Moel Siabod

The benefit of working 'duty' is that you get the middle of the day off to do whatever takes your fancy. As me and Chris had both been on duty last night, we took the opportunity to climb our most local mountain, Moal Siabod. This 872m high mountain pokes its head between the hills and can be seen almost from my bedroom window, with its imposing snow-caked face and alpine features beckoning adventure.

Me and Chris set off, packed lunch in hand, to catch the 'Sherpa' bus, which for a pound will take you to the villages around the Snowdonia region. We caught it to Plas y Brenin, home of the National Mountain Centre, and started the 595m climb to the top. The route we took stats out though the forest, before opening out onto the snow covered northern slopes. As we climbed we passed several groups of older climbers coming down, who looked very disapprovingly at our gear, and informed us that we wouldn't get anywhere near the top without crampons and that we'd be mad to try. However, we pressed on, determined to at least try, and informed the groups that we wouldn't take any undue risk.

Having said that, we were soon climbing on snow, which turned to an icy glaze where the wind had melted and the re-frozen a crust onto the top of the snow. In places, this was several centimetres thick, and if you put a foot wrong you'd simply slide over the top. This meant that some heavy stomping was needed to gain a foothold, and even this wasn't quite sufficient in places, so required careful planning to find alternative paths round the ice.

The view from the top was spectacular - from the top you can see 13 of the 14 highest peaks in Snowdonia, and I looked up the glaciated valley to the horseshoe - Snowdon taking pride of place. After a quick, windy bite to eat, we headed east along the ridge before picking our way back down, having to slide on our arses at various points. I managed to put my foot though through the ice at one point, and only noticed too late that my foot had landed in a stream as it trickled between my toes.

Back on the floor of the valley, we snoozed in the sun as we waited for the bus back to Betws. Sun, and a view of the snow-capped mountains - it felt so unfamiliar that I would have guessed I was somewhere Alpine.

Still amazed that this is all within 10 minutes of where I live.