Winter Camping in Snowdonia Video

A 2-day solo winter wild camping adventure in Snowdonia.

Hiking up into the Glyderau mountains towards Y Garn before getting snowed in while wild camping.

Snowdonia lives up to its name with an overnight snowstorm.

Winter camping in Snowdonia

Firstly - A DISCLAIMER

I’ve spent a fair bit of time in the mountains. Many hundreds of trips across the UK but also time filming in the mountains of Austria, Norway, Finland, Canada, Korea, Russia and Kazakhstan to name a few. I’m also ex-forces, and no stranger to tough environments.

I say this to point out that you should take the mountains very seriously. This film has been lovingly produced over many weeks and while I’d love it to inspire someone, I feel I should also point out the need for respecting the environment. It can be very dangerous. I’m sure that goes without saying. I’m not trying to preach who should go into the mountains and when, what equipment you should or shouldn’t take or anything else. Having all the correct gear is a good start, but we’ve all heard the expression “all the gear, no idea”, or my personal favourite, “all the clobber, still a knobber”. You probably shouldn’t just go pick up a walking axe and crampons and head for the winter summits alone.

It’s all none of my business really, but I felt the need to point out that I’m moderately experienced and of course, without wanting to spoil it... it’s a film. Some creative license was used. Precautions were taken. Things happened off-camera. Hope you all enjoyed the film and thanks to everyone who supported it, I really appreciate it.

Ok. Disclaimer out of the way, here’s an overview of this awesome little wild camping trip. The full video is linked at the bottom.

Arriving at Llyn Idwal.

I started out on the A5 in the Ogwen Valley.

It’s December, there has been a couple of weeks of cold weather and the Snowdonia mountain weather forecast is favourable. Light winds, interesting clouds and a dusting of snow. Brilliant.

I left the car in a layby and walked up to Llyn Idwal in the dark. It was a degree or 2 above freezing, and the paths were slushy.

The light dusting of snow created a lovely quiet environment, and it made for pleasant hiking conditions as I continued on up the slopes of Y Garn.

The views back over towards Tryfan were fantastic.

I continued on up towards the summit of Y Garn over the next few hours. The weather really was fantastic, I love a bit of cloud, and Snowdonia didn’t disappoint.

It did however throw a spanner in the works by chucking down a little bit more snow than I had anticipated. The mountain weather forecast had changed too, and it now predicted heavier snow.

I mucked around on the ridge to Y Garn for a while, shooting some photos and videos while keeping an eye on the weather. I was using a tripod to belay, but I had no fall arrest with me, so I soon made the decision to abandon the summit and instead settle down for the night on the slopes of Y Garn.

I know the Glyderau very well, I like a challenge, enjoy some discomfort, and have been up far more difficult and dangerous mountains while far less prepared, but I was here for the photography, not a survival challenge.

Descending again always feels a little disappointing, but on this occasion, it felt ok. The views over Tryfan and the Glyders kept me going.

The hiking, however, was tough. I arrived at Cwm Clyd and was pleased to be able to take a break.

Cwm Clyd is a great little spot I’ve used for wild camping before. It has the giant slope of Y Garn to the southwest, so it offers a lot of protection from those all too common brisk southwesterly winds. There are also a few water sources and great views. It’s all about those views!

I set up the tent and relaxed for a while. The temperature dropped further and the snow was fine and dry, bouncing off the tent with a lovely pitta pattering sound.

Drinking water… there are a few water sources there, right?

Wrong. It was all frozen up and I had to get creative to find it, walking through deep snow down to Llyn Clyd to break the ice and fill my bottle.

“Why not just melt the snow?” a few hundred people asked me on YouTube.

Well, it’s pretty simple really. It was cold, very cold. That ice isn’t melting easily, and if you’ve ever tried to melt ice with a gas burner you’d appreciate how inefficient it is. It’s far from ideal.

There was liquid water beneath the ice, and with some careful walking I knew the chance of me slipping in was almost nil, so it made sense. It was also fun and made for a good video…

The clouds soon rolled in and brought with them a load of fine dry snow. I made a Not Poodle, drank some beer and settled in for the night.

CHILLING with a Not Poodle.

Some amusing behind-the-scenes info… my beers had frozen by the time I got to them, they had expanded and split the seal in the can, I lost some beer and it still breaks my heart to this day…. but what I salvaged tasted sooooo good!

And some more BTS info…. as a lot of people have asked, inside the tent I was using an old school zippo hand warmer. It runs on lighter fluid and produces a good amount of heat, it was used to keep my batteries warm, not me.

A cold evening turned into a very cold night, and I was keen for sunrise to arrive in full glory. It didn’t.

I reluctantly crawled out of my doss bag into a cold windy scene. I’d been regularly hitting the sides of the tent during the night to clear the accumulating snow, but I was surprised to see just how much had fallen. A good few inches.

Some more BTS…. I’d taken my boots off to get into my sleeping bag and left them in the porch. What a mistake that was! The leather was frozen solid when I tried to put them on. I had to heat them with the JetBoil and Zippo. Doh…..! I should have just gotten into my sleeping bag with them on, I do this fairly regularly, it just means washing the bag more often, but for some reason, I didn’t. Ah well. You live and you learn.

The new layer of fresh snow helped make a superb windbreak. I dug out a kitchen area and whipped up some hot coffee and bacon sandwiches while watching the clouds.

I packed up the tent and tried to Leave No Trace.

It was difficult.

The weather then changed and the Glyderau was blessed with some gorgeous blue skies and bright warming sunshine. I carefully, and slowly, picked my route back out towards the main path and down to Llyn Idwal.

The snow had accumulated quite a lot. I was “Snowed in”

Sort of.

In reality, I wasn’t far from the car, but I had great fun walking back through those bits of deep snow.

It was a brilliant 2-day winter wild camping trip. Snowdonia at its best!

There’s a talking BTS segment at the end of the YouTube video. I attempt a bit of narration.

It was filmed with a last-minute replacement Sony A7Riii, not my usual camera, check out MY GEAR for my usual kit list. It gave me a couple of problems, totally my fault, but hopefully, you won’t spot them in the video.

And finally, I have plenty of unique wall art available from these trips in THE ART LOCKER. Please take a look.

Cheers, say hello on Youtube or social media.

Chris

Winter Camping in Snowdonia