The Towering Tryfan

Posted on | By Mr Alderson

RIMG0890Excitedly, we awoke, curious to what the Mountains would bring upon us. When we came down to a hearty breakfast everyone was discussing the main topic. Which Mountain? Walking or Scrambling? Large or small? Easy or hard? When it finally came and we were all gathered in our groups not knowing what mountain but only knowing what kit to wear! We were beckoned to the minibus, thrilled but nervous as we were heading towards the adventurous Mountain.
We arrived 15 minutes later, buzzing to see which challenge lied ahead, no-one was unhappy with the task that was chosen. We gazed up to see the might and beuty of the mountain, we were to conquer the “Towering Tryfan”. With great teamwork and courage, we set off up the 3000ft monster, scrambling and hiking at a steady pace, helping each other with the difficult battle the Tryfan threw at us.
Leaping from boulder to boulder, members of our group were getting tired which caused a halt to our trek. As a team we overcame this problem by having strong resilience and many drink breaks! After the hiking of the uneven stone steps, the real mission began, scrambling was here at last! In a zigzagging fashion we flying through the mountain until we realised we only overcame 900ft in 2 hours. We were annoyed the mountain was winning but we carried on with our goal to reach the peak point, two giant boulders next to a 3000ft descent of the mountain they were known as the all-powerful “Adam and Eve”.
Aching and discouraged, we finally reached the top of the mountain and clambered up to Adam and Eve… all we can really say is that they lived up to their name. We were all excited yet hungry and so we finally had lunch. A 30-minute break really helped us all get revitalised and prepared for what came next as we were halfway through our task the real challenge came … the descent.
Walking down the spectacular scenery overwhelmed us, we were higher than the birds and touching the clouds. We were free. But like usual, all positives cause a negative! We were tired and slipping and stumbling down the stone stairway to hell. Crumbling rocks fell from underneath our feet. A almost straight 3000ft descent began, and it was scary! We persevered with it and luckily all came out alive! This memory will stay with us forever. Finally, we reached the end, and with a joyful, singing minibus home. We were greeted with a tasty dinner.

Jon Hart and Okly Deal

Our journey up Tryfan

Posted on | By Mr Alderson

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOur hike began up this rocky, steep, mountain it didn’t look too hard but we soon realized we were wrong!! As we set off, about 5 minutes in, we saw the other group arrive (hailstones), although they went a different route up, we ended up beating them to the top with about 20 mins between us.
As soon as we started walking our legs began to ache and we realized how tough this was going to be. We had to trek across a stream, gladly everyone crossed without falling in! But this was only the beginning, little did we know by the end at least half of the group had fallen over or was wet! After a long 40 minutes of Steep climbing Mike (our instructor) let us sit down and have our hot drink. We sat by a large lake which some people say it looks like a dolphin from above, while sitting having our long awaited drinks, we saw the breath taking views from below, with the clouds covering the mountain tops. Once we set off again re -energised and feeling prepared for what was about to come.
Once we climbed the steepest part of the walk, after our short break Mike then told us about the part of the hike we were all looking forward too SCRAMBLING! We had done a little bit of scrambling on the walk yesterday up Cnicht but none of us had realized how much pain and effort we were about to put in. With Mike safely pacing us up the hour long scramble with a couple of quick breaks to steady our balance at one stop we were asking mike if he had anyone before that had injured or died from scrambling up Tryfan, he said no one had died but he had people who got injured from this trek which made me (Amy) felt worse about what we were climbing. After reaching the top of Tryfan we sat and had a relaxing lunch at the edge of this spectacular mountain looking down at the magnificent view of below some people of the group wanted to sit on the Adam and Eve the very top rocks of the mountain. Just as we were about to start descending the mountain we saw the other group (hailstones) heading towards the top.
On our way down we passed a few people over taking us they seemed to reach the bottom faster than Usain Bolt running the 100m. Like yesterday Keely’s fingers seemed to puff up again. We called her snowman fingers. Although it wasn’t as wet and slippy as yesterday at least everyone seemed to slip at least once getting their bottoms wet leaving them uncomfortable for the rest of the descent towards the mini bus with Amika leading the way. On the way down one of the people in our group fell over and landing on his finger leaving him lagging behind in pain!!!
Once arriving at the mini bus everyone was relieved to finally sit down and relax as we drove back, whilst we sang in the bus and looking forward to our warm showers and telling everyone of our adventures.

