UTS recce #3 - mission fail

Darkness was closing in as we cautiously and fearfully picked our way across yet another rocky peak; we didn't know how many more stood between us and the descent to a lower, safer elevation. The rain was relentlessly heavy and had infused every layer of clothing I wore, and I was getting quite seriously cold. Strong gusts of wind blew across the tops; we tried to steer clear of exposed edges, preferring the face with the winds incoming. Despite the chill working its way to my core and a growing desperation to get off the tops, I had made a necessary pause to put on my head torch in the fading light. I folded my poles and attached them to my waist band as I needed free hands to clamber down the slippery rocks. I was fearful of the risks involved with tackling such awkward scrambling, on wet rocks and in the dark, but there was no alternative, easy way off this sequence of jagged summits. In other circumstances, turning around might have made sense, but we had covered some huge peaks in around three hours since the last road; heading back into the hills just wasn't an option. As we made the difficult decision to pick along the side of Pen hr Helgi Du, rather than over its intimidatingly sharp, rocky top, my growing fear of serious injury or hypothermia engulfed the strong determination I had been carrying to finish this third and final recce of the UTS route; we were less than 20 miles into this 55-mile route, but we had to abort.