Hailstones vs The Three Very Windy Mountains

Posted on | By Mr Alderson

Last night, we did some outdoor problem-solving activities. The most notable moment was probably when Joe swung on the rope with a full bucket of water and got drenched. It was extremely funny. Some people went to the climbing centre, it was fun but also challenging.

This morning, Hailstones reached 3 mountain peaks. We took the minibus to the bottom of the first path. Then we slowly made our way up to the bottom of the first mountain (Carnedd y Filiast). Once we made it to the peak, we sat down and ate our lunch in a stone shelter. As we continued, it was downhill to the next mountain (Mynydd Perfedd). There were very harsh gusts of wind. Mary was worried that Jacob would fly away so Chris had to hold him down. Aiming to reach the second peak, we scrambled up some steep rocks, almost slipping on the frost. We made it up to the second peak with thankfully not too many slip ups (unlike Rachael yesterday). The climb up to the third peak was quite challenging for some of us. At one point, as we were walking across a very narrow ridge, the gusts were so strong that we were almost thrown down the cliff. It was very exhilarating and quite scary. We all had really great attitudes and tried our best to help each other and work as a team. On the final climb to the third peak (Elidir Fawr), the rocks were quite wobbly and slippy. Beth was walking across two rocks and all of sudden she was laying on her stomach with her head in between them. About two metres from the top, Chris was excited and happy to have made it to the peak. He seemed to have forgotten that he had a big rucksack on and accidentally barged Rachael out of the way and she fell into the rocks. When we had all made it into the stone shelter on top of the final peak, Mrs Webster decided it would be a great time for a photo and stood on the top edge of the shelter. We were worried that if the wind blew hard enough, she would be knocked off of her feet and thrown down the steep side of the mountain.

Filled with pride to have accomplished our goals for the day, we began the journey back down to the minibus. We had to take baby steps as it was very steep and also quite slippy. We stayed tight as a group to prevent anyone falling down and severely hurting themselves. Luckily, nobody was hurt. However, on our zigzag route down the mountain edge, Beth’s feet began to slide and she fell down, rolled over a rock and then slid down the mountain path until she was finally caught by Liam. It was very funny and Beth was not hurt. A few times down the mountain, Rachael also slipped. Once we were off the main area of rocks and onto the grass, the ground became very steep and we have to move extra carefully. Adam decided it would be best to grip onto Rachael’s bag and attempt to pull her up when she kept slipping over. We also all took it in turns to use the mountain stick that Mary had in her bag. Slowly but surely, we made it down the steepest part of the mountain and onto the much less steep part of the journey down. As we kept making our way down, we found a rock that as you stood on it, it flipped and the person stood on it plummeted into a hole. Aenea was the first to discover it. Eventually we made it back to the minibus and we drove to The Centre. On our return, we returned all of our kit and cleaned out our lunch boxes. Dinner was either Bolognaise or Macaroni. Dessert was either Angel Delight or Sticky Toffee Pudding.

Slip counters:
Rachael Slip Counter: 23 slips
Best slip of the day: Beth sliding down the mountain

Best Parts:
Reaching the final peak
Scrambling up the rocks
Working together and supporting one another

Worst Parts:
The rain at the beginning

The three mountains we climbed:
Carnedd y Filiast
Mynydd Perfedd
Elidir Fawr

By Rachael Lewis and Aenea Goult

Wet Wellies

Posted on | By Mr Alderson

Last evening me and some other snowflakes did problem solving such as bomb disposal (whereDom M jumped on the bomb which wasn’t smart) and getting a bucket from place to place by swinging on a rope.

Today we went to a gorge (lots and lots of waterfalls). On the way we stopped off at an abandoned lead mine (safe) to walk up a hill and lots of steps which hurt our legs as we were very tired from 2 days of mountain climbing. At the top of the steps we realised sir left the ropes at the bottom so Dom Pook and Joe went back down to get them and walked all the way back up. After climbing a little more we came to a couple trees at the top of a 20 metre cliff and abseiled down. We all enjoyed it.

Once at the bottom we had some lunch as there would be no lunch break at the gorge.  We ate our lunch of cookies, Mini Cheddars and rolls with various fillings. After, we kitted up into our waterproof jackets, buoyancy aids and helmets so we wouldn’t need to spend time getting ready at the gorge. then we hopped in our Merc and drove to the gorge.

