Posts Tagged Snowdon
Snowdon via the South ridge from Rhyd-Ddu
A long time since I last posted so here’s the first of a few updates to cover what’s happened the past few months. After this I’ll do write ups of
- Summer ML training at Plas y Brenin
- A quick look at new kit – Rab Momentum waterproof and Meindl Air Revolution 3.1 walking boots
- Cwm Eigiau wild camp from Dolgarrog
and I’m planning a tidy up of the background pages to the website. Thanks to all the people who’ve left comments on here and Twitter about the blog. Hope everyone had a cracking Summer!
The weekend before (early July 2010) the start of Summer ML training it felt right to do some walking up high, get some more miles in my new boots and add another day to the logbook. I’d be going out on my own and trying to ignore the increasingly poor conditions predicted for the day, I decided to take a look at different route up Snowdon. Waking up early, I arrived in the pouring rain at an empty car park by Rhyd-Ddu (it’s pay and display) just before 6am.
A deposit of slate to the side of the trail towards the South ridge
Leaving the car park at the North end and across the train track the path ahead is clear, well maintained and ascends gradually. There’s no problem spotting the fork in the trail either that takes you East away from the main Rhyd-Ddu path towards the proper start of the South ridge. The first section along this trail was pretty boggy and often submerged in the conditions but otherwise would make for a quick and steady walk up as suggested by the route I was following (see end of article for a link). At numerous points before reaching the saddle between Snowdon and Yr Aran are reminders of the considerable mining history of the area, with several buildings and huge deposits of slate to the side of the trail.
Making the saddle (Bwlch-Cwm Llan) I took advantage of the wall that runs along it to shelter from the driving rain, to check my non-laminated map (it was retired after this route…) and decide what next. I’d been tempted to go up Yr Aran as part of the route, but given the poor conditions and being on my own on unfamiliar ground, I decided that getting up and down Snowdon as quick as possible and back to somewhere warm/dry made the most sense.
Sheltering from the rain behind the wall on Bwlch-Cwm Llan
Approaching the ridge from the saddle there’s a sharp gain in height before things settle into a more gradual ascent over a clear trail. Things carried on for a while before I found myself a little off the crest of the ridge (on the Western side) and needed to scramble back up a short section, I’m guessing I lost the main path at some point to end up needing to do this though. After meeting the Rhyd-Ddu path the ridge narrows over Bwlch Main to give some exposure (hard to tell how much as the cloud was so thick), although the strength of the wind (gusting 50mph) certainly added to things.
On this narrower section I met the first and only person I’d seen during the ascent, a quick “Morning, you alright?” between us and I was beyond the ridge proper on onto the final section of ascent, some short ascents on wide rocky tracks. Making the summit I was amazed that despite the weather/time (~ 9am) I was the only person in sight (visibility was about 30m).
Heading back down quickly as there was nothing of a view and the weather was cold/depressing at best, I quickly found the fork after the narrow section of the ridge that goes right and down onto the Rhyd-Ddu path itself. Around halfway down I began to meet others on their way up, looking forlorn and not enjoying the path which now resembled a stream. It’s really hard to tell giving how dense the cloud was but I’d be tempted to suggest taking the alternative route up over the standard Rhyd-Ddu path up would make for a better ascent, anyone done both?
In conclusion it’s hard to make any real conclusion about a walk done in such poor conditions, however, having seen the ridge line in clear weather I can imagine it makes for a spectacular route. I’ll definitely be back, when the sun is out and in with others to enjoy the route another time. Having the summit to myself was a bonus and not something I guess will happen again soon. Getting up and down for just before half 11 meant my pace felt comfortable at around 4km/hour, which was handy to know prior to a week of training. The heavy rain battered my waterproofs and left me pretty wet from the day, so it was out with the waterproofing treatment as soon as I got back.
Fancy doing the route?
- Check out the full route detail on Walking Britain.
Left-hand Trinity Winter climb on Snowdon
It’d been far too long since getting out to climb, having spent the last few months climbing indoors, getting through Christmas and adapting to life as a homeowner. Sitting at work watching the snow fall outside, I couldn’t help but fire off a quick email to a guide who I’d climbed with the previous Winter to work on winter skills before my trips to climb in the Atlas/Alps, to see if there was a chance of a couple of days climbing in the snow. The reply came quickly, giving a few dates in early March and reassurance that the conditions were fantastic.
