AAARRGH! Nooooooo...!Originally Posted by ydt
I'm still going to recce it
hopefully it'll be on one way or another
how about I promise to help marshal it in 2011 in return for being able to run it in 2010?
AAARRGH! Nooooooo...!
I'm still going to recce it
hopefully it'll be on one way or another
how about I promise to help marshal it in 2011 in return for being able to run it in 2010?
re Rhinog Horseshoe Race
got an email from the RO confirming it's not going ahead in 2010
Iain - is it possible that Eryri could take it on?
I'm out in Australia at the moment but will look into it when I get back after xmas. Be a pity to let the race go.
Yes it wasWas it you I ran some of it with the one year, you showed me the 'shortcut' where we dropped off the Craig Portas - BS ridge (West side) to pick up a forestry ride contour to the head of the valley below Waun-Oer.
Only you missed the ride and we ended up at the bottom of the valley and had to climb all the way back up again.
Didn't the three of us run most of the LDWA Berwyn Mountain Walk in Y2K too?
Last edited by lawriej; 12-12-2009 at 04:42 PM. Reason: forgot to add
Yes, struggling to keep up with John as usualYes it was
Didn't the three of us run most of the LDWA Berwyn Mountain Walk in Y2K too?
Ah I wondered why the trod looks rather fresh! I spent an hour or so there Sat pm, trimming some gorse and brambles. Then as it grew dark I did the route up and off the summit by half-moonlight.
Attached image shows the route (roughly - it's been shifted a few m during the translation from GPS to Anquet and back to KML, but the underlying image is good enough to see where the route actually goes)
1. from the sheepfold / gate (bottom R), I've decided to take the trod W then N. The more direct line works in the daylight but not so well (for me) in the dark
2. the narrow gorsy trod up to the wall (middle of pic) shows as a dark green line. Pass R of some rocks (ruin?) and follow the wall R for 5m to where a boulder allows an easyish climb over the wall. N side of wall a trod thru bracken leads in 10m to the foot of the boulder slope. This is followed up to R, heading for an oak tree. The boulders run out just before the oak: trend R slightly here to find a narrow trod thru heather and sparse gorse to the the oak tree. NB if any significant gorse is encountered on the ascent, you're off the best line.
3. above the oak, various trods zigzag up brackeny gully (mostly best to keep L).
4. where the gully opens out and gradient eases, bear L: good trod.
5. various paths bear R toward summit. The one I favour takes off from a cairn (single rock on a boulder), making an easy beeline for the summit
6. Descent off Garn G: 300ish bearing leads to steep crag at a point where a broken-down wall descends (small cairn). Descend on N side of this, slanting R on grass, then directly downhill to corner of tall intact wall, following it to gate (Yiannis used to hop over this - before the barbed wire was fixed on top I assume)
Details of Lawrie's and my Dduallt - Rhobell recce today to follow ...
LawrieJ and I had another go at finding a directish line thru the forest between these summits.
The various routes are shown on the attached GE image:
1. Thick blue: this is based on Yiannis's route, but modified to take a beeline across the clear fall (better terrain than trying to follow the old trashed ride S then W), to the stone post (Post Carreg or is it Carreg Post) where the various lines meet. Then W along a track to cross a stream/ditch, then angle up a moderately brashy slope to reach open grass leading up Rhobell Fawr. We trimmed some branches off fallen trees along the ride - fairly runnable (in May, less so in July). Descending back E thru the forest after Rh Fawr, we spent some time trimming branches to reclaim the trod which follows the vegetation boundary.
2. Magenta - forest edge, L onto short open ride, the forest road. Good terrain but 50m extra ascent
3. Yellow/white: Yiannis's route except he went S from Carreg Post for one more block (wasn't clear fall in those days) before heading up (30m extra ascent)
4. Green - follows the Nuttalls' path SSW from Ddualt, follows small stream into forst to reach a ride system. Reasonable trods but 30m extra ascent and not great running. Again the GPS track is shifted relative to the background but the rides are obvious on the GE image.
5. Red - I believe this may be the Nuttalls' route? Pretty good running throughout but a long way round. After 15 hours shortest is best (for me).
I think I prefer the Thick Blue route
Rob
Text from Baggins late Thurs eve: Lots of snow here Rob, may need a rethink on distance. Well a bit late to cancel and anyway he was there already. Luckily David Waide managed to get hold of the latest spec Range Rover from work.
Sat a.m. met up with David, Andy Davies, Carwyn Phillips and Baggins. Original plan was to do Sec 4b (S from the minor road), over Dduallt - Rhobell Fawr to check on previous pruning efforts. But said minor road was 4x4 territory and we only had one of those and didn't fancy the long road run back to retrieve it, so settled for Sec 5 (Arans) and 6 (Dyfi Forest). Not great reccying weather with snow knee-deep on the high Arans and 10m vis, but good fun and (once out of the cloud) very scenic. Wondered afterwards about descending NW off Gwaun y Llwyni to pick up the main path, rather than the more direct slower line W - anyone tried this? Yiannis?
With time in hand we did the longer version of Sec 6, straight up via the 509m top to Maen Du / Maesglase, the steep climb made more brutal than usual by slippery fresh snow (and my lack of serviceable studs). Nothing much to report except for the briefly brutal Waun-Oer ascent where we hit on the cunning wheeze of hauling ourselves up using the fence (not a new idea, going by the shape of the fence). Off Mynydd Ceiswyn we took a fairly direct beeline for the final descent gully - quite fast although not sure I'd want to take that tussocky line in anger, in the dark. We were roughly on schedule time, the slow snowy running being balanced by the fact that we hadn't been running for 20 hours.
Sun a.m. there was more fresh snow. Baggins not wanting to push his luck headed for home and Carwyn was away to Paddy Buckley land. The Mercia contingent tackled the central Rhinog, taking the minor road into Graigddu-isaf (again 4x4 territory; unsurprisingly we had the car park to ourselves). We picked our way up Rhinog Fach, again in poor vis and thick snow, then followed the Meiri route thru to Craig Wion. The Rh Fach descent is quite a bit easier in snow. The Rh Fawr ascent was pretty slow, with a bit of backtracking to "nail" the route - quite useful. The Rh Fawr descent was excellent fun, with steep rock and heather barely distinguishable under the snow.
March reccy seems likely to be weekend of 27th: I'll be in touch with interested parties. Keen to do Sec 1 (Cadair Idris) in the dark if it can be arranged, also the deferred Sec 4b. And whole of Sec 2 would be good ...
Rob
Last edited by RobW; 21-02-2010 at 11:06 PM.
Full Moon on March 30th...
Really! Looking like a night shiftFull Moon on March 30th...
Some pics (the snowy ones at the end of the set):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8589216...7614316201747/
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