Once at the gorge car park we walked up a short hill and heard a faint sound of running water. we saw waterfalls and rocks and prepared to get wet. we walked across a few rocks and sir told us to watch him scale a wall above some kinda deep water. we tried it and it was difficult as there was not many places to put your feet. we all came away dry but not for long as Dom M (otherwise known as little t, irrelevant and Tyrone, to avoid confusion with fellow snowflake Dom Pook) got his lower half wet when stepping between 2 close rocks and sliding down the small gap between them.

A few small waterfalls up we came to a slightly larger waterfall where we had to be lowered down beside it by sir. a couple more slips and slides and we came to a small natural water slide made of rock which was fun. most of us were quite dry up until that point. we emptied out our heavy wet wellies and marched on.

Ws we went up we encountered  an elephant’s bum (two large boulders which we had to crawl through a gap between them), we walked on a waterfall where you couldn’t see where you were putting your feet through the white water which was cool, we climbed over a big rock and slid down into deep-ish water and out through a hole, we went down a larger and bumpier water slide and ( finally ) jumped into a deep pool of water which was freezing but awesome. some dabbed and some super-manned as they jumped.

We walked in our swimming-pool-like wellies down a steep hill where mabel tripped over repeatedly and I (without my glasses) mistook a house for a lake???

Finally, we arrived back at our fresh whip and got our spare clothes from the boot, we changed in a not-very-dense-forest where some pervy cows could definitely see us. we finished whatever lunch we had left as we drove home. as we drove libby introduced us to her baby (a mermaid made of wet clothes) it wore a dress (libby’s snood) which really brought out her curves.

We came home to a dinner of macaroni cheese and syrup sponge for pudding. Then we did our evening activities.

au revoir, bros.

By Annabel Sunshine

Sea Level Traversing and Hiding From Jaan

Posted on | By Mr Taylor

After last night’s activities (team games) which included Water, Buckets, Rope Swings and bad fortune on Joe Sykes’ behalf, we woke up the next morning more energetic than we had been in the days before, ready for new activities.

We found out our next activity was sea level traversing , In the rain and in howling winds. we started by putting on waterproofs and layers to protect us from the Welsh elements. We walked out to a cave where we stayed for a couple of minutes; We steeled ourselves for the journey ahead. We then went to the cliff edge and tried to get to the rope (slipping a lot due to the grace of the Welsh elements; by this point we were very wet. by the time we got to the rope (Some of us grumbling), We all were explained how to clip our cows tail(rope and clips) to the rope while a massive wave enveloped us and left us soaking. We attached ourselves to the safety ropes and climbed over the hazardous rocks (remarkably not slipping), Afterwards we seeked shelter in the cave where we ate our lunch and defrosted ourselves

When we were getting ready for the Tyrolean Traverse, everyone was excited and ready to go. Oli went first and a massive wave came and soaked Oli. It was even more amusing (for us) because he didn’t have his waterproof trousers on therefore making him more susceptible to the raging sea.

After that, we all had another turn. Apart from Oli of course, for some reason he didn’t find the option of another traverse as exciting as us. we went back to the cave only to be told we will be going back to kmc early. Oli was overjoyed.

On the journey back we chatted jokingly about the slips and falls of our groupmates as we went back to kmc and washed the salt water off of the gear we had used (so it didn’t become damaged.) After getting washed and changed into fresh clothes we grouped up again (of our own volition), and organised a game of manhunt (hide and seek + tag) with the eight members of our group. We used the grounds of the kent mountain centre as our hiding places as one of us (Jaan at first, then me.) set out to find and catch the others who were most probably hiding behind trees or rocks. We were joined by the other groups (who’d actually got back at a reasonable time) to make our game more exciting. This carried on into the early evening until we went for dinner (Macaroni Cheese or Spaghetti Bolognese) After dinner. Here we are.

