Subscriber wild camp ??

Alright ppl been thinking of getting out more. I go a lot on my own so i would be willing to sort a camp out with other people. I'm in Liverpool.

Liverpool's a pretty good base, isn't it! You've got the Lakes, the Peaks and Snowdonia within about an hour's drive! Where do you go out to the most?

I go to snowdonia mostly but love the lakes. I did a wild camp in Macclesfield forest last time, b4 christmas.

I was wild camping last week with a mate on the South Downs (Chanctonbury Ring if you're interested). Saw a beautiful Sunrise over Brighton. Just an amazing feeling of freedom, having stepped off the hamster wheel of modern life. Always happy to do this, so will check the threads, and see who's doing what and where. I'm off to Snowdon myself in March, with (the same) mate. Wild camping and Hostels I expect.

That looks cool. im not that far from snowdonia. see what we can all sort out, maybe a walk and wild camp.

Wow Danny, nice pic! Though you're all the way down in Brighton? That's got to be annoying given how far you are from any real hills. How long does it take you to drive to Snowdonia?

Snowdonia can be a mission, last time I rode my motorbike, loaded up with tent and kit. It took 5 hours, but the ride home, in high winds, with aching legs and a hangover (thank you The Vaynol Arms), took me 7 hours, as I had to stop and stretch every hour.

Mate, getting a motorbike is way up on the "Brave Dave's List of Stuff What Needs Doing". Wild camping whilst biking around would be the best (except for when the weather turns bad).

I guess the plus side to living so far away is that you make sure you pack as much as possible in to the time you have up there.

Great view of Crib Goch!

I'd be up for this if I get the chance. You'd have to come past where I live Danny, so could arrange a lift share - happy to drive and you could ride in the comfort of an actual car :)

It looks from your picture like you're camped up at the place I always camp up at - Ty Isaf in Nant Peris.

Dave - You need to learn to ride a bike, and soon. There's a whole world waiting to be explored.

Kevvers - I'll update the plans on here.

Anyone - Have a look at the attached map. We're planning on camping in Cwm Uchaf, near Llyn Glas. I hope to scramble Crib Goch from the North Ridge, across the Pinnacles, and across Garnedd Ugain, to summit Snowdon. When I come back, do you Guys know if there's and escape route into Cwm Uchaf or Cwm Glas without having to traverse Crib Goch the wrong way back down?

Danny, I do the exact route you're planning in my Wild Camping On Crib Goch video (and the follow up Snowdon Horseshoe All To Myself). Getting down into Cwm Uchaf is easy. Just go down the bit between Crib Goch and the Pinnacles!

This is the best pic I could find of it.

Dave you're a star, this is exactly what I hoped to gain from the Forum.
Let the good times roll 😀

Huzzah!

And yeah, that circuit around Crib Goch is my favourite. It's out the way so other than on the actual ridge itself you're very unlikely to see anyone else. Just the way it should be!

And on an early Thursday March morning, just after Sunrise. Maybe a little snow and ice. Should be a perfect day out. I've seen the Videos several times just couldn't quite picture what, and where. I also love the last part of the 'Sort of 3 Peaks', when you're by Llyn Glas, as it gives me bearings and ideas for where to actually camp.

Yeah, I was going to say that video as well. Eva and I come down the path that you'll be coming down (and I climb up that path in my Racing Down Crib Goch As The Sun Sets video). I've gone down that way a few times, past the little lake with the two trees, but I've never found an actual path around there. I just follow the general direction North West, slip and slide down some steep grassy slopes for bit, and then hit a stream which has a proper path next to it. As long as you've got a compass then you can't really go wrong around there (though they're probably someone's famous last words).

Setting up camp on or next to that little island on the lake would be a no-brainer but really you could happily sleep anywhere around there. The downside is that you'll be in shade when the sunrises but you could always just sleep up on Crib Goch so you don't miss that ;)

This pic looks like a good angle for what you need to see Danny

That's spot on Kevvers, really helpful. I'm getting all excited now.

