Carneddau run

Peaks: Foel Dduarth, Yr Orsedd, Drum
Area: Carneddau, Eryri
The familiar diabolical weather on our pre-Christmas outing, although it was particularly unfortunate this year after two weeks of stable conditions. Options were by definition limited, but it was at least dry as we set off from Aber. The steep tarmac start to the Foel Fras race is never pleasant, but you do gain height quickly. The very steep climb up gorse to Foel Dduarth is demanding, but again over quite quickly. From here, the grassy ridge always gives superb running over to Yr Orsedd. The wind picked up at this point, and the black clouds gathering to the west moved overhead. As we dropped down to the main Drum track, horizontal hail and icy blasts made life very difficult. Conditions got progressively worse as we climbed towards Drum: painful hail, poor visibility and ferocious gusts. At the summit of Drum, the wind whipped across the ridge: conversation was impossible so I gestured to Peter that a descent to Cwm Anafon was on my mind! He seemed to agree. Problem was that this was into the teeth of the gale: hard work initially, very hard to see. But I have used this as an escape route before and it works well. Half way down, the wind eased and in the cwm it was much gentler. We were finally able to communicate as we ran back north then extended the run down old tracks to end up on the A55 itself. Dried out in the Albion, Conwy.