Being involved in the cadet organisations opens up the possibility of running Adventurous Training courses through the military. One of those avenues is with CCAT (Cadet Centre for Adventurous Training), who run courses for senior cadets and adults out of Capel Curig and Halton Training Camps.

This week, I’ve been at Capel Curig running a Summer Mountain Foundation which is an introductory hill walking course. We had four adults and two cadets on the course, and I was joined by another adult who was looking to build up log book days for his own professional development.

With all the admin to get out of the way on the first morning as well as kit to drawer from stores, we were left with the afternoon on the hill. The main purpose of the session was to look at a few basic navigational techniques and get everyone starting to look at the detail more closely, especially that of the contours. As is often the case, this proved to be an eye opener for everyone, including those with extensive personal hill walking experience. After a substantial evening meal, we finished off the day with a lecture on Weather in the evening.

After a short day out on Monday, I opted for a relatively big hill day on Tuesday. We arranged to get dropped off at Ogwen Cottage, and made our way of the Devil’s Kitchen, onto the Glyders, descending to the east into Capel Curig. I’d chosen this route for a combination of reasons. One was the length of the walk combined with the height gain. I wanted everyone to feel the difference in temperature, wind and visibility (which thankfully closed in as forecast). However, the route also includes a variety of conditions under foot with made up paths, stable rock, loose rock, scree, grass and a bit of bog. Evening lectures then focussed on Access & Conservation and Mountain Hazards which built on nicely from our day on the hill.

We settled on a shorter route for Wednesday. After a long previous day, and the knowledge that we’d be heading out on an expedition on Thursday, I didn’t want to have too demanding a day. So we chose to head to the south side of Moel Siabod, where we could get some shelter from the forecast westerly winds. One member of the group seemed to be struggling with dizzy spells which left me concerned and, when we got hit by the full force of the wind, it didn’t take long to admit defeat and start heading back. However, the experience of feeling that wind was invaluable, especially when it was explained that we could expect half as strong again on the summit. It also gave us chance to retreat a little and get out the group shelter, which I always feel is a small but useful experience.

Heading down early also gave us more time to prepare for the expedition. A quick chat about appropriate food was followed by a trip to the local mini market, drawing tents, stoves, roll mats etc from stores. Thankfully, everyone took the chance to practice putting up their tents indoors before heading into the hills, as one needed returning. Finally, we set about planning our route and preparing route cards.

With bags all packed, and a substantial breakfast inside us, we got dropped off towards the north end of the Carneddau at a convenient car park at the end of a long track to the west of the village of Rowen. We picked our way up onto the long ridge which works it’s way into the heart of the Carneddau mountain region, putting our pre-prepared route cards to good use. We headed over Drum, Foel-fras, Carnedd Gwellian ( formerly Garnedd Uchaf) and Foel Grach before descending to our wild camp site by the lake just to the east of Carnedd Llewelyn. All the recent rain made it quite difficult to find a dry patch large enough for five tents, but we managed to get them up and start cooking before it got dark. By the time everyone had eaten, it was 6pm and properly dark and cold, so we all turned in for the night.

The night turned out to be quite an adventure in itself. I’d picked the camp site to give us shelter from the westerly winds but we ended up in the ‘dirty’ air with it swirling all over the place and the sleet being driven into the side of the tents. Tents were bending into unnatural positions and people had the canvass hitting them in the face. At one point, I became convinced something much be wrong with my tent as it was flapping so badly. It turned out that the door zip had opened with all the vibrations. It wasn’t until morning that I discovered that the wind had stolen a hat and one glove. Thankfully, I found them again, but not everyone was so lucky. Between us, we lost several bits of kit and one tent pole gave out as well.

Friday morning was a bit calmer and, after a good breakfast we made our way up Carnedd Llewelyn which proved to be quite iced up at the top – so much for summer conditions! We had hoped to make our way over Carnedd Dafydd and Pen yr Ole Wen, but time was short and we descended straight down to the A5 where a van had been left for us.

It’s been a great week, with a wide variety of experiences which I hope has made the course valuable. Thanks to everyone in the group for making it such fun. All that remains now is to fix my tent.