I've just caught wind of the following tent that'll be available soon (not soon enough!). It's a significant drop in weight since the previous Photon, from a porky 720g down to a svelte 560g maximum weight. Terra Nova quote a minimum weight of an astonishing 495g, which knowing TN will be a minimum usable weight including a quorum of pegs and not a gimmicky, "ah yes, that's without the pegs..." - Update from the guys at TN- they are quoting the weight without pegs - as that's becoming the industry standard for comparison, though they think it's a bit absurd as well - important thins is that the 6 pegs you need will push the weight to 501g, which is as close to 500g as you're ever going to get when you consider that there will be minor variation in weight from tent to tent and within the accuracy of my household scales i'm not going to be able to tell the difference!

While, i'll be honest and say that I don't see going lightweight as the universal panacea for unfit hill walkers who want to go wild camping any more, the idea of a tent that weighs in the region of my bivvy/tarp combination really does appeal. Leaving the inner at home, you can cut weight even further. This is a welcome addition as i've used the original Laser before as an overhead shelter while 'bivvying', but still had the full weight as i could not detach the inner. The main deisgn drawback, and that's common to all the smaller Lasers these days, is the single door. The original opens all the way across so you can lay in your tent and enjoy the full view and is part of why I find that tent so appealing. You've got to ask if the material is durable as well seeing as the heavier photon has been marketed, quite honestly, as being less durable than the heavier tents. They've even got a 50g bivvy bag from the same material!

Here's a few shots of the tent which classifies as being more of a shiny shiny than any other I've seen..

It's going to be available at the start of next year - February, so if you were going to write to Santa, don't bother ;-)

Thanks to Ian for the comment below. The cafe has now re-opened and does sound like it's worth a go. Sounds like it might be another caff to be proud of!

No longer the only safe eating method at the PYP Caff...

Cafe now under new management - a social enterprise buying locally and operating as ethically as they can.
The crockery is real as is the espresso, americano, latte, cappuchino, hot chocolate and all the wonderful homemade cakes that are served with them!
Food is all prepare on site and cooked when it is ordered. Everything I have eaten there has been great and obviously prepared with care. Decent veggie choice too.
Open from 7am till 8pm there is plenty of chance to get in there and its much lighter and warmer than it used to be with a far friendlier welcome!
Would be great if you can publish this as a comment on your blog as i suspect the current comments will put people off visiting the 'new' cafe.

Cheers,
Ian

Finally got around to updating the website. There's three new full routes, plus holding pages for a couple more.

This weekend's trip into the Rhinogydd is on there as is an alternative route up yr Wyddfa. More routes in the south of the park are being added too, with a route up Arenig Fawr and holding pages for a classic walk up Aran Fawddwy from Llanuwchllyn and an alternative route to the South Rhinogydd.

Some images (as there's no images on the routes just yet - trying to work out a way to speed up the creation of galleries as this lot will take me a week to upload!)

Camping at Llyn Morwynion

Camping at Llyn Morwynion

Camping at Llyn Morwynion

Arenig Fawr

Aran Fawddwy

Aran Fawddwy

Aran Fawddwy

Ever wondered what happened to all those people who would complain that we all got pissed on the 31st December 1999 because it wasn't the Millennium for another year? Well they're at it again, this time measuring mountains...

The idea is that a bunch of guys (and maybe gals) want to re-survey Tryfan so as to possibly demote it from the list of 14/15 peaks (depending on your definition). This doesn't bother me as such, but the belief that because it's slightly lower in altitude means it'll no longer be as significant, does. It is even suggested that it'll no longer form part of the 14/15 Peak challenge.

Even the Snowdonia Society's Director seems to believe that this means people may then choose to do a shortened version of the 14/15 Peaks. Is it just me who thinks that's just utter nonsense? The 14/15 Peaks is just that - a trip over a specific 14/15 summits - originally deemed to be over a nominal 3000ft in height. Even if one of those is found to be below a nominal value of an obsolete unit of measure, I can't imagine the tradition of Yr Wyddfa to Foel Fras (or in reverse) changing after 90 years.

Read more about it here.

Readers of the blog may be interested to hear that a windfarm is entering the public consultation phase, on the doorstep of Snowdonia on Mynydd Hiraethog. link

While an upland area - reaching over 500m - it isn't protected by National Park or AONB status, meaning if Mid Wales is anything to go by, they'll probably be passed. There's also a sweetener of £150k per year to the local community, obviously the monetary value of wilderness.

What it looks sans turbines....

Consider that, other than Eryri / Snowdonia, Beacons and the Clwydians, the upland areas in Wales have no protection. Are we to start seeing Pumlumon and Y Berwyn dug up in the near future?