Well, there was still a bit of snow up last weekend, surprisingly deep in places.

This weekend shows a little promise, but not until Sunday, from when there's a chance of seeing yet more snow on the hills.

I doubt this weekend will get them dancing, but there's promise of more white stuff soon!!!

Wet on Saturday, with clearer and colder weather coming through on Sunday with snow showers. The following week however, looks particularly interesting, so the first weekend in March could be one to watch. I'm off to the Lakes, all being well, so keeping a close eye on this!

Ok, here’s the pack with all the gear in it bar the torch. I’m replacing the tarp and bivvy, they’re in the post along with the torch, and expect the weight to be comfortably under the 2.3kilo mark. Will be measuring the lot with a spring scale.

In fact, i’m not sure what to include in the last 300g of spare weight? Suggestions on the back of a fiver to the email below.....

Base weight, how low can you go? I’ll get my pertex coat.....

Ok, this isn’t something for the Winter months, but i’ve got to have something to look forward to once there’s no chance of snow.

Looking online for a rough definition of what pack weight is classed as i’ve found the following. <9.1 kilos is lightweight (this is probably around what i carry on a winter camp!) <4.5 Kg is Ultralightweight <2.3 Kg is Superlighweight

These are base pack weights - so they include all your carried equipment (tent, spare clothes, stove etc.) but exclude what you’re wearing and consumables (food and fuel)/ Of course, one can wear all of the clothing and cook the books in that way (unless you leave the stove at home). Walking poles are often counted as ‘worn’ as well - so there’s a lot of number juggling involved.

So my mission, if i choose to accept it, is to superlightweight in Snowdonia sometime in the spring/summer. With that sort of packweight though, something’s got to be sacrificed be it cooked food, comfort or a lot of money. I’m determined to do so without spending a fortune as i could easily buy a sleeping bag 300g lighter than mine. The weather’s also got to be pretty fine, as I’ll not be carrying much in the way of spare clothing. So around 4 degrees at night should be OK.

The pack’s been bought, only £15 and a decent little thing at 305g. I’m getting my shelter next, for not much more. So far I’ve got the pack weight to just over 2kilos, to which I’ll add a few odds and sods (i can fit all those into the 200g I’ve got spare!). The weight also assumes that I’m not sharing any gear - it’s going to be a solo weight. Splitting it in 2 is far too easy! Likewise, I’ve got to be able to prepare hot food.

To test this - i reckon that a 3 day trip - medium level, in late spring should be a sufficient test. Something like the Eryri Way from Penrhyndeudraeth to Conwy, around 75km should do the trick. In fact, if rain is promised then I’ll be even more comfortable as I’ll just wear Paramo waterproofs for the duration (worn = don’t count!)

I know I said there might be a bit of snow on top, and it might be more of an annoyance than anything else, but look at the pictures below.

Not a lot to be seen today.

This was taken yesterday during a little bimble up the North Carneddau. I thought the shelter was at first, completely snowed in as the mist was so thick. I shan't admit to having arrived at Foel Grach, when I was meant to be heading in the opposite direction towards Foel Fras. In my defence, I thought i was following the standing stones that mark the path. This they certainly do, but of course, in both directions.

I don't think there's a single time in mist where I haven't been 100% certain of the route off Garnedd Uchaf. I'll definitely remember that I'll need to follow a bearing of 40 degrees to get to Fras from now on!

I found a pair of glasses on Bera Mawr yesterday.

Email me with a description and I'll post em.

If you find anything in the Snowdonia hills, I'm more than happy to put a post on here to reunite people with their possessions.

For the first time, I must admit that I’ve looked longingly at some gear by those darlings of the disposable camper, Gelert. I’ve bought a 500ml pan that i want to use to make bannock bread, and at 85g this is 5g less than the MSR Ti Kettly thing without a lid (though i can only measure to the nearest 5g). At £1.99 who said light weight had to be expensive! -image here - but Gelert don’t allow linking to their images.. Their loss! Click on link below instead- What really caught my eye was the Intensity Mini Folding Gas Stove that is essentially an MSR Pocket Rocket clone. I was surprised that it only weighs in at 87g as well considering it isn’t titanium (it’s made of an alloy of Magnesium and Stainless Steel). At £15 it looks like it will do the job, but the supports felt flimsy compared to the Pocket Rocket.

