Page 44 - 2016 AMA Spring

NORTHWALES
Mountaineering Meet – Nov 15
By Ryan Lang
The North Wales meet was held 13-15 Nov, based in the ideally situated ‘Bens Bunkhouse’ at the foot of the iconic Llanberis pass. Sixteen keen members either hadn’t looked at the weather forecast, or just didn’t worry about it. We all turned up in dribs and drabs on the Friday evening apart from Liz and John. They were super keen and attended the Presidents dinner first at Sandhurst before embarking on the journey to Llanberis. I seem to remember being woken at approximately 0200 as they arrived, before drifting back to sleep to the sound of gale force winds and rain!
The next morning after breakfast and a brief, the groups all embarked on their chosen activity for the day. No climbing was to be had anywhere due to the rain, most opted to either go hill walking or scrambling. My group consisted of Rob, Martin and I decided to ascend Idwal Buttress (grade 2) which seen us top out in the hanging valley near the start of Cneifon Arête. We met up with the other team, guided by Matt Stygall, before descending down Seniors Gulley.
The weather was atrocious, the rain and wind was amongst the very worse I had seen in N Wales. Standing up when we topped out was very difficult, we had to wait for momentary gaps in the wind before moving. I was soaked to the skin, whilst my two compatriots were bone dry! They were wearing Arcteryx Hardshells which uses Goretex, I was wearing my Jottnar Hardshell which uses Polartec Neoshell. At that moment I instantly decided that it was time to upgrade to Arcteryx and went to Joe Browns there and then and bought a new Arcteryx jacket, I haven’t looked back since!
Everyone arrived back at the bunkhouse safe and sound after the adventures of the day. The drying room was put through its paces, I don’t think another item could have been squeezed in by the time we all got back.
Up until now we have managed to use bunkhouses that are rather conveniently attached to pubs. This time we had no such luxury and had to fend for ourselves for evening meal. There were all sorts of shenanigans going on in the kitchen, everything from pot noodle, to gourmet cooking! Still, we all survived and no one had food poisoning!
The Sunday saw no change in the weather, so the vast majority made a bee line for the wall at Indy. Matt Stygall(BMG) ran an excellent group session in everything from correct belay technique to anchor construction. This got excellent feedback from all that attended. Daz and I were put through our paces by Matt in the afternoon who refreshed us in self rescue techniques. We covered everything from the stuck screwgate all the way through to traverse rescues!
The weekend saw everyone that attended, gain something, whether it was a QMD or learning some new skills. The location was absolutely perfect, even if the weather wasn’t. As you will see from this article, there are not many outdoor pictures as people were wary about exposinbg their cameras to the elements!
By the time this goes to press, there will have been a further two meets arranged from the same venue, hopefully you will have seen them advertised or better still managed to attend!
42 ARMY MOUNTAINEER
AMA Spring 2016 text.indd 42 01/07/2016 15:42