David and myself set a challenge to climb Cadair Idris and to camp on top for one night but not in summer but in winter.

So we travelled to our starting point in Davids famous bon mini three wheeler car that was also an adventure too.  Arriving just before lunch we parked the car in the field at our starting point.  Then with loaded our heavy rucksacks we set off for the summit taking the south ridge and arriving on the top just one hour before sunset.  Once there one found a very peaceful atmosphere with nobody their, complete silence. We then witnessed a very wintery sunset over the Barmouth Estuary.  We quickly put our mountain tent up first making sure everthing was secure because we were in a very exposed position.  Food was in order and drinks there are no taps and steams so we had to obtain water by melting snow for our stove.  We arranged our sleeping quarters inside unfortunately David realised he’d forgotten his airbed so he was facing not a good nights sleep.  During the night the wind was very strong bringing snow with it in the early hours the wind died down and i found David sleeping on the bottom of my air bed.  Once we were awake we decided to go outside we were faced with a white out and it was extremely cold.  Immediately we melted snow so we could make hot drinks before packing up in an orderly fashion so we could return down the ridge.  The tent became a slight problem as snow and ice had frozen to it creating more wieght to carry down the ridge.  We negotiated the ridge safely and as sods law would have it the sun came out with beautiful blue sky when we reached the cwm but we decided to continue down to the bon mini.  Once there we rolled the mountain tent out with all the snow and ice falling away and we received lots of comments from other climbers who were just starting their days climb.( not mentionable ) We headed home after first having ourselfs a hearty breakfast well satisfied with our adventure. Not to be forgotten.

David