The Genuine Pocket Rocket - at twice the price!

Then they’ve got the Inferno folding remote stove. I’m sure this looks like another stove I’ve seen, but cannot identify but they all seem to look vaguely similar anyway. It’s not as light as it could be at 340g, but at £25 I doubt there’s a cheaper remote canister gas stove for winter use. Will post pics when i get hold of this for my next winter camp.

It does seem to me that, like the much maligned Skoda, Gelert might finally be producing kit that’s a serious alternative to the premium brands in much the same way as Alpkit have been doing for the last few years. One interesting challenge would be to go on a 3 day trip using nothing but the cheapest gear. Maybe a £50 budget?

testing mobile internet from Samsung NC10 with N95 as a modem...

I Don't Believe it! Richard Wilson, new TV series, Britain's Best Drives on BBC4 includes an episode on Snowdonia. I'm wondering how sensitive the programme will be, considering that it's encouraging even more cars into the National Park. I suppose i musn't grumble, as it's better than watching the Clarkson devastate some innocent peatbog in a 4x4.

There's precious few quiet areas left in this country, even from the Rhinogydd you can see and hear Friday night traffic snaking it's way down the A470 to Cardiff. Just don't get me started on the noise caused by bikes!

Considering that we probably won't have any buses soon, then this TV programme might even become essential viewing for anyone wanting to know how to get to the start of any walk as he appears to be following the Sherpa bus route around the Snowdon Massif. I wonder if he got stuck behind the bus/tractor/gawking tourist going at 20mph and pointing at everything (delete as applicable) to get that authentic mid-summer A4085 experience.

p>Rest of the stuff. I carried all the gear in the OMM Villain pack. This isn’t really big enough for this sort of trip. The sleeping bag is a bit on the bulky side, and the down mat takes up the remaining space. An Alpkit Filo jacket also took up space but I couldn’t have done without it. As usual, Paramo Aspira jacket and trews were worn and performed well except for the poppers on the side of the trousers continually opening. For a £150 pair of trousers I expect perfection and will be looking to modifying the poppers with an actual old fashioned button. A fleece and yak wool hat from Nepal and sealskin waterproof gloves were enough to keep the cold away. Your hands tend to get cold using poles, and the Leki Ultralight poles have given me months of loyal service but are starting to look pretty tatty as the pole length markers are all but worn off. Meindl Burma boots do the job well for this sort of walk and as it was dry didn’t freeze solid overnight like last time. Merino wool warm socks with some thinnish outer walking socks kept my feet warm enough. I don’t think trail shoes would have been wise, the ground being frozen solid meant I twisted my ankles many times during the trip and clambering over icy boulders I could stabilise myself by jamming a foot between rocks often up to my ankles.

Nothing but a decent head torch will suffice for me, and the Petzl Myo3 is a good balance of weight and performance. It’s good enough for night walking, so it’s a vital piece of hill kit for winter day walks where ending the walk in the dark is often the norm. It also takes AA batteries, which any gear I take must also take. That means I can take my camera batteries if need be and use them in my head torch or GPS. In winter I carry a set of Lithium batteries as well as they don’t get affected by the cold.

A Nokia N95 was useful as an MP3 player, radio and for a bit of web browsing. On my last wild camp I managed to post on the blog with it. Soon I’ll be getting an Asus EEE 901 which may be my luxury item on summer wild camps (review soon). I always use my Garmin GPSmap 76c to log the walk and it also gives a much quicker idea if we’re off path or not. If they don’t match up, then the map is straight out. The Fuji Finepix S9600 is bulky but I wouldn’t go on a trip like this without being able to take a decent photographic record.

What I didn’t use. Paramo mountain top – great fleece that’s also a base layer so counted as spare fleece and layer. First aid kit with whistle– few odds and sods only. Spare batteries weren’t used, but essential. Sunglasses were taken, but the sun wasn’t quite strong enough. I also had sealskin mittens and Paramo long johns that I just didn’t need, but I was glad that they were.

