Today we practiced managing groups in steep terrain. Our aim was to get to the top of Moel-yr-Hyde 648m in the safest, but most interesting way. We walked only 5.3 km with a 450m of ascent. This mountain loomed over us as we walked towards it from the minibus. It did look a bit daunting.
The beginning section we all took it in turns to choose a route and demonstrate how we would manage a group attempting the same route, ensuring our own and their safety. This was interesting and really demonstrated how people can get out of their depth whilst out walking and ending with quite serious injuries or even fatalities.
As we accented the mountain the tarrain became more and more challenging, being shown at every stage the hazards, but also ways to make a group excited to be outdoors.
We climbed through gaps which boulders had formed almost getting stuck. We accented through a tunnel left from the mining days and entered the ruins of all the mining buildings.
we had to continuously assess our route up through the rocks so we were protected from the gusts of wind bringing temperatures of -6. We finished our accent with a steep grassy slope and 2 false summits offering us incredible views over to snowdon.
The accent involving a large amount of scrambling aggravated my back pain and left pelvis bone. Pain forcing me to take maximum pain killers before our decent. My skin felt like I had grazed my legs and arms. Memories of my last decent off of rocks instilled a fair bit of anxiety in me as I viewed the massive drops below. My legs were weak causing my muscles to tremble. But with good leadership I regained my confidence and descended through a crevice and led my team off of the mountain down onto the lake.
An incredible day out enjoying the mountain. This is certainly somewhere we will come back to. Moel-yr-Hyde holds Beautiful views and is very rich in heritage. A perfect place to return to.
Walking to health; the challenge 