On Left Hand Trinity of Snowdon (Credit: Hightrek)
A friend who I climb with indoors came too, so on the first day we spent a little time covering some basics as a refresher before tackling the right side of Tower Slabs (WI ii/iii) on Glyder Fawr, which whilst a little busy with a couple of other teams on at the same time, was great fun in fantastic conditions. I spent the climb without my camera out, simply enjoying being back on snow/ice, so I’ll perhaps do a short write up in the future.
For our second day, with a good forecast predicated, we made for Pen-y-Pass and up the Pyg track towards Snowdon, aiming to climbing one of the Trinity gullies on Snowdon’s Trinity Face (Clogwyn y Garnedd).
Y Lliwedd and Llyn Llydaw from the Pyg track
The walk in was as it is usually, with a few points where the path was covered in ice that needed a bit more concentration and care. But quite soon we were over the style at the junction for Crib Goch and following the Pyg track, traversing round to where we’d begin our ascent up Snowdon. Occasionally we’d be exposed to cold winds but overall we were particularly warm, as we walked briskly in the sun. The route we’d be taking became more apparent later on and is fairly obvious on the photograph below, with the two dots at the bottom of the shadow in the centre people on their way up the first part of the route to “The Spider” (the snowfield in the centre right).
Snowdon’s Trinity Face from the Pyg track
A short drop down from the path to a saddle (near to a small pond and one of the old copper mines found on Snowdon) allowed us time to look up the first section of the route, put on an extra layer of clothing and rope up. The slope itself was fairly easy going on not too steep snow, although my friend’s crampons kept on balling up with the snow being fairly soft which took him a little practice to spot before getting into a rhythm. A short steeper section of more firm snow and we’d reached the first snowfield (“The Spider”) and looked up the gully directly to our left, Left-hand Trinity (WI i/ii).
Climbing up to “The Spider”
Ian lead the route as he’d done the day previously, with Kyle and me following. Whilst the snow was fairly steep it wasn’t difficult making our way up, although Ian did point out that the route offered little in the way of good protection. I lose count of the pitches but it was somewhere between 3-4 before we emerged from the gully and then another 2 easier pitches saw us up directly onto the summit, with Ian securing the final anchor around the trig point itself, whilst a couple of onlookers watched with a little disbelief that we were appearing from over the edge of the face.
One of the final pitches of the climb
The climb whilst not technically difficult or demanding is one of the most enjoyable ascents I’ve ever made. Climbing up to the very top of Snowdon, a mountain I’ve enjoyed many days on, was really special. That the clouds soon dropped to give us brief views across North Wales was the icing on the cake. The two days reminded me of all that I loved about climbing in Winter conditions and excited me at all the prospects for a lot more of the same next Winter.
All photos from the trip can be found in my Flickr album of Snowdonia 2010 winter climbs and also on our guide’s Flickr account.
A big thank you to our guide Ian at Hightrek, who’s based in Snowdonia and helped pick/lead us on some cracking rotues, if there was something you’d like to work on/towards then I couldn’t recommend him highly enough.
Finally, there’s a Wiki of Welsh winter climbs with further routes being put together now if you’re interested in what else is possible during the colder months. Also worth knowing about is the Cicerone Welsh Winter Climbs guide, Ian referred to as we climbed that I’ve now picked up a copy of which even though a little old is a good reference for most routes.
Snowdon Horseshoe
Posted by Ian in Ascents - Under 3000m, Routes on May 1, 2009
It’d become something of a long standing joke that every time I tried to summit Snowdon, I’d been beaten back by awful weather (a severe weather warning and wind strong enough to knock you over on Crib Goch). So on the 25th April 2009, with the prospect of some good weather, I made my way over to Wales for the day, to try to finally complete the Snowdon Horseshoe.
