As a minor variation on the previous route up to the forest, I took the paved public footpath across the field from the memorial (?), which I again forgot to read, watched hopefully by the sheep nibbling the white frozen grass. Joining the A470, a short way along signed 'nursery' is the start of the byway ascending to the forest, marked 'Unsuitable for motors'. Fitness had obviously suffered since the last backpack of December and the hard work made me feel really warm in the shelter of the trees, but I gradually improved and made reasonable progress on the good forest tracks to cross the Afon Ystumiau to the fingerpost signing the left turn for Moel Siabod. The towering cliffs of the mountain loomed large above the trees and a mist cap still enveloped the summit.

A path continues over a footbridge into the conifers and climbs past a part frozen waterfall to the forest edge. The onward line is on the right of an adjoining stream, an enjoyable and quite steep climb amid wild open terrain passing another small waterfall, part frozen and rendered a glittering white and silver in the sunshine.

The stream is the outflow from Llyn y Foel, and the sudden sight of the icy lake nestling below the snow-topped cliffs was quite breathtaking. Gazing up at Daear Ddu - the excellent route to Moel Siabod and ranking among the finest in Wales - I began to question the wisdom of choosing this approach in icy winter conditions with a dodgy foot, but what the hell, live dangerously!. The path onto the ridge is easily missed amid the mayhem of rock, in fact it's easy to miss the spine of the ridge altogether and emerge west of the summit. There are frequent choices on the clamber upwards but generally one should keep to the right, except for one place high up where near-vertical slabs are encountered and a bit of backtracking is necessary. There are plenty of crampon scratches on the rock to give suggestions!.

Surprisingly the conditions presented no difficulty at all. There was ice in the crevices and very patchy bits of ice on the rock, but all easily avoidable and most of the rock was bone dry, none of that horrid verglas that I was half expecting. There are grand intermittent views down to Llyn y Foel.

I reached the snowline near the top of the ridge, leaving a short and more gentle climb on fairly hard snow to the summit and trig point, guarded by a pair of ravens that had monitored the latter stages of my ascent and no doubt hoping for a little boost to their winter diet. After a brief visit to the trig point I retreated to the windshelter to escape the cold northerly and grab a snack and hot drink. The clarity and views were fantastic. Only one mountain still had uniform white upper slopes - not surprisingly, Carnedd Llewelyn.

The gentle thinly covered snowy slopes of the upper west ridge made fine easy walking down to the snowline and onward over the hump of Clogwyn Bwlch-y-maen to Bwlch Rhiw'r Ychen. The ascent of Carnedd y Cribau gives a good retrospective view of Moel Siabod and Llynau Diwaunydd below.

I spent some time soaking up the views from Carnedd y Cribau and decided to pitch here. I had made good progress and it was fairly early, I could have continued but that would have put me somewhere a lot lower near the next bwlch for a pitch: better to be higher for the tent views despite the wind. I located a good spot not far below the summit, shielded from most of the wind and a great view from the tent door.

This was one of those immensely satisfying moments of backpacking when everything is just right: sitting in the tent just after pitching, taking off the footwear and warmly relaxing in the late sunshine and out of the wind with a splendid mountain view. Later there was a grand sunset sky as the winter afternoon cloud amassed around the higher peaks.

The evening mist had all cleared when I emerged from the tent in the middle of the night and there was a stunningly clear starry sky, raising hopes of a repeat of the first day. It was not to be. The mist held sway in the morning even at this modest level but the sun was breaking through on the hills to the south west to keep hopes alive.

The shafts of sunshine were short lived: although the western hills fared reasonably well, the Moelwyn range was grey and often misty all day. The lakes of the Ysgafell Wen range, so beautiful in sunny or snowy conditions, had a decidedly muted charm today, although the ice patterns always provide interest. Progress was swift however, largely due to the boggy bits being frozen solid - except for the one notoriously badass bog that required a quick light 'run' to traverse it dryshod, just fracturing the ice with each step!.

The summits of the range are all only a short detour from the path, but I didn't bother this time: no views at all, no point. I was planning to spend some time pottering around the lakes and pitch somewhere around Llyn Conglog, but with the lakes so dull I again arrived early - very early. There was a strong biting wind and I had enough time to cross the valley to Llynnau Barlwyd today and seek out a sheltered pitch in the cwm. I took the traversing path that bypasses Allt-fawr to Iwerddon and descended directly to the small reservoir and onward to the air shaft far below in the valley. From here a good quarry track leads out to the A470 at a ladder stile.

On previous visits we have always walked up the road to the Crimea Pass car park and crossed the barbed wire fence there at a weak point, but this time I noticed a gate a short way down the road towards Blaenau. It was unmarked and tied shut, perhaps a new arrival since the recent major road works here, but I easily climbed over and headed directly up the steep hillside to the base of Moel Farlwyd, reaching the fence junction I was familiar with. I walked around to the reservoirs and the strong wind seemed to be blowing right out of the cwm, but I eventually found a spot with a mere breeze. This was a very good lakeside pitch with a view to the Moelwynion.

I had a little surprise at the mandatory mid-night sortie from the tent: it was snowing quite heavily, clouds of windblown flakes in the beam of my head torch and settling where I'd rather they didn't. It must have been a brief snowstorm and bad timing: in the morning there was just the lightest dusting on the tent and the surrounding hills.

I opened the tent door at dawn and... what a grey day again. Mist was capping even the modest Moel Farlwyd across the lake, but this time it began to clear quickly. No time for warming up today, the walk began with a steep climb of the west face of Moel Penamnen directly from the lake, and by the time I reached the small pile of slaty rocks that crown the top there was already a grand view to the west.

The easy grassy walk eastwards is always enjoyable with spacious views and a discernible path to follow most of the way. I took a line around the base of Foel-fras and picked up the meandering beaten line through the heather that swings around the initial bog near the fence. The normally squelchy track was frozen today, making progress rapid to the gate at the southern tip of the forest. The path NE towards Y Ro Wen is mostly clear and easy, never far from the forest fence.

Once above the forest I aimed directly NE for the next fence to join the south ridge, where a frozen pool provided a foreground to the view of the western mountains. Y Ro Wen itself is a grand viewpoint in all directions and has a windshelter to relax a while and enjoy them.

From the summit area a good quarry track gives a fine promenade north-eastwards with great views and descends all the way to Dolwyddelan. It ends at a ladder stile: over the stile, I turned L through a kissing gate on the far side and joined the minor road past the houses and down to the bridge over the Afon Lledr.