Snowflakes in action

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DIGITAL CAMERAToday, many people in SNOWFLAKES were excited about today’s adventures, than before, as we had climbed 3 mountains in 3 days, and NEEDED a break! We were all very tired, and had climbed Snowdon yesterday. Today we had an activity day, – less tiring!

A filling breakfast still had a complaining Nick Terziyski, who was still very annoyed at having a small pizza yesterday-evening, but his annoying complaints were made-up-for, when he dropped his own banoffee pie into his hands and crushing it, and then was made to eat it himself!

Our group met together in the dining room, as usual, and had our routine prep talk. We discussed and chose to go sea-level traversing, one of the activities possible!

After getting ready and collecting ropes, safety buoyance aids, and helmets, we got into the coach and drove off to the coast which was around 45 minutes away. Once again, we were accompanied by Nick Terziyski’s classic singsongs, and now have a radio in our NEW coach!

We got to a car park, a 10 minute walk from the rock cliffs, the choppy sea crashing against them, and strolled to it, carrying heavy equipment.

Lou, our team leader, set up a climb for us, moving across the cliff, by attaching ropes to parts in the cliff, low down. This was a challenging task for us to do, as it was very low to the choppy, cold, strong waves. We had to clip our karabiner hooks to the ropes.

Everyone coped with the slippery hook holds in the cliffs, apart from Lily O’Brien, who now has a phobia of sea water, after hating the feeling of two waves crashing over her while doing the climb! Whilst Jasmine and Nick had finished, the others were still going as they were challenging harder waves and trying to figure out what was a few steps ahead of them. After the first challenge of traversing we travelled a few metres to a new type of cliff and Lou went ahead to set up the rope for us to face. Once we started this scramble we immediately went down towards the sea and we had to jump over a metre and a half gap to carry on the traversing along the high but very exciting edge of the cliff.

Many funny things had happened, including, just when Adam was finishing the second part of the activity, he was so dumb enough to clip his hooks onto the next line, under the line before, trapping himself! It took him a long while to figure out what he had done wrong! This was very funny and everyone who saw laughed! Though this was not the first thing he and others had done wrong….

After finishing the second activity, we moved on to do a very cool zip-wire. Lou set it up between 2 cliff shoulders, with the strong sea crashing up, firing spray into the air, in the middle of it. Everyone was brave enough to do this, and it was very fun!

This was a very fun day, in which everyone enjoyed, apart from the very scared Lily!

Written by Adam and Ed.

A lost mitten, a dead sheep and a lot of wind

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DSCF8005This morning, our group set off in the coach for some mountain climbing at the Northern Glyders, a collection of mountains in northern Wales. We started along a long and steep tarmac path up to the first mountain, with mostly sunny weather. Because of this we could see for a long way, and could see the sea from where we were; along this path we passed a mountain from which a lot of slate had been quarried, which also starred in both Clash of the Titans and Tomb Raider 2.
As we started to climb the mountain, we were confronted with 35/45 mile per hour winds. We stopped part of the way up to mess around in the wind, and did what Jez calls “Coat sailing”, of which there are pictures at the bottom. After this we continued our rocky ascent to the first of two summits that would be eventually reached. Just after starting the final scramble the top, I (Oliver) very briefly took off one of my borrowed mittens and held it in my other hand to do up my jacket zip, and the mitten was blown away from my hand and off the edge of the mountain in the strong wind!
When we reached the top, we took shelter in a partially ruined circle of slate (and other rocks) and ate our delicious lunch supplied by the centre, along with a hot drink to warm us up. This spurred us on to carry on walking towards the second peak, which would have been rather easy if it had not been for the buffeting wind. On the ascent of the second peak, the winds carried on ravaging us, and so forced us to take refuge in a circle of rocks. When fully rested, we started our descent of the mountain, and back along the long tarmac path back to the coach, passing at least half a sheep that had been left in the grass. The coach journey was quick and uninterrupted apart from the incessant singing coming from not only the back seats with the girls, but in the seat next to me, with Ronan giving his best efforts as well.
After getting back, we had dinner, which was very similar to Christmas dinner, in the respect that it contained turkey, stuffing, etc.

