Mountain Skills in Snowdonia

October 18th to 22nd at Dol Peris with Helen Menhinick of Menhinick Outdoors Limited and seven participants who were a pleasure to work with. A Mountain Skills course is a great way to learn the essential skills, or to refresh current skills,  needed to enjoy the mountains in the UK safely. 
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The Mountain Skills course is just one of the courses offered by Mountain Training UK with the following course content:

• Planning – how to successfully plan a walk in the mountains in the UK or Ireland.
• Walking skills – what things should you consider while out walking and what can make life easier (pace, nutrition, movement skills, steep ground etc.).
• Clothing and equipment – being suitably dressed and equipped can make the difference between a great day out and a complete disaster.
• Weather – how it affects the mountains and your day out.
• Navigation in the mountains – everything from selecting a compass and using a map to navigation in poor visibility and an intro to GPS.
• Environmental knowledge – how to minimise your impact on the hill, information on good practice and useful organisations.
• Hazards and emergency procedures in the mountains – how to respond to any hazards you encounter and what to do in an emergency.​​

Day 1: The course started mid-afternoon with an illustrated lecture by Chris Lloyd of the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Association. Following on from that, the theory of Mountain Skills was then discussed using an illustrated presentation and the course outline discussed. The venue was the excellent Dol Peris Guesthouse which is effectively a self-catering hotel and one I've frequently used whilst in Snowdonia - I can highly recommend Dol Peris and the hosts Lisa and Phill George (British Mountain Guide).

Day 2: With an adverse weather forecast current, it was necessary to review our training location for the day and Helen and I concluded that Cwm Idwal would be just right. Parking at Ogwen was not an issue as there weren't many groups out and those that braved the weather were mostly mountain training groups. The small visitor centre room was ideal for Helen to explain some of the core skills required for mountain navigation before setting out into the strong winds and heavy rain which would test us over the next four or so hours. Passing Tin Can Alley, I told the group that, I think, this was the infamous Khyber Pass in the "Carry on up the Khyber" film of 1968, according to local legend.
The next four hours or so were spent practicing navigation skills around Llyn Idwal and the Cwm Idwal National Nature Reserve. Returning to Dol Peris, further time was spent on the course core syllabus elements.

Day3: This would be a full quality mountain day to one of my favourite mountains in the Snowdonia National Park - Cnicht (689m) which is part of the Moelwynion mountain range and known as the Welsh Matterhorn owing to its pointy shape when viewed from the west.
Our route started at Gelli-Lago and climbed up to Bwlch y Battel before a steep zig zag path took us up to a small plateau at 600m for the final simple scramble up to the summit. The circuit continued on to Llyn yr Adar before descending past Llyn Llagi, Carnedd Melyn. Llwynyrhwch and back to the cars. A long but rewarding day.......

Day 4: Crossing the Moel Eilio (726m) ridge had been scheduled for Day 2 but with favourable weather for the day it was our preferred choice. Cars were parked at Bwlch-y-groes and we worked our way southeastwards over Moel Eilio (726m) Foel Gron (593m) and Foel Goch (605m) to join the public bridleway at Bwlch Maesgwm to descend northwards back to Dol Peris. This was a day useful for practicing many of the important navigation skills required for safe mountain navigation in areas such as this.
​That evening there was a BBQ where I cooked any items of food the participants might have brought. Thus the course ended and the following morning, everyone left for home.

Thanks to the "Magnificent Seven" participants and to Helen Menhinick for the invaluable support with making this course so enjoyable.