Danielle’s Year in the Mountains V.2

Yes, it's February 28th when I am writing this, a late recap you could say of my year in the mountains, when the last one was published on the 30th Dec, 2023. My word, time flies, and a lot has changed in the last two years. 

However, I’ll provide a recap on the peaks in 2024 and then a recap of 2025 separately. 

Don't forget, like last year, click the little arrow to go through the images :)

Craig Cerrig Gleisiad & Fan Frynych

I started the year off nice and easy, with a small hike with friends, Dave, Tom and Jamie.  The route was planned to be tame as we were bringing along a friend who was new to hiking. This route was the absolute perfect length for a newbie, and afterwards we had the most fabulous Sunday Lunch!

Sgurr Dubh & Sgurr Dubh South Top

Back to Scotland for a Scottish winter of hiking, and we started in Torridon. This was my first taste of what Torridon had to offer. Extremely wild, rugged, and difficult terrain with scenery that could not be matched. Jess got to wear her cute pink coat to keep her safe from the wintery conditions and absolutely loved the waterfalls!

The Horns of Alligin! 

Hands down, one of the best scrambles I have done, even to date. Again with Dan and Jess, we bagged 6 peaks, and I was even shown how to Ice Axe Arrest in some of the snowy patches. However, Jess demanded to play in them instead. The weather was dry for most of the morning, but the rain did come in, making for a swift exit, although clearing towards the bottom, giving us some of the most insane views of Torridon. 

Sail Mhor

The walk was actually meant to be Beinn Eigne, but the route looked somewhat dodgy. We decided to see if there was another way around. This was my first real experience walking in snow and using an Ice Axe. It was terrifying but amazing. However, we eventually got stuck and decided to just go back up to Sail Mhor, bag this peak and head back. Sadly, on the way down, I tripped on a rock and twisted my ankle. Whoops. Thankfully, it was still usable, and we managed it back; I just needed to rest it from there.

East Ridge Winter - Beinn a’ Chaorainn

Okay, I know I said this earlier, but one of the best scrambles I have ever done. This was my first winter condition scramble, and oh my, did I have so much fun. It was terrifying, but so fulfilling. We didn’t need crampons as the snow was soft rather than icy. There were parts where I thought, why am I doing this, but nothing beats that feeling of overcoming the challenge in front of you. I think also when Jess is managing it fine, it kinda makes you get on with it (haha!)

Sgor Gaoith, Sgoran Dubh Mor, Meall Buidhe & Geal-Charn

Due to the weather being poor in the Fort William area, we decided to go further afield, over to the Cairngorms. The weather was due to be dry and just a tad windy. Just a tad… 

This walk ended up being one of the windiest exposed routes I had done to date. We slowly came up a tame path, which started to get rather Icy. Emergency Shelter up, we got out the crampons and got ourselves prepared. Multiple whiteouts and peaks later, we find ourselves finally heading closer to the car where I took one of the riskiest wild wee’s. This route was an absolute treat and would be so fun to do again in better weather, as the views we did get were insane! 

Fan Gyhirych & Fan Nedd

This was a solo adventure, the first part of the path, and I thought I might actually die. Yes, I am being dramatic, but at the time, I was so scared. I was in long, barren grasses, of which I couldn’t tell the depth of some steps. By some miracle, I made it to the first peak, and things became so much easier. However upon the way down, I spotted bulls… this was an open road, but as someone who has been chased by cows before, I absolutely panicked. I saw a gated forestry next to me and decided to scale the wooden fence to walk behind for protection from the cows. However, I did still have to walk kinda near them to leave, so this may have been pointless 

Moel Hebog

At the end of a weekend on a learning to lead trad climbing course with Vicky, Dave came up to visit. We all decided to hike a route up Moel Hebog and beyond. The forecast was not looking pretty, so we had decided on this route as it looked like it wouldn't be so severely hit. Oh, how we were so wrong! 

Walking up in the drizzle, we eventually made it close to the top; the clouds were low, visibility was poor, and we were greeted with a surprise scramble. We eventually made it to the top, but with wind gusts of 60mph hitting us. I literally crawled to the trig point :’). We decided to carry on our route, but follow the path leading down and not onwards. The weather was not the one for a long day in the mountains. Our way down was a barrage of paths, and paths that were now rivers. It was a highly eventful end to a lovely weekend. 

Mynydd Mawr

Dan, Jess, and I were back in North Wales. Upon arriving, we decided to do a nice, quick, small hike. Mynydd Mawr, it was very steep, but the views once you reach the top were amazing. The sheer cuts into the mountain are beautiful. It is absolutely worth the effort. 

Nantlle Ridge Circular

What a route, absolutely stunning. I loved Nantlle Ridge; the weather we had was perfect. The scrambling was easy, but the views were absolutely insane. This hike is an absolute must-do for anyone want to expose themselves to less risky ridges and scrambling! On this walk, we managed to bag 4 more Welsh peaks! 

Carnedd Horseshoe

Back to Pen yr Ole Wen, but this time via a different route. I was a lot more confident in my mountains since the first time I was here. It was so nice to see, this route took you across the Carneddau mountains and provided some scrambling and some quite scary down climbing. However, this route felt so close to a Scottish route; it gave that truly wild feeling. I also bagged another 6 peaks for this route (Yes, counting Pen Yr Ole Wen, again ;))

Table Direct & Cyfrwy Arete

This was a route on my mountain rock tick list. Dan and I left early, as this is a rather popular mountain route. He certainly wasn’t wrong; this made it quite stressful as we started getting overtaken on the walking route to the climb's start. However, when we got to the climb, we didn’t have to wait to get started for too long. There was, however, one part where I had to set up and anchor and although I knew how to panic set in when I couldn’t find anywhere that wasn’t being used by other climbers. Dan had to down climb unprotected. The guilt absolutely ate at me that day for that single bit. We managed to finally get through the climb, reaching Cyfrwy, looking over to the hikers on Cadir Idris. We didn’t walk over due to time constraints; we needed to get back to Jess. I will bag Cadir Idris another time!

Middle Fell Buttress, Thorn Crag & Harrison Stickle

Another trad route from my mountain rock tick list. This was super pleasant and easy to climb. At the top, we decided to go a little further and walk amongst some of the mountains. Despite it looking overcast, it was so humid. I would highly recommend this one for those starting mountain trad routes. 

Corvus & what we thought was Glaramara 

Corvus was a very interesting climb, scary at times; however, it was another tick off the list in Mountain Rock. The walk in was really beautiful and quite long, I do think that was because I kept stopping to look at the flora & fauna ... and the sheep. Once we scaled to the top, we decided to head for Glaramara. We both believed we were at the peak, until we got down, Strava liked to tell me otherwise... So I guess that's one to go back to 😢

Striding Edge to Helvellyn 

This day still sticks in my mind. What an absolutely glorious route, you could go on for miles. Dan and I had decided we would do some running this day, so it was called the run, hike, scramble day. This made for an extremely fun adventure that I still look back on now as a solid achievement I wish I could do all over again. Especially the pie at the end. That was some bloomin’ good pie. 

Wild Camping along the Black Mountains

Finally, my last adventure of the year, which is crazy to say as it was only in August. This was a wild camp with Sarah and Dave while she was back visiting family and friends before running off to Canada this time. It was some much-needed time with friends during a difficult time for me. Although I never seem to show it. We sadly didn’t get to do the whole route that was planned due to poor conditions, but we did get one night camping, and then the following morning, we did some sheep herding (ahaha!) 

And so that was a wrap on everything I did in 2024. I hope it inspires you to also get outside.