By Oliver and James

Evening activities

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Here are a few photos of the on-site problem solving activities. These form part of the evening schedule for the first four evenings. Other activities  are visiting the climbing wall and writing blog posts for this site. By Thursday all participants will have experienced all of these.

Evening activity groups are different from the daytime groups and change each evening.

Mr Alderson’s group – Wednesday

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IMG_0387After Mr White had courageously swapped his cake for some extra eggy bread, after his third breakfast we set out for an activity day. The twisty winding roads towards our destination caused motion sickness for Rachel, many others were exhausted from the previous days, however we soldiered on to complete another challenging, eventful and exciting day. Today was a more relaxing day which involved map reading, orienteering and more walking!

We always look forward to our soup breaks, especially after a tiring climb. Lewis and Dan were very eager to stop after their new craze for soup. We were split into two groups and went different ways where we would eventually meet each other half way to our destination. Mr White’s group were twenty minutes in front of Mr Alderson’s group and decided to eat their lunch in a tree sheltered area lounging on a mass of soft mossy cushions. Mr White marched on ahead whilst we stayed in our comfy den until we heard a strange whistling noise gradually coming towards us, we became unsure but when we heard Mr White calling “Bon Bon” calling his dogs to come (us) we were relieved. The other group finally turned up, we walked on then Craig and myself (Maddy) led the way and the teachers both let us do our own thing…we immediately went the wrong way. Everybody stopped at the riverside and the teachers started to attach large ropes to trees across a fast rushing river. All of us were anxious because the teachers deliberately didn’t tell us what activity we were going to do until we put on extremely uncomfortable harnesses and helmets on.

We did a Tyrolean Traverse circuit going crossing the river twice. Charlie Burgess bravely went first and excelled at it. Rachel’s turn came next falling over the big drop before the river. Mr White set a challenge to see if we could go on top the rope, which proved quite challenging sitting struggling looking stupid in the middle of the rope in mid-air. Lewis managed to get on top of the rope, however did not hook his foot so ended up dragging himself with the rope between his legs which seemed to be quite painful as he sat on the other side near on crying.

On the walk back we split apart from the teachers. They went an easier route around the lake and we went the hard way which was proven by Lewis falling over about 5 times on slippery branches and rocks. Being apart from the teachers made us feel very independent and we were hoping that we wouldn’t get lost on the way back to the minibus!

By Rachel & Maddy

Rain, rocks and “did we really push that bus?”

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IMGP0228We started off the day with a big breakfast for the long day ahead; climbing Snowdon (largest mountain in Wales and England). As a group we decided to have a challenging day instead of a more relaxed as the weather towards the end of the week was turning windy and we don’t want to be blown of a mountain, now do we? We packed our bags and set off for the day ahead, not knowing what was waiting for us.

Parked up and ready to go; we started to climb the mountain all working as a team, taking turns to guide the group along. Unfortunately, the whole group was more excited for the chocolate spread sandwiches in our bag other than reaching the top of the mountain due to the weather conditions thrown at us from above. When we stopped to rest ourselves, Mike (our instructor) told us many myths of the great Snowdon including kings, giants and lakes.

Towards the top of Snowdon it began to get steeper and we became weaker but we pushed through and worked together to get to the highest point in Wales and England. As we finally reached the peak we were all proud of our achievement and glad we made the hard journey up, taking many pictures of our progress.

We expected the worst was over but we didn’t see the 2 billion mile long path which was said by mike to take 15 minutes but 40 minutes later we were STILL WALKING. Our feet hurting and Darcie desperately needing a toilet, seeing the mini bus and toilets was a highlight of our lives.

Rushing onto the mini bus to get back to the warm, dry mountain centre, we didn’t know our journey would be delayed by 45 minutes due to the mini bus not starting. At first we thought we would be dry but needing to push the bus into a parking space meant outside wet and moving our muscles. Sitting on the bus waiting for Mr Alderson to pick us up we amused ourselves by singing, laughing and solving Ed’s issues.