By Amy Srivalsan-Jones and Lucy Munday

‘Baaaaaaaaaaaa’rilliant hike to Yr Aran

Posted on | By Mr Alderson

Starring: Little Steps Little Steps and SHEEP!!!!!!!!
DSCF9041Up at the crack of dawn, this morning we had a hearty breakfast followed by a meeting to find out which groups we would be in. Before we left, we had a chat with our team (Raindrops) to introduce ourselves, not only to the instructor but to our team members as well. We then had a short ride in a minibus to the base of our mountain – Yr Aran.
Having established which mountain was Yr Aran, and preparing for what seemed like a gruelling trek, we set of towards the summit. After 45 minutes of walking, with little steps and spotting a manmade dam we decided to take a break. Here we decided we would have a quick snack and a sip of our drink for 5 minutes before starting again. This time our course took us to a steep hill scramble and some of our fellow team members were staring to slip behind and started to struggle on the really steep bits. Little steps, little steps our goal drawing microscopically nearer with each of our little steps, little steps.
After about half an hour, we were sick of our little steps, little steps and felt it was time for lunch. Part Two. The sequel. From there we could see the summit Yr Aran. Our goal was in sight.
Lunch was over. More work lay ahead. The little steps continued. The group started to feel the strain. Bed was very inventing now. Unfortunately, no one had put a bed on this mountain so we would have to continue our little steps, little steps. We were however, actually moving, in little steps, but we were moving. Moving towards to summit. “OOOh” we said “There is a sheep over there.” “BAAAAAAAA” said the sheep. “BAAAAAA” we said. But sheep gave us a death stare before running off. Was it something we said?
By this time we were near the peak. We dropped our bags and ran. Ran without little steps, little steps. Ran towards the summit. And then we were there. We had climbed Yr Aran. Then half walking, half sliding we made our way down the mountain.
We were at the bottom of the mountain. Already. 15 minutes later we arrived at a waterfall. It was beautiful.
The next 20 minutes were spent walking towards a village, the minibus and admiring the sheep. Over a hill, along a path and over the railway. We saw the minibus. We started sprinting towards the minibus. Like tortoise running through peanut butter.

By Sydney Bexley & William Clark-Steel

Up the mountain

Posted on | By Mr Alderson

RIMG0807The day started off with an early wake up to a delicious first breakfast of a wealthy size portion of sausage, hash browns and baked beans. Then we were put into groups that we would spend the week with exploring North Wales. We were really pleased with our group as we were put in with people we love spending time with, after finding out this we were expecting a packed full day full of fun.
At the foot of the mountain we looked up to see a mountain towering over us, the group was full of excitement but also slight nerves. We went straight in with the action and headed towards our goal of the peak however slightly veering off course on our way as people had certain needs.
As we were climbing up the mountain some people started to slack behind as they were not up to the challenge. However, they came back strong as the spirit of the group was high, everyone kept going, until the peak of the mountain where we had a lunch break. The lunches were very kindly made by the kitchen staff back at The Kent Mountain Centre, everyone had at least two things they were happy to eat and enjoy whilst doing so. During our lunch break our Team leader Mr Alderson spoke of a fighter plane that crashed upon the peak of Carnedd Dafydd in the 1940s and some ruins still remain today on the Mountain side.
After a long, hard search for any remains of the plane we were led by Mr Alderson and Keith who found the engine of the wreckage. We were exited but carried on because of time, we were making our way down the steep slope when some of us came across a small stream where most of us refreshed and chilled our bodies before finishing our challenge.
After a few slips and falls Blake slipped unfortunately into a hole full of boggy water but was determined to finish so carried on. When the quicker members of the group became closer to the bottom, they waited for everyone in order to finish it together as team Hailstones.

