In early November John Tremble, our National Account Manager, and Sales Rep, Bill Woodruff, spent a few exhilarating days honing their Mountain Leadership skills in the Lake Ogwen region of Snowdonia National Park,

Camping at Gwern Gaf Lichaf, they were following in the footsteps of Lord Hunt trained in the area before the first conquest of Mt Everest in 1953.

John and Bill's days in the mountains contribute to their qualification as recognised Mountain Leaders.

John and Bill took the time off work in a combination of holiday and company sponsored leave to help them develop their mountain skills.

Over 2 days our men of the mountains did 2 major climbs of over 3,000 ft: Y Garn from the North ridge route and back down through the famous 'Devils Kitchen' into Cwm Idwal, where a steady climb up into the mist at 2000 ft saw the temperature plummeted to below freezing and the chaps got a very creditable layer of frost covering on their fleeces !!

John log for the trip reveals, that they met 2 parties on the way up - including a school trip with some very cold kids.

The first day's 6 hour walk in total culminated with a stop off in the wonderful and most welcome, Lake Ogwen coffee shop for a warm-up and a thaw out!!

On the next day, a Friday John and Bill climbed Tryfan one of the most spectacular peaks in Snowdonia. Approaching from the campsite after a cold night in the valley.

Taking a circular route from the camp up towards the Glyder peaks, then up onto the south summit of Tryfan which changes the walk into a grade 1 scramble over shattered boulders, some of them huge; dumped by the ice as the glaciers retreated.

The weather throughout was challenging: Thursday very cold/wet especially in the mountain top area. Friday turned into a lovely cold but sunny day with clear skies on Tryfan but cloud over Y Garn to the North

Footnotes:
To compare boot properties in tough conditions, John used the Towa GTX on Thursday for Y Garn, and the Aso GTX on Friday for Tryfan. Bill put the Aso GTX through it's paces on both days.

All in all a great 2 days with a great environment to put our boots to the test with spectacular scenes too.

John found that the Towa very comfortable with great heel support and solid underfoot. No blisters and generally a good out of the box experience.
Commenting that the Aso is a heavier boot, but ideal for the tough scramble type walking encountered on Tryfan, with superb ankle support and a very solid sole unit. Reporting too that they handled the tough and rough rocky conditions very well.