SnowSlider - Blogging From the mountains by ise

After a slightly wet day on Elidir Fawr with Jason I was pleased when Sunday started fine and dry. I was staying in the Oread Mountaineering Club hut in Rhydd Ddu, North Wales, I’ve used the hut a couple of times as a base when I’m in the UK as I’m a former member of the Oread. The hut was rented out to another club but another member was also there, Julie, although our times as active members didn’t quite coincide so we’d not met before.

Julie also fancied a walk and neither of us had firmer plans than to head in the rough direction of the Nantlle Ridge and see what looked good as we got to the col. So we decided to join up and decide as we walked. When we reached the ridge it looked pretty good towards Moel yr Ogof which had been on my mind to do anyway. We crossed into some open country to lengthen the ridge line a little and started make the ascent.


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Like Sunday this was unfinished business, we’d set out to traverse the Hundsrügg a while back but some pretty violent thunderstorms made the ridge look unappealing so we didn’t make it. It’s actually a fair way as well, about 18km and a 1000m of ascent so that would have been a bit dire with lightning hitting the ridge around you. Yesterday I’d an early appointment in Fribourg so it made sense to go straight on to the Jaunpass and do this route.


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Mont Chevreuil is an abandoned ski station near to Château-d’Oex and was once on the same lift pass. The lift runs up from Rossiniere, or used to as it’s not run all the time I’ve lived here despite what some UK ski web sites appear to think according to their “in depth” guides to Château-d’Oex. Anyway, we had left the car in the Col des Mosses at La Lecherette and walked in to Mont Chevreuil from there. It’s a great time of year for walking and the conditions alter so much, earlier in the week I was in shirtsleeves enjoying the sunshine in Kandersteg and today we’re in early season snow. We’d thrown snow chains and snow shoes into the car as a precaution but didn’t really need them. You could have snow shoed at the top and the higher parts of the descent would have been fun but there’s not enough snow yet to need this kind of kit.


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I had a meeting in Kandersteg which I’d postponed from last week due to my flu. I’ve wanted to walk from Kandersteg to Adelboden for some time so this was a perfect chance and the weather forecast looked ideal. When I arrived in Kandersteg it was actually pretty cold and there was a frost down in the valley, it’s one of those steep valleys that trap in cold air so it’s cold before the sun reaches the floor.

I would probably have walked up from Kandersteg but after taking some time out for the meeting and allowing for the fact my flu isn’t quite gone I decided to ride the lift up the first section and reduce the ascent to 600m. Stepping off the lift it was suddenly much warmer, the sun was out and I’d soon taken my jacket and was climbing in shirt sleeves. I’d also overestimated the effects of my flu and I was climbing around 12m/min so I decided to alter my route and take in the summit of the Bunderspitz at 2546m and increase the total ascent to 970m.


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