Archie Tait and Jaan Richards

Moel Hebog

Posted on | By Mr Alderson

Woohoo. Hallowe’en. Brilliant. Such a useful holiday. We’re all wearing werewolf masks as we write this.
And now I’ve got the Hallowe’en stuff out of the way…
Last night Sam was on the climbing wall as Jacob Hyland was accidentally pulled up by a much heavier Sam and I was doing problem-solving again in evening activities where my group was victorious in both lassoing a ‘bomb’ and moving seven people and a bucket full of water across two raised platforms with nothing but a rope. And after that we had lots of fun (read: I had lots of fun) when half the group was blindfolded and the other half had to lead them through trees.
After that point we all went into the common room to watch War Of The Worlds. I left fairly early and tried to sleep, but rest assured, my roommates kept me awake and updated when they came back.
This morning I woke up at God knows when and had to help lay the tables for breakfast and hand out eggy bread, sausages and spaghetti hoops. Everyone watched Ben and Holly’s Magic Kingdom/Peppa Pig for a bit (a unanimous decision, clearly) before we went to our various meeting places to find out about the day’s activities.
Our group was… overjoyed… to find that we would be expected on Friday to complete a walk all on our own with no instructors, just a map. Simon claimed this was to teach us teamwork; he is lying. He simply wants a lie-in.
Our walk today started in a village I can neither spell nor pronounce (I suspect the Welsh language was made up whilst someone was drunk) and passed over three miniature railways towards the hill of Moel Hebog. Almost everyone was tired and lost after ten minutes so Simon decided to show no mercy and make us walk at least another twenty minutes before we stopped. It was during this stop that Mr White treated us to his Harry Potter reviews and asked us about dreams jobs and families (Mr White’s family actually owns the American President’s house).
After an incredibly windy and slippy climb up to the top (if you see any random bloodstains on Welsh mountains, now you know why) we embarked on an even slippier and windier climb to the bottom where six of us fell over. The two adults were no help; “No, no, no, we’re not helping you get back, you need to learn navigation and decision-making.”
Over the course of our return journey, we found a wood and argued constantly over which way to go. How many times did we need to go right? Two. How many times did we actually go right? Three. How many times did Alex Mundy threaten to ‘become adventurous’ and go off on his own? God only knows. How many times did Devon complain he needed to poo? See above. Not that I like to argue with people who sing whilst peeing in the middle of woods, but…
We managed to get back eventually and didn’t do much until tea when we all had either Macaroni and Cheese or Pasta Bolognese. Which did I have, I pretend to hear you ask? Both. I couldn’t just let two meals go to waste, now could I?
And that is how we got to now, give or take one or two vital bits. And now if you’ll excuse us, we’re going to go and try to convince Mr Alderson that he promised us a reward for doing this.

By Jamie Raven and Sam Eapen

Evening Activities

Posted on | By Mr Taylor

During the evenings, the students are split into groups, so that everyone has a chance to write a blog, everyone has a chance to go to the Beacon climbing centre, and everyone has a chance to conduct some of the problem solving exercises within the KMC grounds.

Hopefully you have read some of the blogs…..here are a few pictures from some of the evening activities….

 

