Winter Flying
An early start saw me heading up onto the Gribin Ridge from Ogwen this morning. I left the car at 7:00am having survived the ice coated roads from home - it was one of those mornings when the car doors are all frozen shut. Walking uphill with a head torch, under a sky fall of stars with the crunch of the snow under foot is one of life’s simple pleasures. As I gained height the snow depth made progress slow and I was consistently disappearing upto my waist as the breakable crust gave way beneath me. What would normally take an hour took 90 minutes and I watched the sky change colour as a muted sunrise saw me approaching the football pitch on Y Gribin. A thin layer of cloud sat over the Glyderau and it was easy to justify flying from where I was - instead of continuing upto the plateau. Ten minutes of smooth flying, swooping over the lakes of Bochclwyd and Idwal, saw me back at the car park - warming my toes and glad of a hot brew.