What I didn’t take, but wished I had? I could have done with a Complan for breakfast. I’d not been able to get to a shop to buy this over the busy holiday period and suffered a bit on the second day. One of these would have made a nice pudding in the evening as the meal left me craving something sweet but not chocolate. A windproof would have been my top of choice on the warmer second day if I’d been able to fit it in my pack! Definitely a better set of headphones for my Nokia and a decent portable radio as the N95 has an atrociously poor battery life. I can’t replace it with an MP3 player as I’m yet to see a decent one that takes AA batteries and they all require wall sockets to charge and proclaim is as a useful feature. Other than that, I was happy that the gear did the job well and that there was minimal dead wood. The rucksack needs to be larger for a longer trip in similar conditions though. Weight wise you could drop this down a kilo or so with a lighter bag, but for a significant price. The OMM Villain isn’t the lightest pack either, but it’s comfortable and I’d stick to this rather than go completely minimal. I think if I’d have cut weight down with most of the other gear then I’d have lost comfort at best or at worst I’d have had the wrong gear for the conditions at hand and suffered badly.

A rough estimate is that the pack weight was somewhere in the region of 8 kilos without counting the camera (non-essential) or the poles (as they’re’worn’). Of course, the rest of the worn gear adds a lot of weight as does the food – but on the net pack weights are usually stated without consumables (gas, water, food) or items worn (inc boots). The full weight of my gear would have been much higher, and this’Skin out’ weight included my waterproofs. In seeking lower weights I cannot see how any lighter gear would have performed as good as the Paramo, which at this time of year really does count as a lightweight choice. Aspira Trousers (850g) and the Jacket (840g) count as an insulation and a waterproof layer for the entire body, worn just with decent baselayers are enough for walking in this weather, you know you’ll be dry and warm. I might have got away with lighter clothing but had the weather changed I might not (definitely on the Saturday, normal walking trews and a windproof would have been OK). So it depends how much risks you like to take! You might go up Snowdon in January with t-shirts and flip flops and survive, it doesn’t mean it was a wise course of action.

Right. First thing you need to know, most of the snow's gone. There might be some remaining on sheltered paths, but any that's there is likely to be more of a hindrance than fun.

Weekend Forecast.
High pressure's bringing plenty of cloud, with a high chance of some inversions on Saturday. It also seems at this stage that Saturday's going to have the drier, finer weather, with Sunday being cloudier, with some drizzle. On the upside, there's a chance of snow showers on Sunday on the very highest tops.

The one thing that's almost as good as snow, an inversion!

Summary.
Head for the highest tops on Saturday and hope for an inversion, sod the snow.

Is it just me, or does anyone who wants a decent weight overnight pack cringe when they see 4 to 5 kilo tents advertised as lightweight! What about an ultralightweight as 2.5kg? For a pack that would be tasty, tent? Hmm... no thanks... Anything 'much' over 2 kilos for 2 people is heavy imho, unless it's a proper, full-on winter tent or rather obviously, designed for more than two people. Basically, if there's extra weight, you need to be getting some extra benefit such as sturdyness or two porches instead of one.

Weighing 1.8kg, this is more like it!

Problem is, many will be drawn in by this 'mis-selling' for their first wild camp and end up carrying far too much weight and give up! Afterall, they bought the 'lightweight' gear, so without quantifying it they may well give it up as a bad job, missing out on some superb outdoors experiences. And as they say, that will be that; unless they develop the lightweight mindset.

What is this 'mindset' i hear you both ask?
1 - Weigh everything! The more of a geek you are, the better. Once you know the weight of everything, but the value of nothing, you'll be half way there.
2 - Leave it behind unless you're certain you'll need it. As said earlier, the value of everything.
3 - Never, I REPEAT NEVER trust anything that's described as lightweight, ultralightweight or similar without checking the weight first! Once you start with no 1 though, you probably don't need to be told about this.
4 - A bit of luxury is essential, so long as it isn't too heavy! This is a lightweight mindset, not a masochistic mindest! Nowt wrong with a bit of Drambuie on a wild camp, it's virtually compulsory!

Some have emailed asking what gear you can use for a winter wildcamp. Here’s my selection of gear. I’ve split it into two posts - one for the ‘big 3’ of shelter, sleep and cooking and the other for the rest of the stuff.

Freezing conditions were expected and the gear below kept me comfortable all night. There was a gusty wind that lasted till midnight, must have been caused by the pass between Rhinog Fach and Y Llethr as it certainly wasn’t forecast. The upside of this was that while wind chill was extremely bad, the temperature didn’t seem to drop as low as we expected.