Moel Siabod

Posted on | By Mr Taylor

After our breakfast which consisted of Bacon, Scrambled Eggs and Smiley Potatoes, we made our way onto the minibus, which was accompanied by Lola demonstrating how if someone mentions a single word, she can think of and sing a song that consists of that word (for example, if someone said the word sheep, she would burst out and belt ‘Bah Bah Black Sheep’ at the top of her voice.)
After our 15 minute long musical minibus ride, we arrived by a hotel and started to embark on our walk to the mountain (not even climbing it yet!) We went up a very steep path and on our travels we witnessed lots of sheep being herded off of the hill and into their pens. We carried on walking for 20 minutes until we reached a flat raised area in front of a lake at the valley by our mountain,where we sat down and had a snack.
After our 10 minute break, we climbed aside a slate pile, Mollie had a wonderful climb, considering that she fell into a bog and got covered in mud. Thankfully, (for her) her leggings were Annabel’s (Poor Annabel when she found out!) After everyone finished laughing at her, Will helped her out of her predicament.
Once we finished climbing up the slate pile, we arrived at a waterfall where Olli and Will kept throwing rocks into the water, on our way around , about to go up, Olli found an old abandoned mine shaft entrance, but it was too unsafe to go in.
After that, we started scrambling up some rocks, which meant we had started ascending properly up the mountain. After a short climb up the rocks, we took a quick break which ended with us all having a conversation with our instructor, Emma, about the scenery in the distance, this included an old nuclear power station, which springed out conversation into talking about fracking and electric cars.
After this short break, we started climbing up and around rocks most of the way up of our mountain. On our climb, we encountered two different paths up the mountain that we could take, one easy and one hard. Everyone decided to take the hard way up as it was more of a challenge for us. One of these was a few ‘steps’ that went up to the next area we were heading. The other was a concave gap in the rock that we climbed.
After everyone reached this point, we all carried on following our instructor up the mountain which was very tiring and demanded all of our energy that we had. After climbing practically vertically for around 15 minutes, we arrived at a small flat platform with a deadly ledge at the side that dropped straight down to the waterfall mentioned earlier. After another painfull climb, we finally reached our final point before we got the summit. After a short walk up a rocky, icy hill, we finally reached the chilly summit of the Moel Siabod.
On the summit which was 872 meters from sea level, we finished the rest of our packed lunches. Here, Will climbed onto the edge of a ledge overlooking the mountain, (certainly scaring our instructor!) After a long 15 minute break, and being plummeted by Jaan throwing snow like it was Christmas, we started walking towards where we came from, but took a slight detour to get back down. At first, it was a gentle, easy angled slope that we walked down for a while, but we arrived at a more steep slope, with many streams, icy rocks and holes in the ground full of deep water. For around half an hour, we tried (in some cases failed) to keep steady on our feet, this was even harder for Jaan as he was being ‘chased’ by a small, harmless dog that belonged to the family that was behind us. Walking down, we tried to dodge Ollis and Wills ice sheets being plummeted down the hill. Luckily for those not wanting to be struck by ice, Olli stormed ahead and made it down the the bottom of the slope around 5 minutes before us all, but the walking still wasn’t over. With sore legs, ankles and feet, we stuck to the path and carried on walking through some fields, inhabited by many sheep. Olli and Will certainly enjoyed these sheep as they were chasing them around, and Will even hid in the grass trying to become one of them. After hopping over many styles, we finally recognised where we were and ended up on the path that we were earlier, passing the sheep pens, up a small slope and down winding dirt track. Afterwards, we headed down our final hill, which was the worst as we were all aching from the activities beforehand. From there it was a small five minute walk back to our minibus and a journey that seemed much longer than it was on the way there. This was our second mountain climb at KMC.

By Harry Dunk and Grace Maskell

Bog Attack

Posted on | By Mr Alderson

Hello and welcome to our amazing blog. Today was full of eventful and funny moments, which we would like to share with you.

Starting off the day expecting to wake up at 6:50 am, Libby’s alarm clock was the wake up call for all the girls. Ms Webster poked her head through Keira and Libby’s dorm to wake us up as the alarm clock wasn’t set!! This morning we all went into the common room to watch some exciting milkshake shows, at 8.00 the time everyone had been waiting for was BREAKFAST!!!!. We had Bacon, scrambled egg and potato smiley faces 🙂 🙂 It was around 9.00 when all the groups were called into their meeting rooms for a daily plan of the day. Snowflakes were told that today we were visiting 2 summits Glyder Fawr and Gylder Fach.

We got our mercedes ( fresh whip ) waiting for keith ( my g ) to come and drive us to our located area. Sadly Keith did not turn up! We were sat for 10 minutes expecting him to take us.Nevertheless Mr Alderson went to find Keith and found out he drove of with another group ( rude ). Mr Alderson drove our van up to the windy carpark which we came across Keith, He took our merc and drove it to our ending point.

We set off at 10.15 ( the exact same time as yesterday ) to climb a rocky-ish hill. We all thought that we were climbing a huge mountain however we got to the top and saw a huge huge mountain towering over us. Mr Alderson stopped us all to reveal we had a little challenge which was to lead and discover a safe but exciting route. Mabel lead the Snowflakes down a boggy-ish pathway to a red dot. The red dots showed us a route which would help us reach the first summit Glyder Fawr. Then Keira took over up some rocks which we all remember hurt and ached our body’s!. We all were at the point where Joe was about to take over when we realised we had lost Tyrone ( Lil T aka Dom M ) .

Joe Lead the group up a S shaped path which confused most of the group and made most of us moan as we were in pain. It had many steep moments but some easy-ish moments and great views. We eventually thought that we were at the top again but believe it or not there was another massive mountain that we had to climb. We had lost Tyrone again who was caught up by two fellow walkers which greeted him.

