I last wrote a round up at the end of winter season in 2020, ending a annual tradition to do this once a year in December. Now that the next winter season is upon us it seems poignant to reflect on the strange conditions we found ourselves in for a brief period in early January 2021. For about ten days we had significant snowfalls plastering the high tops. We are usually away either in Scotland or the Alps for the majority of the winter so fleeting welsh days out are few and far between.
With the lockdowns meaning we couldn’t travel we had to stay local. Luckily our house in Snowdonia is within easy walking or cycling distance of lots of great terrain so the harsh restrictions (IMO unnecessarily restrictive on the outdoors) didn’t mean we couldn’t take advantage. Nella our golden retriever decided she liked chasing us skiing as much as mountain biking but it got too deep for her to do every day!
I deliberately didn’t post many of these shots at the time but now it seems okay to share what I appreciate was a lucky opportunity. Amongst the photos below are a snowy Crib Goch, days skiing Moel Eilio, Y Garn, Elidir Fawr and a traverse of the Welsh 3000ers over two long days. A stand out moment was the descent of long standing dream line, Parsley Fern gully. Sadly like welsh winter generally, after less than two weeks of deep cover on the hills, a few hours of warm temperatures and heavy rain completely stripped them back to grass!
