Sunday 12 February 2012

Ice Climbing in the Brecon Beacons

Finally a proper winter outing! while the rest of the country has been shivering and hoping for the weather to warm up, i've been hoping all winter for the opposite. Looking at the forecast on friday finally brought together the factors that could result in a perfect inter day in the hills.
Saturday morning at 05:30, -6 celsius and no cloud cover, Ollie and i got in the car and headed to the Brecon Beacons.
First we checked out RAC corner at sunrise, enough ice to have a play on and worth the visit but not epic. We were back at the car by 09:30 and by now the sun was fully up and blazing with perfect blue sky so we decided to head around to Torpantau falls that i'd never seen in winter condition. The road from the south was very icy so we decided to ditch the car and walk in. It turned out to be a bit of a slog. Deep, frozen tufty grass with crusty snow on top, we were certainly pleased to get to the base of the falls.
Fortunately the effort was rewarded with two great pitches of solid thick ice. The top section was starting to get a bit thin and sketchy but for the most part it was in great condition.
Having topped out we had a great walk back to the car to finish a perfect winter mountain day.








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