Part of my plan is to scramble around on Friday 11th March, probably Glyders and or Tryfan and end up in the Pub, The Vaynol Arms in Nant Peris for the evening, for food and booze. Follow that up with a half day hike on Saturday before the long drive home. If anyone fancies that you're more than welcome to come along. I'm travelling up from Sussex with a mate, but the more the merrier.

Despite being unable to plan ahead more than about two days I might be up for that trek in March, Danny! Pencil me in. Although I do have about 4 separate excursions to Snowdon in the pipeline this spring/summer. Maybe I can combine some of them. Hmmm...

That sounds exactly my thing Danny, but im not sure i'll be able to do that one. Despite it being my birthday weekend, I made an agreement not to just randomly piss off for mountain weekends until baby Alice is 6 months (May time). Now the forum is here (Thanks again Dave), we'll have more of these for sure. I'm looking to go around May already for a similar sort of plan.

Im going out for a rece tomorow for a bit of Bushcraft base camp in some local woods will let u all know what its like

Dave - You're pencilled in

Kevvers - Not even a one nighter? It is your birthday weekend

Ant - Have fun, I've just had a day in the New Forest, testing my kit.

Thanks Danny i send some pic s in ha

So I remortgage and spend 10 grand on a new kitchen, then sit in the conservatory boiling bags on a Vango Stove.

Surely I'm not the only one?

If anyone's free on Wednesday 9th March onwards... I'm off to Snowdon to reccy out a route (the one that Kev and I "did" in the dark during the Welsh 3000s last year) and when I've done it I'll be meeting up with Danny and his mate Steve at the base of Crib Goch for a bit of cold, miserable wild camping and a load of Glyders and Tryfan the next day.

Apparently the summit of Snowdon is going to be -13 degrees tonight so I hope it warms up a little bit in the next week and a half because that is actual killer temperature.

Huzzah!

Would love to but can't this time. Dave let me know if I can help give you any route info for it. Have fun chaps!

Cheers, Kev! Yeah I was saying to Danny earlier it's a shame you can't make it as I think he's only about 20 miles from you so car sharing would be easy. Still, we've got all summer to do something instead! :)

Oh and as for the route itself, I think I've managed to trace a very faint path on Google maps of where we went, but is that actually the best/correct way up because there's another path that seems to come down from the next to the railway station which leads to a different point entirely.

Hmm, this would probably be better explained if I uploaded a screen cap of the map :P But yeah, the way we went, that's the only route from Nant Peris, without walking along the road for a bit, right?

You're right that there's another route linking up to clogwyn station but really I'd say its a down only route. I'll try get you a little something drawn up whilst on my lunch break tomorrow.

Here's my plan. I come down off the Pinnacles (out of shot to the top right) and then spot Danny and Steve setting up camp so before I get to Crib Goch I descend into the valley to say hi. I then head off up Crib Goch via the North Ridge to go and sleep on the edge again like last year. A couple of hours after curling up in my bivvy I realise that my kit isn't good enough for coping with just how god damn cold it's become so I start fumbling about in the dark to pack up, planning to descend back into the valley and go knock on Danny's tent door to ask if I can stay. Whilst trying to pack my kit away I trip on a rock and fall off the cliff prompting Danny to say "What was that noise? Oh it was probably nothing" before going back to sleep.

Fool proof!

I said I'd come through. Here's the route from Nant Peris up to the halfway house.

I put the pics onto Imgur, as there were a few:
imgur.com/a/eBXSE

photos from my last trip up that route (picture of the rockwall, arrow markers and top of the ridge where it meets railway)
goo.gl/photos/bwbd3jWmZbm7hK4R7

Here is a quick guide to the fast descent from Snowdon Summit to Nant Peris. Basically fine (but steep) - would only really do this in good weather and visibility. Follow llanberis path down to where the path crosses under the railway. Then stay right and follow the path. This isn't super visible all the way down, but if you take my pic below, you can use a map to find a sensible route down. Just make sure you end up somewhere to cross the little river at the bottom :)

Ha nice one kid

Cheers, Kev! Yeah, those are the routes I traced. Big up to Google Maps' tilt feature! I never get bored of flying around the mountains with that thing.

