Scrambling towards some steeper ground on a Mountain Leader course from Plas y Brenin in the typical wet Welsh weather.

The highlight or culmination of the ML training is a couple of days out with a wild camp thrown in. We were a bit lucky with the weather, we departed from Beddgelert by which time it had stopped raining a little and by the time we arrived at camp, by way of various navigation excercises, the sun was showing a little. After preparing some food and chatting a little we set out as it got dark for some micro-navigation in the dark and again the weather held up.

By the next morning though heavy rain had set in and breaking camp was a little damp. From there we headed onto an enjoyable crossing of a ridge line in some windy weather but not too much rain, just as we were a few minutes out from the road head it started to rain heavily again though. The road head was actually Rhydd DDu where my old climbing club, the Oread MC, have a hut which was a nice trip down memory lane.

All in all, a great course and a chance to meet some great people with some interesting backgrounds. The two main instructors, Lee and Kenny, were just fantastic and the facilities at Plas y Brenin are really excellent. Between the instructors and the centre I think they’re setting a standard that would hard to better.


Read the rest of this entry »