An account of the Vibram family meet at Blaen-Y-Nant

	Unpacking on arrival and the best pair of boot stretchers I've ever seen.
	Saturday, 11th May 2002
	Anne and I have been suffering from the effects of what we believe to be giardia picked up in Nepal so we choose to do a short walk on our own.  Here we are setting off from the hut and heading SW to the col between Crimplau and Graig Wen.
	At the col and Anne demonstrates that women can do two things at once.
	From the col we turned right and headed up Craig Wen. Here's me with Tryfan and the Ogwen valley in the background.
	We carried on along the ridge towards Creigiau Gleision via some nice scrambles.  Nothing too difficult but, at one point, Anne ran out of reach and had to go the long way round.
	Another view of the sleeping dinosaur we call Tryfan from somewhere on the Creigiau Gleision.  From here we carried on along the ridge, through the tiresome heather as far as the road and turned right. We tried to skirt Trefriw by following the footpaths but we got lost and eventually ended up at the old mine buildings at Penrallt.  We headed due south to the monument at the end of Llyn Geirionydd for a good half hour of sunbathing. Then back along the side of the lake and over the ridge through the forest back to the hut for about 5 o'clock.
	The Evening
	This hut is a great place for the family meet.  It has an enormous lounge with a fire. No, don't set fire to mummy please.
	Eating crisps in real luxury.
	Claire (yellow fleece) wants one of those talkin', cryin', pukin', pooin', livin' dolls for Christmas.  Mummy has other ideas.
	Chris 'I've got a dad' Markham gets into the motorway game with the kids.
	Sunday, 12th May 2002
	The plan is for a party of 11 to head off to Craig yr Ysfa for some classic climbing. Steve, Ian and Peter aim for Mur-y-Niwl (VS) whilst the V.Diff of Amphitheatre Buttress is enough for the rest of us . We are shaken awake on the wobbliest beds in the world and by 8:30 we are nearly all ready and set off the same way that Anne and I had the day before.  Here's Kate & Karin just leaving the hut.
	From the col we headed right again but kept low and soon picked up a water catchment that feeds into Llyn Cowlyd. After that it was a steep drag onto the ridge up to Pen yr Helgi Du.  It's the same one that you can see behind Anne's shoulders, six pictures up. Here's Karin stretching her back after the climb - oh, and that dinosaur again.
	After a horrendous decent arrived at the foot of the climb at about 11:30. We had to wait around for 5 others in the queue ahead of us. Fortunately the weather was really good.
	A view of the climb ahead and some of the traffic already on it.
	Eventually, JT takes the lead while Parky protects him. Anne is the last one to leave the ground nearly 2 hours after we arrived.
	JT is nearly at the end of the first pitch.
	They are followed by Kate and Karin with Andy leading the third pair.
	Karin tries to work out which knitting pattern Kate has been following.
	Hargreaves: posterior aspect...
	... ah, that's a better view
	Stuart doing his best Bill & Ben impersonations. Note the belay to stop him falling over.
	Karin has unravelled the knitting and Andy is about to follow a different pattern.
	At the first belay there was plenty of room for me to take my pack off and get the camera out...
	... while we waited for more room on the next one. There's Karin, Andy and Kate while Parky (in white helmet) is setting off after JT.
	Oh my god - I can't do that! A bit of a girly moment on pitch 6 (I think) when Anne reaches The Pinnacles. For me, this was the best bit of the whole climb and well worth the wait. In the middle of the rope you can just make out the sling which had flipped off one of the pinnacles.
	Fortunately, we managed to flip the rope back onto another one in time to protect Anne.
	Phew - made it - and I can put the camera down and use both hands on the belay!

Stuart tried to take some photos of Anne on the last bit if the climb. Looks like I shall have to bring the manual with me next time as there was nothing in the camera.

Just as Anne was on the last pitch she was overtaken by a bloke who had soloed the route. We asked him how long it had taken. He looked at his watch and replied 40 minutes. Anne finally topped out at about 7:15 - nearly eight hours after we arrived at the start. At least we wern't as late as this lot on April 6th 1996. We then had the long walk back to the hut. When the tail-enders finally arrived at about 9:50 they were seriously considering digging out their headtorches. On the way home we found a chippy that is open every day 'til midnight in Llansanffraid Glan Conwy - and excellent fish and chips they were too - recommended. I crawled into bed at about 12:15 thinking what a grand day out it had been - and of JT with another 2 hours to go to Beverly.