By Blake Leahy and Finlay Jarman-Hume

Monday – Cnicht

Posted on | By Mr Alderson

DSC09793Our marvellous day began with us arriving at the base of the mountain, the first thing that we saw was sheep, all of the sheep were marked with orange, blue or pink dots to show which farmers they belonged to. I (Oliver) had spotted a large object in the flowing river, I stepped closer to the river to then realise this is no object it was a large salmon battling the progressing current.
Unusually instead of the stereo-typical cold wintery weather it was a very sunny beautiful day, but this soon became a terror instead of a pleasure as we became extremely hot and uncomfortable. Our colossal mountain confronted us as we started to edge our way into the deep boggy mud, People started to slip as the mountain became more harsh and the steepness rapidly increased! The Rocks where sharp, dangerous and were extremely slippery. The decrepit ruins made a versatile base for us to rest and snack on are well packed lunches, Mike our instructor helped us reach our goal of climbing to the top of the mountain and was determined for us to carry on to the jagged peak so we then left.
The side of the mountain was nick named the knights head because from a fantastic sea view it appears to look like a knight’s helmet, the journey to the knight’s head consisted of a tiring trek through a Jagged cliff face, it was treacherous, however we knew it would be rewarding for some to conquer their first mountain. After a long, demobilizing hike to the top of the mountain we finally finished our journey upwards and we had some time to rest and re-energize, we got to take beautiful pictures and experience the wonders of the mountains.
Our filling lunch had given us the energy to carry on back down the mountain, this may have been one of the hardest parts of the journey as the land was very unsteady and uneven but we succeed to walk over it even though everyone managed to fall into a puddle or a stream! by this time we were back to our initial path and soon arrived back to the mini bus and drove back home.

By Amika McAvoy and Oliver Hampton-Saint

As The Snowflakes Start Their Journey…

Posted on | By Mr Alderson

IMG_5635I (Hannah) was woken at 7am today as our room group was on duty but Jacob woke up even earlier due to Okly singing Olly Murs songs! We served breakfast, a delicious range including sausages, hash browns, beans, cereal and yoghurt. After breakfast we had a few minutes to freshen up shortly before we were called for a meeting in the Common Room to be allocated our groups. We were split into 4 different teams, Sunbeams, Raindrops, Hailstones and our group, Snowflakes.
We met our instructor, Mary and discussed todays activities. Then we had a short 10-minute minibus drive to the base of the mountains we were to be climbing. Along the way, everyone was quite nervous but excited about the day that lay ahead. When we reached the mountains we started our long journey by walking about a mile on a stretch of road towards the foot of our first major ascent. Everyone started out steadily and full of energy but about 5-10 minutes down the road our excitement started to fade as we started to tire very quickly. We began our ascent up Carnedd y Filiast which was 821m tall. This sounds like a lot and unfortunately it was. We felt every metre of it with a few stops for drinks and taking off/putting on jumpers but mostly we were moving at a steady pace. We passed lots of sheep along the way and climbed over loose rocks where we had a few people tripping over! At the top there was a shelter spot in which we stopped for a good 20 minutes to eat some lunch but swiftly after, we were on the move again. As quickly as we descended the first we were going up the second. This one was a little smaller (It was 812m tall) but it was more of the same thing, scrambling over boulders of rocks trying not to lose our footing and slowly struggling to walk in a straight line up the mountain side.
(The following paragraph was written by Jacob)
On our way down, our enjoyment was abruptly ended when I saw a very old woman on the horizon. Then somebody spotted her about 10 metres from us. I thought I would be polite to this elderly community member by smiling, waving and shouting “Hello”…. She waved back, lost her balance, fell down and hit her wrist on a rock and broke it. She then passed out and Mary and Mr White ran down the hill to assist her. Mary phoned the police. The officer on the end of the phone, didn’t know anything about mountains, and Mary hung up, and we had to head back along the mountainous path to get her back safely. This meant that we couldn’t continue on the last mountain but we still had fun on the way back down.
Once we arrived back at the centre we had about an hour to shower and then we were all called for dinner, macaroni cheese or beef bolognese!
The groups split up to do the evening activities and this is where we are writing this blog!
Thanks for reading!

