Welsh Peaks 2.9

Like many, Brett and I both subscribe to the Green Runners – it’s not a running club, more of a movement, where you set yourself pledges to reduce the impact your own running has on the planet. Of course we still very much want to run, and travel, and explore, but small decisions we make about travel, kit and events can make a big difference when they all add up, and hopefully if we look after the planet a bit it might still be there to run in for years to come. If you are intrigued, and want to make your pledge and join the movement, if you haven’t already done so, go to their website to find out more - Running, without the footprint - The Green Runners CIC 

I say all this, not to stand on a soapbox, more to explain/justify why it was that we found ourselves bent over double trying not to get blown off a wet, windy, slippery and wild Cadair Idris on a Monday evening when most sane people would be in the pub planning their next, less perilous adventure!

It all started with the staff Christmas Party, but not the bum photocopying kind of ‘great idea at the time’, more the idea that if we were going to travel the 140 miles from South Wales where we both live to North Wales where our annual staff get together is held for the Outdoor Charity we both also happen to work for, we may as well throw in the Welsh 3 peaks on the way! Totally logical conclusion, right? Why not make use of these totally necessary vehicle miles for some guilt free adventure time?! Damian Hall and Jasmin Paris would definitely approve. There was the slight issue of a few meetings to work around but this added to the logistical challenge and with adventure running you’ve got to love a good logistic.

Here was the schedule:

6.30 – Meet at a central point in the Black Mountains and pack a ridiculous amount of kit into one vehicle. Head to Pont ar Daf, Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons)

7.00-8.30 – Run up and down Pen y Fan. Welsh Peak #1 – Highest point in South Wales. 7.7km + 530m

8.30-10.00 – Drive as far as we could North and find a café

10.00-12.00 – Formal Team meeting

12.00-13.00 – Rest of drive up to Dolgellau

13.00-15.00 – Run up and down Cadair Idris. Welsh Peak #2 – Highest point in Mid Wales. 9km + 900m

15.00-16.00 – KPI meeting

16.00-18.00 – Drive to Pen y Pass

18.00-20.00 – Run up and down Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon). Welsh Peak #3 – Highest point in Wales. 13.5km + 790m

20.00-20.30 – Head to the bar in Plas-y-Brenin, rosy cheeked and triumphant, pint in hand, regaling tales of our logistical prowess and mountain-craft to anybody who will listen (nobody).

Easy!

Then the weather forecast came out. 50mph winds and non-stop rain. Snow and hail over 500m and questionable visibility. It’s only Wales though right, put your waterproofs on and get on with it, nothing we hadn’t seen before.

The Pen y Fan part of the plan went according to the schedule to be fair. We waterproofed up to the eyeballs and set out, getting blown up the tourist path to the top. Even on battered legs from racing and long runs on the weekend, it was easier to jog than walk, because every time you picked your feet up you got blown a little bit further up the mountain. We got up in record time and clung onto the Pen y Fan marker post at the top for the obligatory selfie. Surprisingly quiet on top…odd. We then turned around and faced what can only be described as mother nature with PMS. It felt like a thousand tiny knifes to the face as the rain and hail came driving into us. We wished for ski goggles and settled for a soggy gloved hand to protect our eyeballs. I was ahead but checked behind me every 50m, fully expecting to turn around and see Brett flying through the air or an empty footpath with no sign I ever had a running buddy. But we both somehow managed to flail ourselves down the path. My shoelace came undone as we came down from the Bwlch but I opted to ‘run’ with a wide legged waddle rather than stop in the wind and driving rain to tie it back up again. We were off to an epic start, but we returned to the car park full of adrenaline and pondering how many items of sodden clothing we would try to resurrect for the next peak. Spirits were surprisingly high.

With all the kit faff we only made it as far as Builth Wells for a stop in a café to login to our meeting, windswept and ready for coffee.

It was only once the meeting had finished and we tore up towards Dolgellau that we realised the clock was timing out on our Cadair pre-meeting window so we admitted defeat on those timings and hit the outdoor shop in Dolgellau instead, fuelled ourselves up on random vegetables in tupperware and got into position in the car park at the bottom of the Pony Path for our 3pm meeting.

So it was just as darkness hit that we set off for our second Welsh Peak, into a relatively sheltered climb towards the big boulder at the top of the zig zag path. This was an intentionally route choice - the Pen y Fan experience had given us some key incentives to choose the most sheltered route we could find up Cadair! Hilariously, without any discussion we had opted for shoes at the opposite end of the rock-mud compatibility spectrum. I had gone for my inov-8 mud talon speeds so gravitated towards any mud or grass I could find (forgetting we were now further North than my natural Southern boggy environment so this ground was in shorter supply than what I am accustomed to) whereas Brett had opted for the comfort of the La Sportiva Prodiogo Pro – which love rock, hate mud. This diversity of shoe choice became most apparent when I took us up the fell race route to choose vertical bog over the zig zag path and Brett did his Bambi on ice impersonation, much to my amusement. Little did I know my mockery would come back to bite me in the bum, almost literally, less than an hour later!

As soon as we turned left and hit the exposed ridge it was a different story. Hilarity gave way to survival mode and we both had head down, in full focus mode, determined to stick to any path which wasn’t perilously close to the sickening drop off to the left. We battled on for a couple of kilometres but as the path got closer to the edge and staying upright became more of a challenge, we both made the call. About 500m from the summit of Cadair Idris we chose to live. I had our friend and mentor Andy Cumming’s words in my ears – ‘reaching the summit is only halfway’. And knowing how hard it had been to descend Pen y Fan into the wind and hail earlier it became a no brainer, turn around and carefully make our way back down rather than battle on to the top and get ourselves into a situation. At that point, it was hard to stay on our feet but I still felt with it. I knew it wouldn’t be long before the wind sapped all of our energy and one stumble would mean absolute disaster in those conditions. So we shuffled back down, gloved hands once again shielding eyeballs. This time we stuck to the path and it was my turn to do some granny skating, painfully aware that one wrong move would cost us.

We eventually made it back to the car park, to find damp warmth and safety in Brett's van. There was a sense of unspoken relief as we congratulated each other on making the right call and living to fight another day.  1.9 Welsh peaks down, absolutely battered and the warmth of the bar in Plas-y-Brenin luring us in, we didn’t take too long to decide that Welsh Peak #3, Yr Wyddfa, was best left for the morning.

What a call. Instead of another fight through wind, rain, hail and darkness, we rocked up to Pen y Pass Tuesday morning at 8am with coffee and breakfast inside us, equipped with dry gloves, daylight and barely a breath of wind. Nothing like a bit of peril and discomfort to make you appreciate the little things. We breezed up and down the Miners’ Track as if nothing had ever happened and ticked off our Welsh Peaks 2.9 before the staff Christmas get together kicked off at 11am, another adventure wiser.