At around 2 hours worth of walking we reached the top of the first summit where we ate our lunch. We had Penguin Bars!!!!! Unluckily Mabel dropped hers in the snow lol! Libby started complaining saying she was cold even though she had 6 layers on.

We walked across the top of Gylder Fawr to find snow! we were all so surprised and excited!!!!!! Mr Alderson walked on whilst we all had a snowball fight, Mabel and Joe started eating it! ( it was really refreshing as annabel kept saying ) We carried on walking up to find what we thought was a lord of the rings scene but turned about to be our second summit Glyder Fach.

Walking across away from Fach we were heading towards cantilever a rock Mr Alderson claimed that it was so scary which freaked Libby out! We got some photos which looked very cool when we saw them.

As we came of the Cantilever we faced a lot of rocks we had to pass to reach flatter land.We found this very tiring but adventurous, we all saw some muddy grass which we thought would be fun to explore and walk through. Eventually it ended in disaster Mabel fell in and moments Megan tripped and almost went face first into the bogs. At this point we had lost Dom P to so we all waited for him, in result to this we lost Sir. We carried on walking over the grassy bogs to find a corner where Mr Alderson was eating his pickle and cheese roll!

After our little rest we all got up to walk down a big hill which was rocky and very scary. We came across a waterfall which looked very fascinating.

We got to the bottom of the mountain where we found a load of bogs. We all thought it would be safe to walk through the bogs but no. Firstly Mabel falls straight through a bog which went up to her knees she was drenched. Next up Keira thought it was a shallow bog she walked through it and fell once again. After warning everyone it was full of bogs Megan walked into the same deep dirty bog Keira fell into. Megan fell so far into it Joe had to help her out but Joe being the nice person he is thought he pulled Megan out but he flipped her over into another Bog! Finally she got out and we carried on our adventure. We went over a bridge where Libby thought she was going to fall into the river below.

After Many hours of walking ( around 25,000 steps according to Mabel’s Fitbit ) we reached our mercedes! We were Very dirty cold and wet. Mr Alderson took a photo of Keira Mabel and Megan’s dirty boots and joggers.

We got back safe and sound too see all the other groups soaked from there activities.

Thank you for reading our blog and we hope your having a good day.

By Megan Enright and Keira Hulks

Cold gorge Afon Ddu

Posted on | By Mr Alderson

We started out by eating breakfast at 7.45 were there were option of bacon,smiley fries, scrambled eggs, pain au chocolat and a selection of cereals we then headed into the common room for a meeting with our team instructor,mary, who told us what we should pack and wear. we assembled in the courtyard to collect our wellington boots, helmets, belt and life jacket.
we got in to the mini van and left at around 10.10 the journey took around 45 minutes. we stopped near the beginning of the gorge and dismounted the mini van and tried on our: belt,helmet and life jacket. before we entered the gorge we had a small safety briefing that covered the basics of gorge climbing we were told that the gorge was a SSSI (special site of scientific interest) this basically meant that there are some area were rare plant and species were thriving so therefore we were not permitted the enter these areas.

Our instructor lead us through the gorge which was wet, slippery and rocky. The rocks in the gorge were greasey with the slime that was transported from the top of gorge.Our instructor told us exactly were to go and were to not go because you will slip into the water which was very cold. Near the beginning our instructor toke us through the “elephants bottom” which were two boulders that were jammed together at there tops. We had to crawl through the hole between the boulders (that was very small) and we had to shimmy through and exit out the other side of the boulders through the opening at the top. We then stopped 10 minutes later for a short lunch break and continued up the gorge until our instructor told us to drink out of a very small waterfall which had pure water. We continued on. She then stopped us again and told us to eat little things that looked like four leafed clovers but when you grind them up in your teeth the taste like the the skin of Granny smith apples.

When we were nearing the end of the gorge we were told that we were to pair up and clip on to the rope that our instructor knotted up. One person went in front and one went at the back and when the rope had straightened in the direction of our instructor ( who was waiting at the top of the waterfall). We then had to hold the ropes for the others whilst they climbed up to join us. Right at the end of the gorge we were given the opportunity to jump into the plunge pool which engulfed you completely and was very cold.

