now that I'm off to the alps in July with the intention of climbing the Matterhorn via the Italian Ridge (as well as bagging some other peaks and doing some via ferrata in between).

I have started to train for what I'm confident will be an exhausting but exhilarating trip.  The first weekend of training, 3 of us decided to go and get a solid mountain day out on the hills in Wales.  We set off after finishing work on Saturday evening, stopped for some food en-route and then headed straight to the pub for a couple of beers before retiring the the Hut where we planned our route for the next morning.

Our dry weather plan was to do as much scrambling as possible. I had put forward a fairly challenging route which would start in the Ogwen Valley, then head up to a route called Sub Cniefion Rib (V diff rock climb), up Cniefion Arete (grade 3 scramble) onto Glyder Fawr, from there we would walk to Tryfan and scramble back down the North Ridge (grade 1) to the car.  We decided the wet weather plan would be to do a route route called 'Snakes, Ladders and Tunnels'.  This is in the Dinorwic Slate Quarry and follows a route that the old miners would have done all those years ago when the quarry was open.

In the morning we were up, fed and in the car by 8.30am on our way to the Ogwen Valley.  The sun was shining...until we pulled up into one of the laybys below Tryfan.  The Sun promptly vanished and was replaced by a large snow cloud - quickly followed by a fairly heavy blizzard!

We quickly pulled on our waterproofs and boots, and set off to do what we had all secretly wanted to do - 'Snakes, Ladders and Tunnels'. We decided to head up the North Ridge of Tryfan and then drop back down Heather Terrace and back to the car as quickly as possible, the North Ridge was icy in places so it gave a couple of us the opportunity to rope up and get used to moving together as we will be paired up when we are in the Alps. The ridge was pretty straight forward and we just had to be a little bit more careful not to slip on the snow covered rock.

It took us about an hour to get to the summit so we stopped and had a quick bite to eat before making a speedy decent back to the car - all in all it took no more than 2 and a half hours up and down which we were fairly pleased with as the height gain is similar to that we will encounter on the Matterhorn from the Carrel Hut to the summit - which is expected to take 4 hours up and 5 back down!

We piled back in the car and then headed for Dinorwic Quarry.

I had originally written a blow by blow account of our route, but have decided not to include that.  It's not a recommended route due to safety issues and if you are crazy enough to attempt it, you would do better to get some beta before you head out and then enjoy the challenges and views as they present themselves.



We figured fixed chains and ladders would be pretty good training for the fixed ropes we would encounter on the Matterhorn, although the fixed ropes on the Matterhorn will hopefully be safer and more secure than the dodgy rusty chain!



Suffice to say, many large rusty chains, dodgy looking ladders with rungs missing and exposed sections later, we all had grins on our faces as we set off back to Macclesfield.

Walking back to the car, it felt like we had crammed two days worth of activity into one, and Monday morning my whole body ached A LOT!  More training required......

Bring on the next adventures!

Jon - Shop Manager



.......



(Jon doesn't know we're sneaking this picture in...he really was shattered though! hahaha)