Some people go a long way to get an avatar ...

Had another Volition Cult meet up this weekend, objective : Climb Mt Snowdon.

Not many of us this time around, just me, Luth Curmal and Agent Stone making the trip up from Bristol and Bath, to join up with an old Eve player. We travelled up to Manchester on Friday, hitting typical Bank Holiday Friday traffic - translation : 2.5 hour trip took 4.5. Wasn't too bad, could have been a lot worse :-)

Snowdon was Saturday. We started off at about 7.30, reaching Snowdon car park at 10.30. We took the Rhydd Ddu track, which had us approaching the summit from the south. Through the miracles of modern technology, I can publish the route of the way up (linky). Clicking on the "terrain" option will show some fairly daunting contour lines showing the elevations we were going up.

There were 8 of us doing the climb, we took a total of 2 hours 51 minutes. I miscalculated a bit by guzzling all my water on the way up, expecting to be able to refill before starting down. I didn't fancy taking water from the toilets though, so I was dry on the way down. We all survived :-)

I have a new avatar :-)


We got to the top and because I was feeling an impending injury*, were checking out the train option for getting back down the mountain. I spotted the little fella in the gift shop and thought : "ME WANT"

Yes, Snowdon has a gift shop and a train station at the top ...

Injuries ? I can keep going most times but I'd really hate it to lumber the people I'm around with a person who isn't going to be able to walk ... I felt my left calf muscle start to violently protest on the last little stretch (crags needing climbing), which is the usual sign that it's going to go bang. If that happens, it's at least 15 minutes until it stops tending to cramp, plus a few days for the muscle tears to repair. Comical if you're at ground level, not so if you're going to need help off a mountain.

We came back down the mountain using the Snowdon Ranger trail (see Rhydd Ddu link above), following the Android track linked here. The initial plan was to get to the bottom a little way around the mountain and then take a train back to where we parked. We modified that by going for a "short cut" ;-). It took us 3 hours to get back, which included a bit more adventure than the way up (translation - one or two of us got wet !)

For me, it worked pretty well, the way down was initially a lot gentler which allowed me to mostly walk off that unhappy calf muscle. I think it would have popped if we'd gone the scarier way down. We all ended up very sore though, I'd forgotten about the calf by the end cos everything else was complaining !

Gear :

When you're trail walking, gear is very important. Not just having the gear but knowing what to bring along. Weather reports were suggesting it would be clear, so I didn't get a waterproof top. Even though it did start chucking it down, I don't regret skipping that. Boots were very important, you don't want to go up a mountain in trainers because you'll be carried off with broken ankles.

I went up in running trousers, t shirt and sun hat, with a fleecy top and my normal leather jacket being put in the bag very quickly. Top marks for the Karrimor boots, Luth and I were sporting these and neither of us came away with blisters. They kept our grip on the loose path stones pretty well too.

Sun hat ? Keeps the rain off ! I kick out a lot of heat when I'm moving, so I'd overheat badly if wearing full waterproofs. There is such a thing as being overprepared, although I'd have wanted those waterproofs if I was camping overnight. Anyway, sun hat kept the rain off (no drips on glasses at all) and the trousers and boots kept my legs dry. The rain on my arms helped keep me cool.

Result ! But the same thing doesn't work for everyone, one of our people needed to borrow my gloves due to circulation problems in fingers (she was ok by halfway down). It was pretty darn cold up the top of that mountain. If I was fitter, I wouldn't kick out so much heat so I'd have needed subtly different gear.

Don't underestimate the challenge ! It's better to have gear and not need it than need gear and not have it.

Back home now, chilling out in front of cricket (although Aussie are winning) and looking forward to a very quiet bank holiday monday.