Beaten by Snowdon

Well, having missed the first Snowdon trek, I took Theresa to Wales on Friday night, and having wined and dined her in the finest hotel we set forth onto Snowdon at 9.30am Saturday morning. Theresa's reasons for being this stupid were many: Accomplishment; make sure her foot was okay after an operation in the New Year; and especially to raise money for MacMillan cancer support in memory of her school friend Sam Ephgrave who died recently.

The weather was reasonable, dry and slightly windy, and the car park was full of climbers. Unfortunately the weather forecast for the top was gales & high winds, hill fog, rain above 700m and wet snow!

The first part went very well but at about 600m the cloud started closing in and the rain, sleet and snow started. The winds were gusting so hard it was difficult to stand up but we still had hope. Then all those happy climbers started passing us going down after giving up and fewer and fewer people were about. At about 800m we noticed that the remaining climbers were putting on crampons (spikes on boots) and carrying ice axes, visability was down to 20m and the snow/sleet/hail hurt when it hit your face! We were soaked through but onward we went.

We got to the zig-zag steps and negotiated them but at the top the path narrowed to a few feet wide with a large drop, being unable to see any rocks due to the foot deep snow we called it a day and turned around. We had managed 950m high and about 650m from the summit but sense told us to quit.

The trip down was difficult, lots of slipping on our backsides as the snow prevented walking easily and once below the snow-line the now gushing water made our boots even wetter and the path difficult. We got to the base at 2.30pm so a very good time in the conditions, and the cheery drive home was accompanied by rain for 200 of the 250 miles.

Except for not getting to the summit, and the cold, an excellent day and Theresa has managed to raise about £320 from her work colleagues at St Bernards Composites in Farnborough, and her friends, which will be put into Geoff's pot.