After a few days of family fun, personal admin and generally getting 2025 started back home, we didn’t have a great deal of time today for any winter mountaineering antics today. The weather/conditions didn’t look that good for it, but we did have some time off together, so went up to ‘have a look’ around Cwm Idwal and the higher cwms to see what conditions were like.

The hike up to Cwm Clyd was ‘arduous’ thanks to the deep snow that contained several crusty layers. Some were strong enough to hold our weight, but often, we’d crash through without warning. Steps varied from ankle deep to knee deep to thigh high, and there was no telling which it would be until you’d committed your weight!

Up at the Cwm we assessed our options. Gullies were out of the question as they will have to involve a vertical swimming technique until the snow hardens up in a few days time.

We opted to have a try up the east ridge of Y Garn, which looked like it might have some potential…

But getting to it involved a walk through more deep snow and we’d not come equipped with our snowshoes.

Heading higher seemed like it was going to involve more effort and energy than we were willing to expend given our time frame. As more spindrift and snow blew in, we decided to call it a day and head back across the Cwm.

The views were ‘atmospheric’ and in between some strong gusts of wind, where the sky filled with blown snow, we got to take in the winter scenes. Finding the deepest gullies, we bum-slide our way back down to the car, which was super fun.

Just before we reached the car park, a the skies darkened and a huge squall of snow pushed up the valley towards us. Very dramatic to watch. And fine when you’re just a few moments from the safety of the car!

Hot coffee and a late lunch in the warm of The Cottage was a delight, within hour an hour of it passing.