With all my equipment packed and a few hours spare, Clare and I decided to have one last journey in our home mountains for 2024. It was very cold in the wind, but the clouds were just about off the tops as we set off up the North Ridge of Tryfan, just after 11am.

It was a ‘gloves on all day’ kind of event and I even wore my duvet to start off as we picked our way up through the rocky buttresses. Clare braved some bare hand climbing to climb onto the iconic ‘Cannon Stone’ though.

The summits were dusted in ice, and for the final third of the scramble, all the puddles were iced over, but the rock was dry and grippy.

A think ‘chunk’ of cloud blocked out the sun for the rest of the ascent as we reached the steeper sections higher up.

At the base of the North Summit, we were surprised to find that several very large leaning flakes were no longer leaning! They had collapsed and shattered, presumably after the recent storms.

Shortly after seeing this, we came across a rather concerned hill walker, who had also heard a big rock fall on the west face. We took extra care up to the summit!

Especially as by now, there was rime ice forming on any of the windward slopes.

Soon enough, we crossed the north summit and could see the main peak not too far away.

Happily, the wind abated at the summit, so we sat and enjoyed a sandwich by ourselves, with the limited views.

I climbed on top of the summit stones, but it felt a bit icy to be jumping between the two.

For a change, we descended the south ridge for a while, then cut off down towards the lake, to save a bit of distance.

Once again, we were amazed to see such storm erosion. A large, low angled mudslide had travelled 100m or so downhill, taking with it the surface turf and lots of large boulders.

Looking at it now, it hardly seemed steep enough to slide, but I guess it must have been well lubricated with all the recent rain?…

At the base of Bochlwyd Buttress, we found a brand new path! We had anticipated getting a bit we and muddy here, but the new stepping stones now lead all the way down to the A5!

A lovely final trip in the Welsh mountains. This time tomorrow, I should be in the Norwegian ones…