Black Mountains (Navigation) |
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With Andy taking his mountain leader course in a couple of weeks he wanted to brush up up on his navigation skills. What better place to brush up than the black mountains after a fresh snowfall and low cloud. Map & compass was the first choice with GPS as a back up. It was also a lesson for myself and John on GPS. The snow was fresh and mainly powder so where ever we walked we were setting the tracks. Untouched snow..great! |
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This was the route we took which you can follow with a map:- We parked up in Mynedd Du Forest car park which is at the end of the road just south east of Waun Fach. We walked west through the woods to Pen Y Gadair Fawr. From here North west to Waun Fach. Then the same direction to Pen Y Manllwyn. Follow the path along the ridge north to Rhiw Y Fan. Turn south towards Rhos Dirion which takes you to Twyn Talycefn. |  |
| Follow the ridge south east to the woods near Cnwarel Y Fan. Then follow the paths through the woods back on to the road and car park. |
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The walking varied that day from heavy woodland with deep snow to wind blown moorland with lots of icy areas and icy snow. The wind on top of the mountains can make the temperature plummet suddenly so having thermals handy in snowy weather up here is essential. |
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| It was cold enough to freeze all of the bogs on top the mountains completely solid, the only problem was that you would be walking along and some of the were covered in a shallow layer of snow so you would take the odd slide here and there. |
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Some people may wonder why you would climb up a mountain in these weather conditions, but if you are a hardy walker you will understand when i say that it was one of those trips which sets a bench mark in the Black mountains for us for years to come. Top route and topped by plenty of snow for once! |  |
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Trying out the GPS. As you can see in the photos the snow was rather deep in places and the weather was threatening to come down hard all day, so it was the perfect time to test navigation skills. If you want to brush up on your navigation skills there are lots of guided walks and courses available in the UK. For information take a visit to the pages below:- |
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