By: Blonde Two
I presume that this poem wasn’t written about Wales, but I have to say that there was an awful lot of air about when Blondes One and Two conquered Pen y Fan and Corn Du last Thursday.
The weather really was not ideal for mountain ascents. A weird mixture of snow and ice on the paths, wind enough to blow a Blonde over the sheer drops and fog enough to hide the sheer drops from view.
Most people would plan for good weather for such a view-ridden climb. We Blondes however, like to do things differently:
We planned to go up the steep slippery way so that we would feel like real mountaineers.
We planned the ice on the path so that we could practice snow walking (and slipping).
We planned the fierce wind so that we could test our hat-holding system (B2 holds B1’s cap on her head, so that B1 can unhook B2’s walking poles).
We planned the driving rain so that B2 could discover the foolishness of only packing one bra.
We planned the slight mislaying of the path near to a sheer edge so that we could prove that our micro-navigation was up to mountain conditions (it obviously was!)
Maybe most importantly, we planned the fog so that B2 could get to the top without panicking about being able to see how high up she was.
That’s what it’s like Munroing. You travel a long way to get there and have a time frame to adhere to, so you haven’t much option but to give it a go whatever the conditions. Well done, anyway . They’re a good pair of peaks and Pen y Fan is a Marilyn, so now it’s a Blonde Marilyn.
Corn Du !!!!! That was the other mountain! I’d forgotten. (Of course, I planned to forget – my little brain only has room for one or two mountains at a time.) Love the piccies – bring back memories.