Eventually we moved into a WORKING, WARM bus to make our journey back. With a delicious dinner waiting for us back at the centre we enjoyed making Mr Alderson cringe at our singing to Beyonce. Warm and dry in the dining hall we laughed back at the eventful day we had and wouldn’t change it for a chocolate biscuit.

Overall good memories had been made for the snowflakes group and will remember it forever.

Ella Barker and Alice Nolan-Bryant

Sunbeams (Ironically)

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DSCF7995Wednesday 6 November 2013

Today was wet. Which was ironic considering we are called the Sunbeams. Anyway…back to the activity, which was: Orienteering! Yeah, we had no idea what it was either, apart from orienting a map. It turns out that map reading was the general gist of the day.

So breakfast was pretty normal, the food was good, and conversation generally revolved around my incredibly terrible puns (There were so many milk puns I was just milking it!)-but really, they were eggcellent, truly cracking. So after breakfast we met Jez in the common room, and we discussed the activity, which was, as previously explained, orienteering. The challenge was to move around the course and stamp each point on our books. Pretty quick, and soon we were eggcited for the next part.

We then moved onto orienting in the small area of Llanberis. Me (Molly), Esme, and James walked alongside the train track which was from the quarry, and were miming pulling the train horn and then the train driver, surprisingly pulled the horn!! Then we came back to the centre and had a little snack before heading back off to a mountain.

Actually, it was a hill, technically, but still, it was very very tall (475metres). After a few songs and an Eye of the Tiger montage, we reached the top of the hill. Once we had reached the top, Jez and Ms Hodgett left us with our maps, and our orienteering skills to make our way to the parking lot, the other side of the mountain (Tall hill). With determination, teamwork, and a lot of excitement we managed to walk a couple of metres before somebodies…. Fell in a bog, not naming any names *cough* Ellie, Sam, Esme *cough*. So we continued till halfway keeping our spirits up singing many songs, and laughing till it hurts. But then we got to a junction where we weren’t too sure where to go, luckily there was a mysterious animal who makes your woollen jumpers (sheep). We followed him. He took us to our next bit, he was a very reliable animal. Originally, some of us were quite sheepish about following it.

So, we found some old quarry machinery that had sunken into the bog (I found it first so it was mine). I had that sinking feeling when we found it. A mysterious figure appeared behind us, and it had us worried, however, it moved away after a while. We began bog testing, and continued in our journey, relishing in our newfound freedom and self-sufficiency (I was rocking the new shoes!). And then they imagined Esme as a sheep. They wouldn’t stop laughing, and minutes later, we arrived at our next junction, once again using our map skills and a friendly sheep to guide, but once again, a mysterious figure followed in our footsteps.

After we had a small dispute over the next path, with a wall blocking our direct path, and a gate. Unfortunately, the gate was over a river. We eventually decided that instead of retracing our steps, we would continue up the wall, and, as if by magic, we found the gate, and another sheep. After crossing across the gate we went into a forested area, (we were going to make like trees and leave.) but then: Me (Ronan) and Olly faced off our mysterious stalker. It was Ms Hodgett. How anticlimactic, but before we could relay our findings to the group, Jez jumped out at the group, making them jump. We then continued back to the minibus, and on the way back to the centre we had a wheely good time.

We had a Wales of a time, singing more songs and driving over valleys (You could say the hills were alive with the sound of music). When we reached home, we waddled to the drying room, to hang up our clothes, some of us bundled onto bean bags watching ‘The Chase’, had dinner, and started writing the blog.

Molly & Ronan

Friendly Bog

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Craig. I started of the day with a beautiful croissant, it filled me up for the day ahead. We all piled into the minibus, however we had to wait for 10 minutes for Rebecca to sought some things out (her hair, *sigh*) We set out in the van passing some stunning scenery, however Dan was too tired to take it all in and had a quick nap. We finally reached a rather remote destination, shadowed by the huge mountain we were about to climb.

