Early this morning at 06.00hrs seven team members met at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ to journey to the Ogwen Valley, Snowdonia, for some winter mountaineering – hoping that such conditions were present.

Team Call Out list members Alistair Greenhough, Doctor Mark Jeffrey, Kris Kilshaw, Gillian Leigh, Samantha McKay, Doctor Richard Moss and Neil Warburton attended.

Also attending was former team member Gyles Denn.

The following is an account of today from Alistair Greenough;

“On Saturday 11 th January 2013 seven team members and one ex team member travelled in our team Minibus BM5 to the Ogwen Valley in Snowdonia for a winter mountaineering skills refresher training session.”

“The team members split into two groups.”

“One group decided to tackle a route called Seniors Ridge onto the magnificent Glyderau returning to the vehicle via Bristly Ridge.”

“The second group split at Idwal Slabs and continued onto Devils Kitchen to gain the summit of Glyder Fawr, with the intention of brushing up on crampon and ice axe skills, then continuing on to complete the ridge by taking in the peak of Glyder Fawr returning via Heather Terrace on Tryfan.”

“The weather conditions were superb with clear blue skies and fresh snow above about 700 meters.”

“By coincidence the Minibus was spotted by one of our colleagues from Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organization who kindly invited us to their base for tea and Christmas cake which went down very well.”

“The members were given a tour of the base by the OVMRO Duty Team Leader. ( Many thanks for the hospitality)”

“BM5 returned with a very content set of passengers after what was a terrific training opportunity.”

This same day and in to tomorrow, Team Call Out list members Steve Nelson, with his Mountain Rescue Trailing Dog Boris, and Elaine Gilliland were present on this months SARDA (Wales) Training weekend, also in Snowdonia.