If anyone's interested, I'm delaying my Snowdon trip by 24 hours because the weather on Wednesday night is predicted to be absolutely horrendous (-8 degrees C with chill factor, and gale force winds) and I really don't have any kit which could keep me alive in something like that. But things improve a bit from Thursday onwards so if I go then I still get to do my reccy, I get to film some cool stuff and I get to meet Danny and Steve so all is good. I'll improvise on the night with whether or not I sleep on the mountainside.

Don't forget that route we took straight up to the halfway house joins the ridge line at over 600 metres. You're likely in for a bad time trying to ascend this route as I'm sure the snowline will be below that point at present.

Yeah, I think I'm in for a bad time weather-wise wherever I go. I've been looking at lots of reviews for ice grips and the best one seems to be Kahtoola Microspikes. All the reviews say they're very hard-wearing and do a great job. Obviously they're very lightweight and convenient too, compared to crampons.



They're around £50 which is a lot I guess, but if they do what they're supposed to and they last a long time I think that's well worth it. Unfortunately I don't think I could get a pair before Thursday, unless there's somewhere in town that sells them.

Oh and look at the difference between Wednesday and Thursday, especially the wind chill...

Microspikes are extremely good. We did the Llanberis path up to Clogwyn Station in Jan, when Snowdon was first caked in snow. We started in the dark and stuck spikes on just to get up the icy lower section. Have a butchers on Amazon for a slightly cheaper price or some of the trekking shops in Llanberis do stock some of the slightly beefer versions.

My last blog post was about our trip wowlifeisamazing.blo... ...stuff.html

Thanks, Penny! And also, hello :)

Yeah, good point about the shops in Llanberis! I forgot about those. I'll have to drop in and buy some grips because I definitely won't have any by Thursday.

Also, good work with doing Snowdon in January. Your kids are made of tough stuff!

Hello to you too Dave :) Love the vids, my son wants to be a 'Brave Dave' when he grows up!

Joe Browns on the High Street just down from Pete's Eats definitely had them in. If you've not got an axe take a walking pole; there's some bastard deep drifts up there that'll eat you whole!

Good luck

I phoned Joe Browns yesterday. They're out of the ones I wanted (a cheaper version, half price compared to the Microspikes) but do have the Microspikes. £55!! Ah well, it's not like I have any choice. Climbing up the mountains without spikes would be borderline suicide I reckon.

Also, I'm glad your kid wants to be a Brave Dave, but I just hope he's not influenced by my potty mouth. It's not that I swear more than most people, it's just that I don't tone it down for the camera, so it might seem like I do. My apologies if your son is effing and jeffing because of me, Penny!

Haha don't worry about swearing, they hear enough from me!

The kids' Pogu microspikes came with a velcro strap for extra security across the top of the boot. May be worth taking a pair of strong boot laces to literally lace the spikes on. We did find that the powdery snow collected between the boot and the red band, but we were walking through some really deep stuff. There's no anti-balling plates either so they needed a smack with a pole every now and then to dislodge the impacted snow.

Looks like we're going up there on Sunday. Have fun tomorrow.

Yeah I read in the reviews that the Microspikes are good because of the way the underside is held together with chains, rather than one big plate, as that stops snow from collecting under it.

Well I'll tell you what I think of them when I get back on Saturday, safe and sound, without having had any nasty slips or getting hypothermia...

Hi everyone. I'm just writing a little article about the Snowdon reccy. I've edited a video. It'll be up later today.

To very briefly summarise the trip:

BAD: I didn't get to meet up with Danny and Steve in the end because communication in the mountains is almost zero. No phone reception combined with phone batteries going dead due to the cold does not equal easy communication.

GOOD: The weather was amaaaaaazing. Seriously, I've never experienced Snowdon or any other mountain being so clear and with so little breeze. Especially given how horrendous the weather had been the day before!

So with that in mind, the trip was a great success. I'm sure we'll have another chance to meet up in the mountains sometime in the summer. Kev will be able to make it too. As will anyone else who wants to come along!

Video on its way...