Snowy ground, cloudy skies in the Brecon Beacons

Saturday 14 January 2017

With more snow in the Brecon Beacons, I had to get up high and have a walk. I wanted to go as high as I could, all the way up Pen Y Fan. Now of course, snow and a weekend meant plenty of other people had the same idea. Most people climb Pen Y Fan from the Storey Arms - a route I've still not done as it seems so busy and that's not why I head for the hills. Instead I did a much bigger walk (described below the photos), for the majority of which I saw very few people.

The day started with some sunshine and a little warmer than forecast, staying just above freezing, although with a strong wind on some of the edges. I had taken an ice axe and crampons, but there was no need for them on the soft and deep snow. Later on I used microspikes, which helped me speed past many of the heavily laden Fan Dance competitors on the compacted snow climbing steeply up to Pen Y Fan.