When we exited the gorge the boys had to walk into the forest and take off our wet things and put on our dry things that we kept in the mini van and we returned to the centre and ate dinner.

By Liam Cowdery and Christopher Plichta

Freezing water

Posted on | By Mr Alderson

Today was the second day of our trip and we were woken up at 7:00 by Ms. Webster. Some of us had a shower before breakfast while others were too cold and couldn’t be bothered to get out of bed. The options for breakfast were bacon, scrambled eggs and potato faces or pan au chocolat yogurt and fruit. After breakfast most people went into the common room to watch some interesting and exciting TV – Pablo on CBeebies. Although soon we had to meet our group *The Raindrops* in our designated area which is the staff room.
Our leader is called Simon and we have Mr. White as his assistant. In our group we have Savannah, Paige, Charlotte, Alex, Oscar, Devon and Sam. We were told what we would be doing and the clothes we had to wear. We were told to have a complete set of spare clothes, a towel and waterproof trousers as we might get wet near the end. When everyone was ready we met each other in the store shed to collect some snazzy gear to prevent death!
Once we had finished we got on the minibus for our 45-minute journey to the beach. On the bus we played games and Paige read a book. Soon we arrived at our destination and walked to the edge of the cliff, and started to put on the harnesses, while Simon set up the rope along the face of the cliff and Alex and Oscar put our lunch barrel somewhere safe. After travelling along the rock we encountered a gap that stretched over the water. We then all watched Simon set up the tiny zip line but to accomplish this he had to attempt a jump across the gap. This failed and resulted in him getting wet feet and legs. Everyone laughed and Mr. White got an action shot of the jump.
Next all of us had to go across the rope; however we had harnesses with carabiners attached to the line so it was less likely for us to get wet, even though some of us still did. Mr. White didn’t lift his legs high enough and got his feet and a patch on his bum bum wet. By now it was around lunch time and we were all really hungry so we climbed up towards where we left the food and enjoyed our packed lunch which contained a sandwich, which could either be cheese, tuna mayo or peanut butter, a penguin biscuits (which were mostly melted and someone read out the joke which started a trend and everyone joined in), a piece of fruit if you took one, a pack of raisins, our bottle of water or juice and a cake with a cherry on top. Mr White ate Paige’s cherry and when Savannah gave hers to Charlotte he threatened to push her off the cliff (which he didn’t!).

Whilst we ate our lunch Simon set up a bigger, higher and longer zip line for us to cross, this one wasn’t so close to the water so no one could fall in. Alex got on top of the rope and attempted to crawl across, however this didn’t work very well, Devon and Savannah tried to flip on top as well, but failed miserably. Simon created an obstacle course to follow on from the line. Once we reached the top of the cliff Simon quickly collected all of the rope and jingly bits that were used to support us on the faces of the cliff, we had to organise it all. We then got told to remove our harnesses for a surprise!
Simon led us down near the bottom of the rocks, to the edge of the water and we could jump off of the smallest ledge first if we wanted to, and afterwards if we wanted we could progress to a higher ledge. Alex, Jamie, Devon, and Mr. White chose not to participate in the jumps whereas everyone else was brave enough to have a BASH!
Simon asked who wanted to go first and Savannah bravely offered to take the first jump. After that everyone followed her lead. The water was absolutely freezing and our clothes got soaked! Even Sam who can’t swim had a go and was able to not drown. By this time we only had 20 minutes to get changed and in the bus.
We were then told to get changed behind a bush and the boys did the same on the other side of the bus. This was probably the most difficult part of the day! As our clothes were soaking wet and our hands were numb it was really hard to get into our spare clothes. Whilst we were getting ready a little boy with his mother, two dogs and a horse walked past when we were naked with only towels around us. Quickly we scrambled onto the bus dripping with salt water and messy hair! The ride home was really uncomfortable but in the end we had no regrets and could safely say that “it wasn’t us”. This was an inside joke involving: Alex, Paige, Savannah, Jamie and Charlotte. Basically the 3 girls (at the back) made up a game where they tap Alex on the back and pretended nothing happened. We found this really funny as he had no idea who it was. And Jamie distracted him as the taps continued. We convinced him that he needed a therapist however he claimed his mum took this position.
When we got back to the centre we had to dunk all the kit in cold water, this wasn’t good as our hands were cold, eventually dunking our own clothing and moving them to the dry room. We moved up to our dorms and were suddenly informed that a room inspection was going to happen in the next five minutes. We panicked! And then we cleaned our rooms as fast as possible.
We had dinner which was a choice of pizza or jacket potato and were both good and yummy. Sam started asking Savannah and Charlotte whether they knew who it was that was poking Alex on the bus, but they wouldn’t give in and said it was nobody lol. After dinner we chose who did the blog and here we are now, WOOOOOOO!

