Ski touring - Snowdonia - any updates?

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 climber73 21 Jan 2013
Hi all, any updates on current conditions / suitable routes at present / snow depth etc, etc, etc. Many thanks.
MooseMouse 23 Jan 2013
I did Carnedd Llewelyn on Tuesday from the Ffynnon Llugwy Reservoir road and managed to descend all but a couple of hundred paces on skis, to within 10 meters of the car parked at the bottom of the reservoir road.
I ascended all the way on skins, except the short section of the road that is covered in sheep feed and poo!

I would say conditions were good! I used my old skis and skins, but barely touched a rock.

I went up via the road, crossed the Afon Llugwy via the bridge just below the Reservoir. Up the fence towards Creigiau Hirion then struck northwards above Craig y Llyn. I traversed beneath the foot of Craig Llugwy and around the cwm to reach Bwlch Cyfryw-drum between Carnedd Dafydd and Carnedd Llewelyn. Along the ridge and up the South and then South East face of Carnedd Llewelyn as there were less exposed stones here than the main path.

I descended the South West face towards Cwm Llugwy over hard rime snow. At the most convex part of this slope there is a 3 inch layer of windslab, which was strong(hard to deform an unisolated section with body wieght on skis), but weakly bonded benealth with a very fluffy layer on snow on top of an older harded packed layer. I don't suppose there is a history of avalanches here, but I don't suppose many people have been at this point to act as the trigger!

Just before reaching Craig y Tri Marchog I traversed Cwm Llugwy to reach the broad spur between Craig Llugwy and Craig y Llyn, the slope down to the wall gave further sport untill a couple of hundred paces of rocks are reached. These could be carefully skised but I carried skis here to be on the save side. A quick shuffle over the bridge and along the track brought me to the road and a rapid descent back to the car.

Some other folks skinned up Pen yr Helgi Du the day before. This apparently gave a good descent of Y Braich, turning right at about 650 meters to follow a shallow steeper depression to the right of a fence line, before crossing the wall to whoop down the road.
MooseMouse 23 Jan 2013
In reply to MooseMouse:

I should add that all the snow below the steepest upper section of Llewelyn was soft with no crust. I used the skins to get back above Craig y Llyn on the traverse out of Cwm Llugwy.

The road is hard packed snow, with ice in places.
 Rob Johnson 25 Jan 2013
In reply to MooseMouse: Thanks very much for the beta. I headed up Pen yr Helgi Du yesterday and it was surprisingly good snow still. There were at least 8 other skiers all heading up the reservoir road so it felt very continental! A short video here: youtube.com/watch?v=ItCPynLW4yo&
 earlsdonwhu 25 Jan 2013
In reply to Rob Johnson: Enjoyed that in an envious way...especially as it may not be repeatable tomorrow given the forecast.
 Rob Johnson 25 Jan 2013
In reply to earlsdonwhu: Tomorrows looking better than it was, it looks like the really warm and wet stuff has been delayed by a day or so. You never know!
 earlsdonwhu 25 Jan 2013
In reply to Rob Johnson: Skis are in the car and ready to go! As mentioned on another thread, I may have a look in the Berwyns on Sunday too.
 greg_may_ 25 Jan 2013
In reply to earlsdonwhu:

I have fun envy. Just back from Ireland to N.Wales and I have a case of ManFlu. Nowt for me this weekend I fear
 colina 25 Jan 2013
In reply to climber73:
great video,must learn to ski!,
,smashing dog too ,looked like he had a great time.
 dgp 25 Jan 2013
In reply to Rob Johnson: I had the pleasure of setting the tracks when the weather cleared last Monday

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dgpsharedphotos/8403546090/

Stunning weather and some great skiing back down on the lee (west) side of the ridge.

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