By Hannah Moran & Jacob Goodbody

Sunday evening walk

Posted on | By Mr Alderson

IMG_0731_500pxThe torch-lit walk was accompanied in turn by stunning starry skies and swirling mist.
We can confirm that the Dolbadarn Castle is still there and still haunted (but only by other members of our group).

Everyone is looking forward to their first day on the mountains in a thing called sunshine.

Domitory allocation

Posted on | By Mr Alderson | No comments

The meeting to decide dormitory allocation will take place
in C3 at 10:45am on Thursday 22 October.

I now know the numbers and sizes of dormitories for girls and boys:
Girls – 2 rooms with 4 beds, 2 rooms with 5 beds and 1 room with 8 beds
Boys – 1 room with 2 beds and 2 rooms with 6 beds

Those present at the meeting will decide their own groups within the limits shown above.
Anyone unable to attend should contact their friends going on the trip and ask them to keep a place in their dormitory where this is possible (if you are unable to contact your friends, please email me using your school email account with the message and the name(s) of the participant(s) you would like me to pass it on to).

Please note
It is inevitable that some participants will not end up with their ideal room mates. This is far less of a problem that people imagine.
If individuals are unable to reach agreement at the meeting, I will allocate the remaining places.

Sunbeams’ final day

Posted on | By Mr Alderson | No comments

RIMG0340After running down the steepest road in Wales, jumping off a cliff with nothing but a rope to keep you from falling and climbing a rushing ice cold waterfall, we thought nothing could scare us.
But little did we know Mr Alderson and Keith had a last little surprise for us.
We started off the day with a half hour drive to a town called Capel Curig. From there, Torin and Eva were nominated to take the map and navigate us to a forest area. On the way we passed fields and fields of sheep with the longest tails the world has ever seen! After a long walk, we eventually reached the forest. Mr Alderson had turned back to drive the minivan to where we finished. The forest reminded me of the movie EPIC. On one side of us the forest was green, bright and full of life, whilst on the other side there were no green, no flowers, no leaves, just dark bare trees reaching out to you. We carried on walking, bursting for the toilet, for another 10 minutes until we reached a road where we found Mr Alderson with mud all up his boots. Apparently he parked the minivan and walked through a bog to the road. Thanks to Eva and Torin we managed to find another route to the minivan and, after a long wait, the toilets! We sat at a bench where we had our chicken tikka sandwiches, jaffa cakes and our hot chocolate. It quickly started raining so we grabbed our bags and jumped in the van to drive to the next of the day’s activities.
We waited at the bottom of a bank to put on our ‘nappy’ harnesses and our helmets. We could hear water but we didn’t know where it was coming from. Mr Alderson and Keith disappeared up the bank whilst we waited nervously at the bottom. After about 10 minutes we were called up to the top.
The Tyrolean. Crawling upside down across a waterfall attached to a rope by just a karabiner. I (Orfhlaith) volunteered to go first. I was attached to the rope and told to walk backwards. Naturally, I fell over not once but two times. But I still got up and carried on. When I got to the edge of the cliff I had to swing my legs up and start to pull myself along the rope. I looked down all I saw was water and rocks. The rope swung around but that only made me move faster. I finally got to the end where I placed my feet on the ground and unclipped myself. I was closely followed by Charlotte and Torin who started singing James Bond as they pulled themselves along the rope. It was an amazing final activity and I would definitely do it again.
Our evening activities were a little different today. Instead of the outdoor group activities we normally do today we stayed indoors. Firstly, we all arrived in the dining room and were split up into six groups. We started off with a quiz which got extremely competitive when we found out the winning team got cake! The final round was by far the most amusing as we all listened to Mr White’s amazing singing! Afterwards we all went to the dining room and watched a slideshow of the week’s events which included a lot of mug shots and selfies! We then all got given personal awards which included the Bravery Award and the Smiliest Award. After many laughs we finished the day off with an episode of outnumbered.
Today has been an amazing day to end an amazing week.

By Orfhlaith Roberson

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