By Paige Austen & Savannah Day

The three Fat Hills

Posted on | By Mr Alderson

Welcome snowflakers. Here you will get all the gossip and details of our trip . Today we went to three fat mountains where we were putting our lives at risk. (joking, although Mr Alderson did say it was more dangerous than the Broadstairs road before school). After an hour of CBeebies we finally set off on our travels. After ditching the van so the Sunbeams could steal it for later, we trekked up a hugeee road that we could’ve easily driven up in our fresh Mercedes whip, but ‘chose’ not to as that would ‘ruin’ the fun of the trip. Along the road we crossed a spikey cattle grid into a field of wild sheep, and being the mature grammar school students that we are we repeatedly made bahhh noises at them, hoping they would do it back as a sign of friendship. Once we had arrived at the bottom of our first scramble, we stopped to spot a very interesting rain gauge , that Mr Alderson struggled to open, while the rest of the snowflakes enjoyed a ‘quick’ water stop in which Dom realized that he had picked up a different backpack, hence why there were magically a hat and gloves in the bottom of the bag when he had claimed he wasn’t given one by the Centre . Fortunately for Dom he now had Oscar’s pair of warm mittens and hat whilst Oscar in the raindrops group suffered without. After staring the mountain up and down a few times, we all came to a joint decision that we will not make it down the stairs to our CBeebies marathon tomorrow morning due to the pain in our lower calves. And so we began.
Our first expedition was a rocky one to say the least. the beginning was a deep, grassy incline, but as the altitude grew, rocks (bigger than our futures ) appeared in front of us. Immediately we started scrambling up the snowy rocks, clinging on for dear life peering down at the vertical mountain face we were climbing up. When we reached the top of our first summit (Carnedd y Filliast) we looked down on the puddle of ice we previously stopped at, where we had flung shards of broken ice at the already frozen pond.(see video).
After a five minute stop to have a bite of our flapjacks , we carried on to our next summit (Mr Alderson wasn’t very impressed with this one and it shouldn’t be counted as its very poor ) But nevertheless we were told we were climbing three summits today, so we were going to climb three summits today , just to show off haha.
Our next explore included skinny paths and sheer drops. We took off confidently but that soon faded after realising what lied ahead. At this point it was when Keira realised that she had lost her so called precious orange which was later found in the girls drying room alone and non edible due to the amount of feet that had trodden on it with muddy hiking boots. After a terrifying tightrope act we arrived at the base of a rocky climb that led us to the summit of Elidir Fawr. Scrambling up the snowy rocks we reached our destination to eat our delicious lunch.
On our rather difficult descent we slid down the rocky edge as handfuls of icy snow were launched at fellow snowflakes praying for a head shot. After a large number of falling on our behinds we finally reached what we thought was the end of our adventure, but no, we were wrong … very very wrong.
We approached a desolate quarry with disappointment with how much further we had to walk. However when we got started it was fascinatingly factual and we all learnt a lot about the past use of the welsh workers in the now abandoned quarry. Thousands of steps passed by as our stiff walking boots rubbed against our tootsie rolls, but finally we arrived at the road that led to a few benches that we waited at for Mr Aldersons ‘treat’. We started guessing what it could be and many guesses were wrong, but Annabel hit the nail on the head- we were getting a ride home to the centre, instead of a mile trek back to civilisation where our comfy beds laid, patiently waiting for us to flop into, after the days events. however we quickly realised that sirs ‘treat’ wasn’t just for our benefit, he also had a very important staff meeting that involved cake.
Overall, we had a brilliant first day, but we are glad to be going to bed soon.
Thanks for reading our blog, peace out from Libby and Mabel.

Libby Pritchard and Mabel Naisbitt

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