Tent – Terra Nova Laser (1300g). Ideal weight to space ratio. The porch is just huge on this, but so is the space inside. I could put all my gear in the inner tent to keep them from frost and only kept my water and stove here. The awful carbon fibre pegs were just not up to the job of use on frozen ground and most were broken on removal. Either the copper coloured point remained in the ground on pulling, or the yellow cap on top came off making it impossible to remove. Titanium pegs I had with me were much more suitable, but prone to bend on removal. The tent does tend to be pretty flappy in the wind and despite many pitches, it can still refuse to pitch taut when the ground isn’t perfectly even.

Laser Competition on the Left, full sized Laser on the right.

Sleeping – Old Mountain Equipment Classic Dragon 750 (1400g or so), Exped Down Mat (1000g) and Rab Survival Zone bivvy (350g). The sleeping bag is my extreme weather sac and compares in weight/performance to something like the AlpKit Alpine Dream sac. Stated to be good to -12c it was up to the job if a little heavy. A pipe dream 1000 by Alpkit would be nice and light at 1150g and £150, being good to -17c (with other offerings of similar weight to temperature being much more expensive) but probably not worth the investment with the use it’d get under typical Snowdonia conditions and being only a couple of hundred grams lighter.

The Exped Down mat is heavy and bulky but provides a warm and comfortable night’s sleep. I’ve a ¾ length summer synthetic version (imported from the States and I forget the make!) that’s a paltry 450g but just not cut out for the winter unless you want your feet dangling over the end.

Finally, the bivvy bag might seem like overkill but it does provide an extra layer on the bag that must add a degree or two, and certainly protects the down from any condensation or moisture that’s present in the tent. Bit of a belt and braces approach for a one nighter, but a very wise precaution if you’re out for longer.

Food and Drink – MSR Titanium Kettle (120g), Pocket Rocket (85g) and titanium KFS set (life venture I think, and around 50g). Snow peak Ti mug at 70g and my’rice pouch’. The kettle needs little explanation, it does the job at a great weight but you pay for it. It hold’s 850ml, so has a practical volume of over 750ml. I’ve got a custom made pot cosy for mine, so you can keep the extra water hot for quite a while. The warm water was essential to keep my gas canister from freezing solid. Either I’d put the canister on top of the warm lid, or place it in the lukewarm water to defrost the canister. I reckon that a mild warming of the canister should be OK, but it’s probably one of those’don’t try it at home’ tricks and I’d not recommend it. The pocket rocket is a super piece of kit at a light weight and the KFS set I take in it’s entirety. Some people recommend just a spoon, but I’d rather eat noodles with a pair of tent pegs than try it with a spoon. The fork is usually used, and the knife is useful for spreading things onto oatcakes.

On a morning like this, it’s better to stay in the sleeping bag!

A mug is likewise a bit of a luxury – you can use the kettle for that – but I like to have a drink while my meal’s cooking. This was almost essential on this trip to help warm me up. I had 4 platypus pouches as well – that’s one for a litre of flavoured drinks and then a 1l and a 2l bladder so that I’d have enough water to last me the night. Word of warning though – don’t leave them full of water overnight as they’ll freeze and you’ll end up with 2 kilos of ice you’ll need to carry out! I filled my kettle with water instead and it only had a thin layer of ice by morning (the pot cosy helped this).

My’rice pouch’ cooks proper noodles a treat. I mean the egg noodles, not the nasty 9p stuff that can’t be made of anything decent for that price (add to the 9p the pack of indigestion tablets that inevitably follow and they’re not so cheap for me). These noodles were my carbs for the’look what we found’ gourmet meatballs in tomato sauce pouch. These cost £2.50 each, but are still cheaper than camping food. What surprised me was how tasty they were. I’ve had similar food eating out and you never expect that from convenience food. Compare them to a wayfarers and for a bit more money you get a complete meal, but that includes the rice/pasta. With this you get a full meal, with the addition of a dry component makes it the ideal balance between weight / palatability / calorific content. I normally take a home made curry in a freezer bag for an overnighter which also ticks all the boxes.

The rest of the edibles were chocolate (usually Green and Blacks quality stuff or Lindt if I want milk chocolate) which can be melted into instant hot chocolate for a calorie rich meal in a mug! What has to be emphasised in this weather is that calories are essential to keep you warm. If I feel cold, I drink and eat a bit more. This is the only time I tend to eat pork pies, the buffet varieties packing in 300 calories of pure fat and protein. Of course, jelly babies bolster this when you need a bit more oomph on that steep uphill.

