My first time on snow shoes in North Wales today while witnessing some incredible weather pass by (and through!).

While ascending the slopes of today’s peak, it was bitterly cold but lovely in sunny. Over Angelsey, we could see huge Nimbus clouds forming. Unfortunately, after a while it became clear that they were heading straight for us! Fascinating to watch them evolve and drop their loads as they neared.

Although being caught in a blizzard isn’t usually considered a good thing, we did at least have enough warning to be able to get layered up in jackets and hoods before the snowstorm arrived!

After a bit of deliberation to see how bad things might get (quite bad it turned out, but not enough to feel justified in turning back), we pressed on upwards into a frozen world.

Curiosity got the better of one student who not only found out the thickness of the ice but also the depth of the water below!

Just as it arrived, the squall passed through and sunshine retuned.

The air clarity was superb and views suddenly far reaching.

We couldn’t actually reach the summit cairn on Carned y Filiast as verglas ice coated all the summit rocks! Instead we put on our shoe shoes and headed over towards Mynydd Perydd.

On crossing the stile, we found the wall to be completely coated in ice! Freezing rain from a few days ago made for a very interesting look and parts could break off intact in our hand like shells.

The sun came and went but was too low for a brokenspectre this time.

The plateau made the perfect place to practice walking in snow shoes and meant we go go anywhere rather than just following the path.

It was a bit late in the day to continue around to Elidir Fawr, so we returned the same way as the sun dipped below the far peak.