Charlie. When we exited the minibus the weather suddenly changed for the worst and we immediately started to put our waterproofs on (which took a long time to do and eventually we had to take our shoes of in order to put on the waterproof trousers). As we started of the long winding, and may I mention steep, road to the base of the mountain. In a matter of fifteen minutes we were completely and utterly exhausted. Yet the mountain seemed ever taller.

Craig. Our group moved on and gradually made progress on the mountain, the terrain got harder and we had to watch our next step carefully. I paused a moment to look up and I realised how far we had to go. There were rocks everywhere! I had no idea how it was possible to climb such a thing. Soon after some more hard work we stopped for a hot drink break. As I sat down the entire Welsh countryside presented itself before me. It was stunning! However we couldn’t stop for long, and the next part of the journey was the bracing bog. Dun dun duuun……

Charlie. As through the harrowing trudge through the bogs. It was becoming ever harder to move though the syrup like ground. Part way through we heard ecstatic laughter from Mr White I turned around to see Rebecca laying, smothered in mud, she had tripped and collapsed in the unforgiving bog. “Wait there don’t move” called Mr White.

Instead of helping her up he pulled out his camera and took a photo of Rebecca knee deep in mud.

Craig. Filled with laughter and joy we carried on, however this adventurous spirit lead to a change of route. We decide to scrap the registered path and try our own. This could only go badly……

As we got higher the 40 mph winds started to take effect, I am personally a very light person, and I struggled to stay on my feet. There was a very drastic change of scenery and the rocks I had previously puzzled over how we would pass got a lot closer. The climb was very difficult and we were all exhausted, however we could not stop on the open grass, as we were vulnerable to the wind. Eventually we found our way to a lovely alcove with a phenomenal view, it was amazing to eat a jam roll 650 metres up with such a beautiful landscape beneath me.

Charlie. After a well needed lunch we set off again with energy replenished. But that didn’t last too long, as ahead of us was a steep, rocky and dangerous climb to the summit. At one point we had to cross a death defying ledge with a sheer drop below. After I crossed I stepped up but a sudden gust of wind caught me and I nearly fell off into the foggy depth, but luckily I kept my balance. Shakily I moved on with Mr Alderson’s warnings of even harsher winds ahead. We kept asking where the summit was but every point revealed an even higher one.

Craig. Finally we were a mere 15 metres away from the top of mountain, sounds easy doesn’t it? I can assure you it wasn’t. The wind got progressively worse, apparently down to some sciency thing, obviously I ignored that bit as I was on the mountain to climb! Not to learn…. Regardless we fought through the ferocious mini hurricane. At last we crumbled around the summit, avoiding the sheer drop on the other side. Filled with a sense of pride we cheered in escalation!! The group cheerfully made our way over to a small shelter of stones and I had one of the best hot chocolates of my life.

Charlie. So after a seemingly quick break we headed back down the mountain with legs like jelly from all the climbing and suddenly back down again. At this point everyone had fallen over at least once, apart from Mr Alderson, however his luck was not to last. A few minutes later we heard a muffled shout, we ran over and saw our respected solemn C.D.T teacher lying on the ground smiling. Mr White helped him up and we moved on.

Craig. We gradually moved down the long winding route, the wind still followed us and I had my first major fall. The blasting gusts pushed me forwards and I bumped into James and we rolled down the mountain for about 5 metres. Eventually the van came into sight, however much to our distress it was the wrong van. After some more painful walking we finally got to the right vehicle. We quickly stopped off for Dan’s toothbrush and then slumped into our rooms for some lovely rest.