Sugar rush...mmmm.....

Popped up the PYG on Saturday. Snow was still hard in places, but was increasingly wet and slippery. Some were even climbing the snow gullies. Only three ill-equipped walkers on the PYG today, three guys, one pack between them and no winter gear (borderline line they had a flask). Was told at the summit they'd asked for directions down the Watkin. Again, surprised there were no serious incidents.
Some pics.

It’s funny how these thngs work out. I updated Garmin Mapsource last week as i was trying to put the Edale maps on and it decided it didn’t like the SMC maps anymore. So faced with a reinstall, i came across this on uk.rec.walking - Garmin Map Overlays.

Following the instructions on their site, i was able to install the maps quite painlessly onto my Garmin. The only thing is you’ve got to guess what mapping you need, but for more up to date GPS devices you’ll just install the lot. Me, i’m limited to 115MB, and i’ve got most of England and Wales on (and probably all the contours!)

SendMap is pretty simple to use

And the resulting maps on your Garmin, look good.

And similar shots from Garmin TOPO

I’ll add comparative shots for the OSM data soon.

'

Talking about Sherpas, take at look at these three who intend to spend 24 hours on top of Everest.

Top marks if you can spot what brand of 'British tent' they'll be kipping in. Stuffed if i can work out what model it is though.

Best of luck to them.

According to this link, the useful Sherpa buses are to finish after March as the Assembly withdraw their funding. It remains to be seen what real effect this will have on the service as it sounds like the first to blink will end up paying for it.

If the service is curtailed, or stopped then it will be a big blow to north Snowdonia. What they need is a more frequent service, so that you're not stranded for hours on end until the next bus or rushing down the mountain to get the only bus for ages (or the final one).

We've definitely had snow on even the lower hills over the last few weeks, but what had fallen on the lower tops seems to have blown off! 6-700m the snow was barely a dusting, while the drifts were found at sheltered points nearer the base of the hills. Snow levels have now established themselves to the taller 15 Peaks, with still patchy cover being visible this morning even down to 4-500m.

If you're looking to avoid the snow, then you'd be hard pressed this weekend as there may still be accumulations lower on the hills, and a certainty of some hard packed snow over 900m on most ranges (Elidir Fawr seems to lose the snow a lot quicker than the others).

Current conditions and tomorrow, still give us a freezing level around 500m, but this is set to to change for the weekend.

While there's likely to be some fresh falls on Saturday, what's there looks set to start thawing over 900m, maybe even all the summits and continue into Sunday.

Summary - Both days look rather cloudy, with Saturday being most likely for rain and snow, and also a better chance of decent summit snow remaining on the ground. Sunday will see the melt continue, but will be dry and very cloudy with the snow melt being well under way. The melt will continue into next week, which looks to be fine and dry for the first half but the chance of snow remaining on higher north-facing areas.

Ideally, would have liked to have got to the top of Yr Wyddfa but time was against us and Moel Cynghorion would have to do. We hoped that the view would open out, but we saw the summit once and that was it.

Partially frozen Llyn Ffynnon y Gwas

Almost white out conditions on top! Thankfully, the snow didn't fall heavy enough for that to happen.

Looking towards Foel Goch and into Maesgwm.

And the video, in Maesgwm. When i finally remembered i can record video on the camera.

Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team have found another body at Clogwyn Coch, at the same spot that the two brothers were found last week. His identity is as yet unknown.

I think that all i need do is quote the LlMRT on the BBC website on this one:

Mr Henderson said: "We would reinforce ours safety message that if you're going onto the mountains in north Wales at the moment, you must be fully competent in winter conditions.

"You must be carrying appropriate kit, be competent navigators and know how to use a compass, an ice axe and crampons."

Yr Wyddfa as it was a few hours ago. Part of Clogwyn Coch is just visible to the far left of the image.

Read the full story here.

I just realised that yesterday was my thirtieth time up Moel Eilio (and probably more!). Still nowhere near my tally of climbing Snowdon. Eilio has always been my convenient walk. It's also the only summit I've climbed from sea level (from Caernarfon). If there's been a few hours spare, then Eilio is the easy option.

I've had a good few days up there, including these from 2006 when the snow was knee deep in places. It was largely blown away yesterday with most of the drifts being at the start of the walk to Bwlch y Groes.

