Well according to Robert Plant and Jimmy Page there are two paths which lead to the Stairway To Heaven, a legendary song that was inspired by a ‘trip’ to Cadair Idris. On the weekend of the 22nd to the 24th of January HSX also climbed the Stairway To Heaven, enjoying a wet and windy weekend in the mountains to the south of the Snowdonia national park. Wikipedia however claim there are three main paths (the Pony Path, the Fox’s Path and the Minffordd Path) to the top which is a height of 893m.
Our Cambodia Expedition Team along with other members of HSX set of from Ferny Crofts on Friday evening for the long drive to Mid Wales, arriving late at Joe and Dobby’s house. We all piled in, found our rooms and hit the sack for a well earned rest. Up early on Saturday morning, with sausage sarnies and porridge filling us all up before a briefing about who was in which team. Our team was all of HSX Cambodia (minus a couple, who were missed) with Dobby and Steve joining us; there were
three teams in total. The first task was to complete route cards for our weekend walk, with the aim of climbing Cadair Idris and camping out on Saturday night. When we left the comforts our hosts house the weather was good, with a mix of blue skies and cloud. We headed off in the mini buses to our start point. The walking was initially on roads before heading off onto tracks with a gentle climb to warm us up. Lots of catching up since our last weekend and conversations about what we had been up to over Christmas and the start of the New Year was a great way to begin the walk, and spirits were high all weekend.
A focus of the weekend was to learn and develop our map reading and navigation skills. We took it in turns to lead the group along our route and all of us did so with confidence and great skill. We learnt about the Four ‘D’s’ which are distance, duration, direction and description – and these are key to successful route planning and navigation.
The walk up to Cadair Idris was initially quite gentle however when the terrain became more challenging our expedition leaders took over navigation. The weather continued to be dry and mild and the mood of the group buoyant. Cadair Idris is not in the same league as the more rugged and higher peaks of Snowdonia however it looked really exciting to climb, with patches of snow still on the ground and some seriously strong winds to contend with higher up. We decided to leave packs at the bottom of the climb to save time and energy (although little did we know that some gremlins would take great delight in adding a few extra pounds of weight in the form a rocks to most of our packs!). The route up was initially straightforward and sheltered and as we gained height the terrain became steeper. Although the tracks we had been following died out, the route was still obvious and the need for map and compass was for a lot of the time unnecessary.
Lunch was eaten on the go and we got to the top of Cadair Idris early afternoon. The views were stunning and gave an amazing 360 degree panorama. After a short stop at the top we began our walk back down retracing our footsteps. The wind continued to blow and thankfully for the time being kept the clouds and rain away. On the descent we bumped into the other two HSX teams, having a quick chat before going our separate ways again. As we left the hill side and began the walk in to our camp for the night 
Matt enlightened the group on the link between Cadair Idris and Led Zeppelin. Interestingly there are numerous other myths and legends associated with this peak. With bottomless lakes and the suggestion that if you sleep alone on the slopes you will wake up as either a madman or a poet! However the mountain’s name is generally understood to refer to the mythological giant ‘Idris’ who was said to have been skilled in poetry, astronomy and philosophy.
As we neared our camp site the weather began to change and rain started to fall. Our pace quickened and as we arrived at camp and started to put up tents, the rain got worse. Tents up, dinner cooked inside the tent porch and hungry tummies fed we turned in for a very early night. Sleep was not initially on the cards, and to honest not a great deal was had by Tom, Ed or I. The sound of the wind and rain kept us awake on and off, and Ed getting acquainted with the inside of the tent which seemed to spend most of the night flat packing on his side kept some of us amused (not Ed!)
Up early and with rain still falling we had a quick breakfast on the go whilst packing up camp before a short walk back to the mini bus. Wet packs were stashed in the back before meeting up with the other two teams and commencing our drive back home. As we left the mountains behind, we took lots of great memories – the sense of achievement at having climbed Cadair Idris and getting to know both the HSX Cambodia team members and HSX members in general even more.
We arrived back at Ferny Crofts just after 3 giving us time to sort out wet tents before our lifts home arrived. Another brilliant week end. Thank you to Joe and Dobby for the use of their house, to those who arranged the weekend and those who drove. Most of all thank you to HSX Cambodia, we make a great team.
Report by Bradley Carter
Photographs by Tom Mawby & Liam Foster