Jez’s group – Tuesday

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Today was a great day filled with many exciting moments. We started the day off with a long drive to cable bay, on the way there James was laughing at the sheep. When we finally got to the beach our assistant instructor Dylan, helped us put our harnesses on. In no time we were on the rocks, Ronan kept the spirit alive with his great puns e.g. we are having a whale of a time and I’m rocking my new shoes, these jokes were all very funny until the 50th time. We got half way and the waves were very high and crashing very close to us. Ellie was unfortunate and got hit by a colossal wave and was drenched from the chest down, luckily her hair did not get wet. Tyrolean Traverse was one of our activities, this was the scariest thing that we had to do so far but it was also the most exciting activate. Hannah had the most trips and falls and it was so funny but at least she didn’t hurt herself. Then we had lunch, when we took our helmets off to eat we all had helmet hair, it was very funny. Jez, our instructor decided to go to the other side of the bay. We had to climb over a wall it was very hard, but very funny when Hannah tried to help James over but failed miserably. After we climbed over the wall we walked 50 metres to where we saw a cliff Jez said we were going to jump through it but when he said that we thought he was being sarcastic but he wasn’t, so one by one we lowered ourselves down into the crevices of the cliff with a little help from Dylan the instructor’s assistant when we got lower down we were hooked on to a rope in case we got stuck, we walked sideways though a very narrow crack in the cliff to which was ended by…yes you guessed it more ROCKS! This was where Hannah’s jokes started e.g. what do you get when you cross Hannah and rocks…Hannah rocks, what do you get when there is a sea and a lemon…a sea á lemony Ronan’s ended luckily, after this mike took a group picture of us leaning on the rocks we all looked great! Finally after a long and soggy day we all climbed back into the bus where most of us had a little nap then we came home to a nice warm shower.

Although we all had some difficulties today we all succeeded in the end as we grew a closer bond from Ronan’s jokes, Esme’s face first fails, Hannah’s trips and slips and Ellie’s calamity wave fails.

Nick’s Karma

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This Lily and Courtney’s account of today. We started with a half hour journey to the mountain Cnicht, on the way Nick, Adam and Ed started singing the Friends theme tune with amazing harmonies. When we got there we looked at the summit of the mountain, and all thought that the day would be easier than yesterday. As we went along the day we realised this was true. The girls put their waterproofs on as soon as we got off the mini bus, the boys were complaining that we were taking too much time. We began walking up a steep stream, with a few breaks by the stone walls.  We used these for rests, shelter from the weather, drinking and eating. It then started raining and the boys were forced to put their waterproofs on, and they started to complain and took more time than the girls. We then continued up the mountain, which started to get easier. Along the way we had to do scrambling, sometimes there was an easier route to just continue our journey to the summit of Cnicht. Some people took the harder route and some the easier, depending on how they felt and if they were a bit more tired. The majority took the scrambling route. We stopped again roughly half way, before the journey to the very top of Cnicht. We stopped to eat, drink and rest. Just before we started walking again the typical Welsh weather decided to hail on us. We saw a man with a dog coming back down the mountain, so let him pass before we continued. Jasmine and Darcie then stroked him, which led them to missing their own dogs. When Lou started talking to the man, he told her that it wasn’t his dog. The dog was a stray that had led and followed the man to show him a safe way up and down the mountain. The stray dog then followed us part of the way up, then went back to the man in red. We found that climbing up the peak of the mountain was less tiring, even though the wind was very strong blowing us in every direction. We continued up and when we were at the summit of the mountain we all had a group photo. When you looked behind us, the drop was very steep and the wind was blowing us towards the drop. The walk back down was much funnier and more relaxed. It started off with a steep walk, but then flattened out and became very boggy, this is where everyone started slipping over, except Nick. Nick was laughing his head off whilst everyone was giggling in the background. We continued whilst everyone was slipping and trying their hardest not to fall. Lily, Courtney and Jasmine were falling over every 5 minutes in the bogs and the slippery rocks with the rest of our team falling over as well. We then started walking down more rocks, and this is when Nick’s karma began. He started slipping and fell over. One of the times when he fell he just stayed lying in the boggy mud until the rest of our team caught up. This was funny because his gloves had just dried, when he slipped and made them wet again. We continued walking, which Nick then rushed ahead in the wrong direction (Oops). We then saw some sheep and the first thing Jasmine said was “The sheep have their ears pierced” which was obviously a fashion statement. We then continued the trek downwards. When we got to the road Nick and Courtney had a race back to the mini bus, which Courtney won! Her first completed Mountain. On the way back we were all singing a trilogy of songs with amazing harmonies for Ed, and great songs to all join in on.

