Rock Up Team Conquer the Glyders

Team Rock Up Reach New Heights

This year for our 2023 annual team meeting, our MD, Aaran, challenged the team to climb the Glyders in Wales. 

Our permanent team are based across the UK, from Devon to Manchester, and meets once per quarter to discuss everything from operations to marketing to finance. However, with a large national team, real person-to-person connection is vital to our growing team and we deeply value connection and seeing each other as the people we are, not just the roles we hold. With that in mind, at this year's annual meeting, we embodied our brand and climbed, scrambled, and trekked the 1000m high challenging Snowdonia trail that crossed Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr. 

"It's just a walk" was how Aaran framed the challenge to us all back in March and although most of us are not climbers, being the adventurous team we are, we agreed it sounded like a great idea.

Starting at Ogwen Valley we began our walk and met Llyn Idwal, a crystal-clear lake, within 20mins. From there we headed left and up towards Devil's Kitchen. Here is where the trek began to get much more challenging, and some scrambling was to be undertaken. Somewhere around here, as the amateur climbers among us clung up the wet rocky path of Devil's Kitchen, mutterings of "this is so not 'just a walk'" echoed across the group. 

"Devil's Kitchen is blocked off" shouted our leader, and Rock Up's technical advisor, Pen. Pen, an avid climber and experienced tour guide, had never seen Devil's Kitchen blocked but he had discovered a huge boulder had fallen into our path. So back down we went, which was slightly more challenging than going up and set about looping around and up to the foot of the final part of the ascent. 

Focussing on one foot in front of the other, sweating but determined, the team then tackled the scree path from Llyn y Cwn to Glyder Fawr, which is notorious for being steep, loose, and largely unpleasant. 

Now in the clouds, with the temperature dropping, we stopped at the peak to eat and refuel. The terrain at the peak looked like something out of a sci-fi movie. Jagged, grey, and misshapen. Just as we made our way to the infamous Cantilever stone the clouds lifted and, in the distance, we spotted Snowdon, which is just 84m higher. 

The views were stunning, and the team began to lift in energy again. 

Heading for the descent now, we all gathered our concentration for the steep and loose Miners Track which curves around the head of Cwm Tryfan. No one talking, just being certain to find secure footing for every single step. 

Now just 45 minutes from Ogwen's Cottage, we were treated to a fly-by, down Ogwen's Valley, by the RAF who famously use this for low-altitude training. We took it as a celebration of our accomplishments and picked up pace, song, and chatter until we reached our finishing point. 

It is true that the higher the summit, the bigger the smile, as the team collected a well-earned drink everyone was full of enthusiasm, banter, and camaraderie. 

Not a bad day at the office for Team Rock Up.