TRAVEL
The Senior School Ski Trip.
What really makes the holiday, though, is not the walks but the humour and general atmosphere that surrounded the occupants of the hut. There was not a joke left untold or a trick left unplayed (or a piece of gossip about the teachers left unsaid by the old boys to the younger members of the party). The whole thing blended together to make a most enjoyable trip which is certainly not for the weak-willed!
MOUNTAIN AND OUTDOOR CLUB The recently extended Mountain and Outdoor Club is evolving swiftly. Jonathan Noble's report on the annual trip to yr Hafod in the winter of 1991 conveys the flavour of the event succinctly. SNOWDONIA: December 1991
At Easter a small group succeeded in walking from Whitwell to camp at the Pools of Dee on the crest of the Lairig Ghru, the defile which splits the Cairngorm massif from north to south. From there, we experienced a superb day's mountain-walking round the Cairn Toul — Braeriach plateau in conditions which ranged from horizon-to-horizon visibility down to full-blown whiteout. The descent ws drawn out by the need to avoid descending convex slopes in the dark; and when we reached its site we devoutly wished that the old Sinclair Hut had not been removed at the end of 1991. We wished it even more strongly when we somehow managed to walk in circles for half an hour at the narrowest point of the pass — but there's nothing like a long winter's day to make food seem tasty and sleeping bags warm.
I arrived the the minibuses in front of Queen's for my first trip to Snowdonia with the School, with much trepidation. Six weeks earlier, the prospect of scrambling up rocks in the snow and ice had appealed greatly to me, but now the mountains seemed a bit too close for comfort. On arrival at a bleak hut in the middle of the Welsh hills, my apprehensions were not eased, but within an hour I felt totally relaxed and was put at my ease by the warm, friendly atmosphere created by the old boys and staff. On the first morning I was "woken" by the loudest siren I had ever heard and, thinking it was the smoke alarm, shot up and dented my head on the bunk above me — not a good start. I later discovered it was Simon's way of waking us up for the day. The first day brought a walk up Snowdon itself, and the feeling of achievement on reaching the top of my first mountain was huge. I felt as though 1 had conquered Everest. The second day brought a trip to a waterfall and Beaumaris, which was a welcome change from the long walks of the other two days. The final day consisted of a scramble up Tryfan, and I found this the most enjoyable day of the trip.
Summer had seen the success of 'open house' at yr Hafod with a mixture of Peterites, old Peterites, families and friends enjoying a week in the mountains together. There is already a good programme of events for 1991-1993; and anyone who would like to join the Club is invited to contact David Hughes at School for details. David Hughes 25