Jez’s group – Monday

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Miss HODGETT’S group – Sunbeams
The coach journey was very tiring, then everyone had to sit through a load of meetings about the drying rooms and the kit. After dinner, we all had to go get our kit and then Miss Hodgett wrote down all the codes in the coats, fleeces , waterproof trousers and boots.
Some people were angry that they had to go on a walk after dark. We split into two groups. The one I was in went along the lake. Mr White made us turn all our torches off, and there were some scary bits, like when we all stood on the weak bridge and there were some slippery rocks which we had to climb down in the dark.
Mr White and Keith told us about the Lady of the Lake, which is a Welsh myth about a woman who used to row across the lake to see her boyfriend. One day, the boat sank and she drowned. If you see her on the lake (all glowing and white and scary), then you have to propose marriage to the person you’re with. In the end, everyone was scared of her instead, and we all kept screaming.
We mostly had to have our torches off. Craig’s shoelaces kept coming undone (we had to stop, shout at everyone about the lack of team work and “man down”).
When we got to another part of the lake, there was a small slate house. Mr White told us about a toll keeper who would make sure people wouldn’t steal the slate from inside the mountain. If they did, he’d run out and slam the gate.
Keith slammed the gate in the dark and everyone screamed.
Highlight: Ed fell into the marsh. There were wooden walk ways, splitting in two directions and he fell between them.
Soon, we had to climb up some rocks (I shone my torch up, caught a load of sheep and their eyes looked like lazers. It was horrible) to the castle. Mr White said something about the layout and strategy, then he let us go up the steps. I was at the back, making patterns on the ground with my torch and everyone started screaming again. The other group had come around the other way and scared our group.
When they’d left, we all tried to go up to the top of the castle. Some people say there was a spider but I wasn’t concentrating. Mr White tried to tell us more and Craig held up a coffee cup he’d found and said there was another ghost.
The rest of the walk was pretty boring. We had to stop even more. I stayed in the back (we said it was because if everyone else died, we’d be able to run). Soon, we got back, with more biscuits. The girls in my room were angry because they said eleven minutes wasn’t long enough to get ready for bed. In the end, we did sleep (Lily is really loud and the bunk is creaky).
Next day.
We set off our long walk up and down the mountain at 9:30 we arrived at our mountain destination at about 10:00 it was very tiring but exciting as we managed to get all weather conditions in one including very strong winds lots of hail snow and rain the steep hills very made with slate which was very slippery and made our journey tricky and hard. Our instructor was called Jez and he was very helpful and kind. Most of the way up we all talked about Welsh and mountains we’d been on. Our team’s the Sunbeams. He said we all had to smile and bring sunbeams.
Half way up, it started hailing. And it rained really hard. Soon, it got harder as we went past a marshy bit and a huge lake. When you looked back, the view was very pretty and all the sunlight was coming down. You could also see more hail coming.
We were “scrambling” up a zig zag bit and the hail got worse. Sometimes, we’d stop to have a drink. It got really cold, and it got harder.
When we got the ridge, we stopped for ages. You could see the shadows of the clouds, and a few peaks. We were almost in the clouds, and we could see all the way to the sea. The next part was really hard, with the hail getting worse and a huge steep part of the rocks. Miss Hodgett told us that there was a bog, which a girl fell into a few years ago up to her armpits. At some points, we had to brace ourselves against the rock. It was freezing. I don’t know how the wild horses survive. When we got to the top, everyone ran around screaming and eating food. We got a few group photos and then started down. This was better—the rain and hail stopped, everyone started running down. Esme had been feeling sick, so a few people stayed behind. A few ran on really far ahead.
I (Hannah) was walking down the very steep hill and came across a deep and disgusting muddy bog it was horrible i walked over to it not knowing how deep it was going to be and fell into it and was covered in mud it was cold and wet.

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