So yesterday I took my partner up Pen-Y-Fan.
It was cold! very cold, it wasn’t frozen but was very foggy. we started our ascent and the weather was lovely but as is the way with most mountains but especially those in Southern Wales we got part way up and the weather changed dramatically! The fog came in and we couldn’t see a thing. From roughly 800m upwards all the navigation was done with a map and compass to check what path we should have been on etc as we couldn’t see anything in the distance to tell us where we should have been going. We got onto the main summit ridge and hit a huge fog bank it was amazing. We bi-passed Corn Du on her request and headed up to the true summit at 886m. On our traverse of the ridge to the summit we dropped down behind Corn Du and the wind disappeared, it was lovely. When we got to the summit it was again extremely windy so we took a couple of pictures to remember the trip and then turned around and headed back down, as is always the way with mountains on our way down the weather improved again and the summit broke through the clouds in an amazing view of what we had just climbed! Typical!!
The second of the above images is me stood on the summit with the flag of my county. there is a story behind this.. Every mountain I summit I take the flag with me and fly it from the top in memory of my Nan, she died fighting cancer 2 years ago she was very patriotic, not just of The United Kingdom, but also of the County she grew up in (Herefordshire) she also loved being outdoors and getting to the top of hills as she could see all sorts of animals and see outstanding views, so she has travelled with me in that flag ever since. Later on next year I plan on doing some fund raising for a Cancer charity yet to be decided so watch this space!
cheers guys
Matt
Matts Mountaineering 