An absolute stunner of a day back in the Welsh mountains today!

As you might guess from the shadow, I was on Tryfan today!

Things started off well as we climbed the classic North Ridge, with super views and incredible air clarity.

Unfortunately, the freezing level was lower than I’d anticipated, so from the base of the final north Tower, at around 800m, the rocks were completely covered in a thin layer of verglas (black ice). Perhaps caused by freezing rain last night. Onward progress was going to be impossible, even though I only had a small team of students with me. We retreated back and got some photos on the cannon stone, as a consolation prize.

As we descended, so did the freezing level, with ice forming on puddles…

The views made up for the lack of summit celebrations…

Down by Tryfan Bach, clouds were approaching from the south, but up ahead, the skies stayed brilliantly clear.

There were a lot of photographers lining the road, so we decided not to try and skim any stones and ruin the perfect lake surface. Brilliant.