Sarah and Caroline were the first to arrive, and finding the bunkhouse deserted Sarah went in search of a key. She eventually returned to a now rather worried Caroline and opened up just as the rest of the MMC arrived in the Magical Minibus. There were a lot of new people on this Meet and Lee Clements, one of the “newbies” thought the Meet was a lot of fun and a great introduction to the MMC for a first-timer. Apparently, the experience was made all the better by the use of The Big Party Bus, with Mark Rennie as the heroic driver, even going as far as ferrying people to the pub and back home again.

Saturday’s activities started fairly late and most people (Wendy, Lee, John Rowe, Chuck, Ivone, AG, Jules, Caroline and Philippe) opted to climb Wales' highest peak via Crib Goch. The motley crew quickly got to Pen y Pass, where the entire group had a greatly enjoyable, but somewhat chilly day on the Snowdon Horseshoe. Jules, Wendy and Chuck bumbled along the nice “normal people path” as Chuck described it and were lucky enough to bump into the Crib Goch expert and joined his collection of waifs and strays. They felt in good hands especially after being told that the expert had crossed the ridge more than twenty times! The entire day’s light was used, arriving back at the car park at dusk and proceeding to the pub, which served as a useful meeting point for the various walking groups.

Meanwhile, Chris Thring had spent the meet in an extremely comfortable B&B just outside the Tyn-y-Coed, fleeing all thought of staying in some tumbledown draughty bunkhouse out of town. Arriving at the bunkhouse at 9.00 on Saturday, well fed & rested, Chris found most of the club either still asleep or having breakfast. So Chris who was “chomping at the bit” left immediately to park the car by the Llanberis pass junction. He embarked on a long solo walk down the valley (which was very splashy and muddy after the rain) to the start of the Watkin Path, up the path and ridge to Snowdon's summit (awash with hikers - it was like Piccadilly Circus apparently). Alas, there was no view to be had as it was clagged in as usual. Chris descended via Carnedd Ugain and Crib Goch and found the rest of the club strung out along the start of the former mountain, slowly and painfully making their way up to the summit. Chris inched down Crib Goch, slightly freezing over and unfortunately took a baddish fall on some loose scree. He was quite lucky not to pitch into the Llanberis Pass and ended up with a suspected hairline fractured rib and badly bruised pelvis. Oh dear!!

On Saturday night, Wendy insisted everyone join her in the famous Bryn Tyrch pub and a great time was had by all with Mark Rennie rising to the occasion and ferrying people back and forth.

Sunday brought another dry day with even some blue skies. There was a mass assault on Tryfan with more scrambling as the intrepid group took a very vertical route up the summit. It turned into a testosterone-fuelled race up the North Ridge with Chris Thring leading the advance summit group and the stragglers strung out over half a mile. Mark, Ivone, Wendy, Chuck, Lee, “Cheese-Man” John, “Text-Boy” John and Ewan (and a few others) then elected to stomp up the path next to Bristly Ridge completing the circuit back via the Devil's Staircase, the Idwal Slabs and the tea kiosk in the Ogwen car park. The views on the Bristly Ridge plateau were stunning with a sprinkling of snow adding to the winter experience….And in Chuck’s own words – “these walkers are much more hard-core than I thought”!

Obviously the authorities questioned the group’s abilities, sending up a helicopter to do a fly-by to check up on them and make sure that Chuck did not jump between any rocks. There was good visibility from the summit with very little low cloud. Chris descended with the other walking-wounded (Stefan) and unenthusiastic (AG and Sarah). After walking across a somewhat "lunar" looking ridge in the mist they descended for cups of tea and the journey back, with a very agreeable truck stop dinner and mug of tea. Meanwhile Mark Rennie was last seen with a large group (Ewan, John Bigsby and others) attempting to run up the Glyders - he had the bus keys so no one else could go anywhere until he got down.

The North Wales Meet was a great weekend with cold but dry weather. Both days had dramatic scrambling on Crib Goch ridge and Tryfan, with fantastic views over North Wales to Anglesey and the Irish Sea, particularly on the second day. All in all, a fabulous weekend and HUGE THANKS to the hero of the Meet and his magical minibus – MARK RENNIE - perhaps there should be an MMC Oscar ceremony in his honour!!!