Solo Trek in Wales for a kit shake down and a touch of solitude

July 03rd saw me dash of for a solo trek in Snowdonia. The agenda was to wild camp, have a work out and shake out some kit.

I took no walking poles as I wanted to feel the thighs work on this trip. I wanted to remind my body what the ascents were about with a 30+lbs rucksack. I also whipped myself with a birch branch..

The weather was spectacular and the views all around were magnificent.The level areas were sodden with water pooling and still running off the mountains.  This post will share some photographs of the two days trek and also review some kit that was bing scrutinised.

Route

Day 1

Park behing the Pinnacle’s cafe at Capel Curig. Ascent over Cefn Y Capel -> Y Foel Goch -> Glyder Fach – > Glyder Fawr – > descent “Devils Kitchen” -> Wild camp at Lyn Bochlwyd

Time – 6 hrs, no stops

Day 2

Asent the miners track between Tryfan and Bristly ridge to return the reverse route via Foel Goch.

Time – 3.40 hrs, no stops

Pictures

The big man was providing great weather!

On the Glyders with the views south

Glimpse of Carnedd Llewelyn

Impressive  Tryfan

Adam n Eve on Tryfan

Descending Glyder Fawr towards Y Garn. The route to the Devils kitchen veers north at the bottom of this steep incline off the mountain. There was a navigation competition on so it was busy around Glyder Fawr.

The wall before the decent into the Devils Kitchen. The main route down the Devils kitchen is close to the mountain wall. “Pen Yr Ole Wen” looms across the valley.

 

Descent to “Devils Kitchen”

Water running off the Glyders. This needed a jump to cross so its worth remembering during really bad down pours not to take this path. It was the path heading to the left of Lyn  Idawal which you can see in the picture below this one.

Camp at Llyn Bochlwyd. I was not alone..

Room with a view

Kit review

My rucksack weighed in at 32lb. That included 2 litres of water that I carried due to concerns about finding water in the Glyders. Part of the trip was to test some gear and here is my conclusion.

Rucksack

• Lightwave Ultra hike

Rock solid on two days hike. Soaked up 32lbs!

*Cook set 

• Optimus Vega
• ETA power 1lite pot
• Vango wind shield

I wanted to test out the ETA pan as I have had it a while. I noticed the burn time of my TGO cook set was poor so wanted to see how this performed. Weight wise this is my heaviest cook load out at approx 360gms.  So, how did it perform..

Boil time was impressive, water for a brew and rehydrated scoff was under a minute. The size of the pan was great for adding boil in the bag food. I like the plastic inner bowl that comes with the pot as this can be used for noodles etc. Despite the increased size/weight I really like the pot and will put it top of consideration. The Optimus Vega stove is great, the only niggle which can really hack me off is the fuel pipe kinks when you try and align it with the gas canister. If it didn’t kink it would be the perfect stove. The wind shield did its job.

*Tent

• Hilleberg Nallo2

This is my base camp or tent of excess..coming in at 2.4kg. I had a Soulo which weighed the same so I didn’t flinch when packing it. The Nallo pitched quickly and the space was a luxury. I camped at  a hight of 555m and there were gusts which did test the pitch. At one point one of the pegs was ripped out the ground and flung across the ground, impressive! Despite this the tent held. The weather calmed and the normal Catabolic wind rocked the tent as did some rain squalls. The tent didn’t flinch, but id expect this. I like’d the weight to space ration, I like the Hilleberg features that come with all there tents. The weight wasn’t noticeable during the day. There was no condensation despite a warm night. I used the vents and it wasn’t draughty as well.There was nothing I disliked.

*Sleeping

Cumulus quantum – 7 650g

I took this bag as its been sat idle for a while. Boy it was hot. The sweat rivers were running, know what i mean..So ill be saving this bag for colder days.

http://pin.it/Zkor2yq

*Boots

SALOMON Wings Sky GTX 2

These were my footwear of choice. Since the TGO I am now rethinking footwear so it was time to revist these boots.

These boots have had there day. They leaked, the sole’s had no bounce in them. I should have  worn my trail shoes as me feet were wet for both days. These are demoted to my dog walking boots. I still think boots have there place on trips like this as there is a strong case for water proof and support when traversing rocky peaks in Wales.

*Clothes

Mountain equipment Eclipse Zip Tee

I have had this top a few year and was eager to wear it as I thought it might be windy or cold enough to warrant it. The reality was that I sweated my self to near death in it. It just to warm for anything but winter wear. The foot in the picture had just been to the mountains and is saying hello..