Glyderau west

Peaks: Y Garn, Foel Goch, Mynydd Perfedd, Carnedd y Filiast

Area: Glyderau, Eryri

I missed the best of the weather yesterday, and did so again today: the early bird did not catch the worm. Still, this superb blocking-high cold snap demands some attention, so I set off up the very icy track to Idwal first thing, the peaks fully draped in white and nicely defined against a pale blue sky. I've been lucky enough to be up here in similar conditions many times over the years, and memories flooded back, especially of the winter climbs at the back of the cwm. Nothing like that planned today (the snow is still unconsolidated and the ice thin anyway), and my compromised physical condition still craves steep upward movement (yet baulks at fast running) for some reason, so the north-east (banana) ridge of Y Garn beckoned. This was superb, quite icy, some snow showers tracking in up Nant Ffrancon from Anglesey - nicely atmospheric with good snow cover. I put my kahtoolas on and adopted a steady uphill pace. I have done gate to summit in 28 minutes in the past, but was inevitably more pedestrian today. Not too shabby though, and I really enjoyed the hard-packed snow towards the top, and the bitterly cold summit shrouded in an icy mist. No place to linger, so I trotted down and along to Foel Goch in some tiring drifts. The weather started to clear as I crossed the deep dip and tiring thick snow up to Perfedd. Some sunshine now, and the mist peeled off Elidir as the sun lit the top rocks of Carnedd y Filiast: wonderful views, clearing in all directions. So far, so very good, but the descent from Filiast proved awkward under a thick blanket of snow. Getting to Ogwen from here is OK normally, but the path is narrow and hard to locate at the best of times. Today it was impossible, and I trawled through the nasty boulder fields for a long time, a very unpleasant 45 minutes down to Ogwen. I have had many unpleasant descents in my time, but this was a bad one. From the old Nant Ffrancon road I was in no state to run back to Ogwen Cottage so again resumed the now familiar fast walk, and it was icy throughout anyway. Crystal clear cloudless skies as I enjoyed a cup of tea and a pasty at the cottage, perfect winter conditions.