13th - 15th October 2025.
Some activations stand out. Some for the chaos, weather, equipment failure etc. Some are just perfect. A weather window in mid-October - a predicted 3-day stable, dry spell was all the excuse I needed to head up to Eryri. The 300 mile journey took around six hours and I arrived in the Llanberis Pass around 11pm and settled in.
I was up around 07:00 the next morning, preparing sandwiches and kit and headed off round to the Ogwen valley, parking at the Ogwen cottage. There were many others taking advantage of the weather, and I headed up to Llyn Idwal and then up the slopes onto Y Garn GW/NW-004 The thin cloud was soon below me and filled the valley to the northwest leaving clear blue skies. I set up the 5m pole and link dipole and the FT817 on 40m SSB – Ken G0FEX, my most frequent chaser, was first on the scene and a steady stream of contacts followed until at 11:25, with 16 SSB and 2 FM contacts logged, I packed and walked down to Llyn y Cwn and up onto Glyder Fawr GW/NW-003, about an hour between summits. The same setup was used and 40m SSB produced 30 contacts. Packing, I had some lunch and walked east along the edge of Cwm Neifion, picking up the Y Gribin arete and descending into the Ogwen Valley again.
I decided that Moel Siabod looked good for the next day and I set off down the footpath beside Plas Y Brenin and after 100m realised I had no water - or pole - so went back and started again. It was cloudy – quite low and as I made my way up the first wooded part all I could hear was the small stream to the side of me. I cleared the wooded sector out onto more open grassland – small hillocks and a bit more devious path but eventually I reached a fence and crossing this, the track narrowed but straightened, gaining height with a peak to my left. The cloud above thinned and it got brighter and around 850m altitude, I broke out of the cloud into an inversion with pure blue sky above. Another kilometre and I joined the ridge coming in from the left and crossed the last few hundred metres, hopping from block to block and the deserted summit. A fabulous view with just Lliwedd, Yr Wyddfa, the Glyders and the Carneddau visible to the NW and Cadair Idris to the southern side in a sea of cloud. I set up the 5m pole and Link Dipole and found myself a comfortable spot to set up the FT817. I started on 10MHz CW and in 20 minutes, I had 12 in the log. I moved up to 2m FM for a further 15 contacts then another 13 on 40m SSB and 13 on 18MHz CW including 3 across the pond. I was in no hurry to leave the summit as it was so pleasant and after packing the kit, I sat in the sun in a T-shirt with a few other summiteers amazed by the October weather – this was Eryri after all, but we were in a perfect cloud inversion, and it was quite warm. Eventually I had some lunch and headed back down into the cloud. It was still comparatively early and I considered another local summit but decided to visit friends in Tywyn and activate Cadair Idris the next day.
Left my friends in Tywyn around 08:00 and drove out through Bryn Crug up to Abergynolwen and Minffordd where I parked – a free £6 ticket as someone had bought a ticket and was then leaving! Decided to make this a bit more lightweight and packed the Quansheng 2m handy only. There are various paths up onto Cadair but I opted for the Minffordd path. Cloud from only a few metres up restricted the visibility above and below me until I reached the summit of the subsidiary Craig Cwm Amarch where the cloud thinned and I popped out into an inversion with the main summit visible about 800m to the north. The sun was behind me and as I dropped into the saddle, with cloud immediately below me again, I caused a few Brocken Spectres before dipping into the cloud again and then out as I made the main summit. It was slow on 2m FM but I persevered and got 7 in the log. Packed, had some lunch and then continued the circuit along the ridge to Moel Mawr and down beside the fence. 9.74km, 953m ascent.
The forecast for the next day was less good in the north so I headed south, stopping off for a bonus ascent of Bryn Y Fan GW/MW-018. A late arrival required a smartish ascent and I got two in the log using the handheld on 2m then set up the dipole for set up for two more on 10MHz CW. It was starting to get dark, so I packed, located the lost glove and legged it back to the car
An excellent 3 days taking in 5 summits and 35 points.