Kit
With showers and occasional gusts expected but nothing too cold I went with my trusted base layer/tshirt, Mountain Equipment Kongur Gore-Tex jacket on top, walking trousers and Scarpa Manta boots (B2 boots more because I wanted to wear them than needing to) combination. Then a light fleece and over trousers in my 43litre pack, if it got particularly cold/windy/wet on the route. My friend also kindly packed the contents of the car footwell in my pack to “help with my training”.
Getting there/The route
If you’re driving then by far the best option (if you can get there early enough) is the car park at Pen y Pas, although with limited places and us setting off from Leicester there was no chance of getting a space. The next best option is to drive down the road back toward Llanberis, look for spaces on the road or head to Nant Peris and make use of the Sherpa Bus park and ride service (cost £4 for a car then £3.50 return to Pen y Pas).
There’s countless sites/books out there that provide a far better and more detailed discussion of the route than I can, so find links to those sites below…
and I’ll just cover the exciting/interesting parts of the walk on the day.
Quick information
The route is listed at around 7 to 7.5miles, gains over 1150m over the route and should take around 6-7hrs. We got round in around 5:30hrs at a decent pace in good weather. It’s not considered a walk as such but a Grade 1 scramble, which means there could be a fair bit of exposure to heights and you’ll most likely need to use your hands to clamber up rock to complete the route. In bad weather it’s not worth attempting unless you know exactly what you’re doing as terrain is regularly exposed, steep and rocky.
You’ll pick up the summits of Crib Goch (923m), Garnedd Ugain (1065m), Snowdon (1085m) and Y Lliwedd (898m). So 3 of the Welsh 3000s and the highest point in Wales, not bad!
The walk
The initial walk takes you out of the top right of the car park onto the pyg track and ascends at a really nice gradient to get you going. By the time the track divides, with options to go either left to Snowdon or right for Crib Goch, I felt warmed up at the decent pace we’d set off at.
Naturally there was little discussion to be had, we were going via the knife edge ridge of Crib Goch to have some fun scrambling on one of the really famous routes in Snowdonia.
With clear weather and plenty of people going the same way, it was easy enough to follow the path up to the ridge of Crib Goch. Our attempt before we’d gone too far to the right and ended up on more exposed sections of rock. This time we made short work of the scramble up to the start of the ridge.
Once up onto the ridge, I was happy to at last see the summit of Snowdon, after the previous 3 times it was shrouded in clouds/rain.
The ridge itself whilst a little daunting at first, really isn’t too bad, if heights don’t bother you that is! So we took some photos, watched people move slowly like crabs across the ridge and then made our way across the top.
As notes will no doubt mention, if you’re feeling confident of your balance or there’s not much wind then walking on the ridge is no problem, if not then drop down to left (that’d be the Southern side) where you’ll find decent footing and be able to hold onto the crest for extra security. Not that if you were on the ridge you’d consider it, but the right hand side of the ridge is not a good place to go, it’s near vertical and has one hell of a drop! The true summit of Crib Goch is toward the middle of the ridge in an exposed position but with fantastic views, if you miss the cloud/fog.
A small climb down onto a grassy area is soon followed by a scramble up onto another ridge toward the summit of Garnedd Ugain. And then it’s a gradual slope down to meet up with the main trail and alongside it the train track that goes up toward the summit of Snowdon.
After what’s come before the trail is not only really easy going, you’re also in the company of the “prawn sandwich” crew up to the overcrowded summit. Still the view, if you get one, is worth whatever you’ve put up with en-route, which luckily for us on the day was pleasant weather.
After a bit of lunch looking out over the Horseshoe it’s down a steep scree slope to meet up with a path that heads up Y Lliwedd via a fun scramble that perhaps looks worse than it actually is. Coming down back after the summit my knees were feeling less than great, the terrain whilst interesting definitely takes it out of your joints if you’re carrying any weight.
The Snowdon Horseshoe is an amazing route, definitely one to try even if you just do Crib Goch, get to Snowdon then come back down the main trail. The views and sense of adventure you’ll get from the walk are fantastic and probably not matched on other similar options in England/Wales. But, and it’ll be mentioned time and time again, be aware it is exposed up on the ridges and if you’re not keen on heights or have never walked on a ridge before it’s probably best to build up to it or avoid it completely.