It’s not very often these days that I get the opportunity to head out into the mountains purely for my own enjoyment, rather than in a work context. I had hoped to get in a full on mountain day but, after doing a spot of shopping in Betws-y-Coed for some new climbing kit, I hadn’t really left myself with enough time for what I’d had planned. As a result, I opted to park up in Capel Curig and head into part of the Carneddau to the North East of the village.

The reason for selecting this area was that, although it’s not particularly high, it is quite complex terrain to navigate in and easy to get ‘positionally challenged’! That, combined with me being up for a challenge, seemed to make it the ideal choice given the time constraints.

My general route took me up to the top of Creigiau Gleision, before heading south over Craig Wen and Crimpiau on the return to the car. However, with it being such a beautiful day and visibility being so good, it made the overall navigation a little too easy for my liking. As a result, my day was made up of many small legs looking for relatively minor features along the way.

It was great to get back out in the mountains for personal experience, and I hope that there will be many more opportunities over the next few months, although I doubt the weather will quite so kind very often!