The first hours of that first weekend exercise were spent abseiling, and then the whole team went up to Bwich Goch, on the ridge of the Snowdon Horseshoe.

Conditions were grim and potentially dangerous; new snow lay on old hard snow-ice, there was a cold wind and the cloud was down. Obviously there was a blizzard coming, and it was decided not to push on from Crib y Ddisgl to the summit of Snowdon but to go down. The description of that descent gives some idea of winter conditions in Wales:

"... a descent of Parsleyfern Gully... was attempted, to give more experience in snowcraft, but it was decided to return to the ridge due to the possibility of the new snow avalanching, as it was lying to a considerable depth on névé.

"I noticed that S.A.C. McCrann's hands were blue and numb when he reached the top and lent him any gloves and prescribed vigorous exercises. Unfortunately his fingers had been uncovered for several hours and he was unable to get the circulation to return completely.

"The wind was very strong and the snow was blowing into the eyes, which tended to ice up, making it very difficult to see. A map and compass were necessary to find the col above the 'zig-zags' whence the line of the railway, which was just discernible, was followed towards Llanberis, and a descent of Cwm Glas Bach made from above Clogwyn Station in the dusk.

"Remarks. Under these conditions it would be very easy for little-experienced mountaineers to get completely lost - only my summer knowledge of Cwm Glas Bach enabled this route of descent to be followed; otherwise the only safe descent would have been to carry on down the railway track to Llanberis - which would have incurred a detour of about eight miles.

"Frostbite is easily contracted unless every precaution is taken - the fingers must be covered - preferably with at least two pairs of gloves, both having the fingers in one enclosure, and not separate as in normal gloves.

"Many of the team found this a very tiring day, although conditions were not at all abnormal for a winter's day on the Welsh mountains,

"19.00 hours. S.A.C. McCrann sent back to Valley for admission to Station Sick Quarters [suffering from second degree frostbite]."*

The common sense of these remarks should be obvious to anyone with the slightest knowledge of winter mountaineering, even book knowledge alone. But in ensuing years Lees was often thought intolerant with people who had involved themselves or their parties in dangerous situations. His intolerance was with stupidity and incompetence, the - at times - almost criminal negligence of so-called experts taking parties of novices, often children, on the hills. It was impossible for him to hide his thoughts or hold his tongue. He made enemies easily, but these were the types would always be enemies of frankness and expertise in the craft to which they were giving a bad name: the incompetent, those with strange or perverted motives for climbing, the notoriety seekers, the politicians of the climbing world. Continue to page 3

*J.R. Lees' personal log