Anyone else got a hill they've climbed a number of times? According to The Angry Corrie, 5000 ascents is the one to beat - see here. I've a fair few to go before I reach that tally, or even to match the 4000 plus ascents that Tom Ward managed up Yr Wyddfa in the 19th century.

Hopefully, as the mountain is such a joy to climb in the evening once all the crowds have gone, I'm sure I'll be getting a score or more in over the coming year.

Hmmm, i don't listen to him myself, but i've been hearing no end about his exploits on 'Mount Snowdon' and how there were boasts that they made it up despite not being that well equipped. Fair dos to him for getting up there, but it turns out that i'm very likely to have passed him as one of the iffy groups last Saturday.

They were the group frantically cutting steps at the base of the zig-zags. Step cutting may be an acceptable way to get up a slope (and their guide obviously thought so) without crampons, but the consequences of a slip are still serious as we unfortunately saw in the tradegy last Sunday. In that light, anyone who thinks they're clever in getting up while not being fully equipped could be seen as being at worst offensive, or at the very least ignorant and mis-informed.
Here's the images - i'll let you decide...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chrismoyles/galleries/4131/1/#gallery4131 (i remember passing this group at the bottom of the Zig Zags)

I'll let you decide...

Though the other media luvvies were obviously taken in that they were 'well equipped'. Clothing wise - yes - they were kitted out in some decent RAB gear, but tooled up for the icy conditions?

I'm still getting funny visions of the "people dressed in nothing more than jumpers that had to be rescued" picturing the scenario of Arran Jumpers and cheap Gelert Fleeces cragfast on the side of Crib Goch. I suggest a visit here and here for whoever wrote that.

After re-arranging the furniture, the snow forecast will be back from next Thursday.

There was a lot of snow around this weekend, but not a patch on what fell over the border. Bimbling up Moel Eilio yeterday found the snow patchy and rather disappointing. At the very least though, lower ranges like Hebog and Nantlle have a winter coat this weekend.

Not really a lot on top...

Further up, on the Carneddau, Glyderau and Yr Wyddfa, there's been snow now for over a week and patchy ice and snow on the path from well before that.

Judging by the weather due for the week, next weekend's looking like a good day for snow worshippers. Lets hope for the perfect combination of a decent snowfall during the week and some cold sunshine for the weekend. Unfortunately, long term forecasts seem to suggest that a melt is most likely for the end of the week.

I've been trying to upgrade the blog to the newest version of the software for many months, but it failed. Finally, the only option is to start again! I'll be posting all my reviews and trip reports on here bit by bit, so hopefully all the useful stuff will be back on here.

All 'topical' material will probably not be placed on again (i.e. forecasts).

Hope the new look is a bit more pleasing on the eye, and i'm quite excited at the prospect of being able to embed youtube vids on here as well.

Fine weather for ducks?!

Yes, the title's probably a truism but I went for a bit of a bimble up Snowdon yesterday and chose the PYG track of all routes. I was hoping for a quick yomp and then off home. Well, from the junction with the Miner's track the path was so thick in old, compacted snow that it was crampon territory all the way to the summit and down to Clogwyn station. Not that you'd have known this from the way the majority ascending were equipped.

One group who were not well equipped on a slope where a slip would have had serious consequences.

I saw only a handful of crampons on the way up, a fair few more ice axes and significantly many more without either of these or even poles. A number of people commented as i passed that the crampons were a good idea as opposed to essential safety equipment in these conditions. While there may well be candidates here for the Darwin Award, i certainly don't want to be taking a quick dip when the gene pool get's its little dose of chlorine. It's the ill prepared who were they to slip, would have taken me with them that annoyed me so much I've had to wait till today to write this post!

I seriously worry for these who've come up with someone who they probably trust, being put in potentially lethal situation and probably without realising it. I'm genuinely surprised (and relieved) that there were no serious MRT incidents. My brother in law had been chatting to a couple of guys who'd tried the Llanberis path that morning and realised as they reached the snow that it was too hairy for them and turned back. That's something a few more people should have done.

Even the Llanberis path has some dangerous slopes in winter. This snow was well packed and needed proper winter gear to traverse safely. A slip would have taken someone towards the railway track below, and if that didn't stop them, to the crags below.

Rant Over!