Tag Archives: Snowdon

Snowdon in the sunshine and moonlight

Blog, ,

Snowdon in the sunshine and moonlight

I had been booked to take four people up Snowdon as part of preparation for an ascent of Kilimanjaro, and so I drove to North Wales the evening before and camped at Dolgam campsite in Capel Curig. The meeting with the group was at 11.30am, so I had a leisurely morning of breakfast in Bewts-y-coed followed by a hobbit-style second breakfast in Capel Curig, after which I made my way to the meeting point at Pen-y-Pass.

On arriving at the pass, it was busy as usual and I waited for the group to arrive, watching  all sorts of people start-up the tracks to Snowdon. I was met by one of the group members, who was having trouble parking, eventually one of the cars parked at the bottom of the hill down by the Pen-y-Gwryd, and the others went down to Nant peris. I walked up from Pen-y-Gwryd to the pass with two people and met the rest of the team at Pen-y-Pass.

We had a short briefing and equipment check, a few excess items were removed, but everybody had the essentials and we then began our trip up the Pyg track enjoying the sunshine and spectacular views.

snowdon-1-of-6

We slowly climbed up to Bwlch y Moch where the path divides, one track heading up Crib Goch, the other crossing a fence and onward towards Snowdon. We had a brief break for photo’s and to watch people begin their ascent of Crib Goch, but were soon on our way again.

dsc_0746

The pace was slow but steady and the crowds were thick with people passing on the way up, and people coming down, some looking quite fatigued. We soon turned a corner in the path and heard, and then saw, the rescue helicopter which landed on the shore of Glaslyn. This had the effect of stopping most of the people on the path, who now had their phones out filming, creating bottlenecks on the path slowing our progress even more.

snowdon-2-of-6

With the helicopter now gone we approached the start of the miner’s track down to Glaslyn, where we came across a women being attended to after suffering a slip or a fall with a nasty head gash. I moved my group off to one side and offered to give them my group shelter, but someone else gave them his, as it was a company one and not a personal piece of equipment. I rejoined my group and we continued onwards, towards where the path has a large switchback, where the helicopter had returned to pick the casulty up, a busy day for mountain rescue, I thought to myself.

snowdon-1-of-1

The cloud came in a little and as we arrived at Bwlch Glas it was now only a short way to the summit. We were now moving very slowly, but made it and the group were all very pleased, however the low cloud had spoilt a lot of the view.

snowdon-4-of-6

There was now time for a few photo’s and some food before we began our trip down. It was at this point that we started to move really slowly, as one of the party was now very tired and every piece of broken ground was being negotiated very carefully.

snowdon-2-of-3

snowdon-5-of-6

As we approached the start of the miners track, the cloud cleared and we had truly stunning views as the sun was beginning set low in the sky. We slowly negotiated the descent down to Glaslyn and it was just beginning to get dark. With all the most difficult ground now covered, it was a slow gentle walk out via the miners track with our head torches on.

snowdon-6-of-6

There were now no more crowds, just our small group walking alone in the dark. As we approached Llyn Llydaw, the moon began to rise in the sky and it was very bright. I believe it was the harvest moon, as this was a full moon close to the autumnal equinox. I switched my head torch off and turned around to look at the mountains behind us, in the moonlight it was a very memorable moment, you could see a few head torches on the paths above but they seemed lost in the vastness of the mountain.

With head torch back on, it was not long until we turned a corner and could now see Pen-y-pass illuminated slightly below us. Some members of the party were now quite weary, but the sight of the end spurred them on a little and we were soon standing in the car park. The group were very pleased with their day out, it was a great day, wonderful views, good company and stunning night-time views.

Three peaks challenge 20th/21st May 2016

Blog, , ,

My trip began with a flight to Glasgow early on a Friday morning, the car was found and this followed an uneventful drive up to Fort William. We parked up and went for a spot of lunch that was quickly followed by some food shopping. Shopping done we drove up to the nevis car park and the beginning of the challenge at 14.50.

DSC_0480

The weather was cloudy with sunny spells and a little wind. The heat of the sun sapped the strength when it was out early on, although the pace was steady and stops were few as we ascended up the pony path. The views all around were fabulous as the cloud had begun to lift.

DSC_0484

On reaching the half way Lochan (not quite halfway) the upper slopes of the Ben looked forboding wrapped in cloud, but we continued at quite a pace up the zig zags until the slope gradient eased and the path disappeared under sugary snow. The visibility was good and the top was made in just under three hours.DSC_0490

DSC_0494

A quick drink, a few photos and the descent was made, with only a stop to put waterproofs on near  the half way lochan  we were soon back at the car after five hours.

Next came the long drive to the Lake district. Following a stop for food, fuel and a detour (as one of the A roads was closed) we arrived in the national trust car park in Wasdale at 02.00. The weather had taken a turn during the drive down from Scotland and it was now raining heavily and windy, so on with full waterproofs – this was a little unpleasant! With headtorches on we began the walk up Brown tongue, the going was slow but steady and the path was good. We came to a junction and picked up two other three peakers who had gone ahead of us early on, but were now unsure where to go and asked if they could join us, with the weather and visibility poor our group went from four to six. The mist was very dense and the rain seemed to come from all directions and the path became lost for a short section. It was easily found again after a bit of relocation and we reached the top as it was getting light, a very brief stop for a drink and some food as the weather was now really foul. I was becoming a little worried about our two extra people as we began the descent down into the wind, as they were not adequately prepared, with unsuitable waterproof clothing. The wind was strong, the rain stung our faces and obscured our vision, but we eventually made it out of the cloud and the wind dropped. The rain remained as we made it back to the car at 06.20, where we had a quick change of clothes and tried to keep things dry as we set off for North Wales.

The drive down to Snowdon was hassle free, until we came to the turning up to Pen-Y-pass which was closed for the Slateman triathlon, so we had to park at the pen-y-gwredd car park. From here our ascent began and a good pace was set,  the group didn’t seem to mind the extra leg-work and we soon made it to Pen-y-pass, where it stopped raining. We continued along the pyg track where the visibility soon became poor, there were lots of people on the track as we reached the upper section, and the rain returned. Waterproofs were again needed and with no further stops we reached the top, we did not linger however, as  there was no view and the weather being poor the group were keen to get down. We descended as quickly as tired limbs would allow and made it back to the car park, finishing the challenge in just under 24 hours. We ended our adventure with a celebratory beer at the YHA  across the road, before descending back to the car and on to a youth hostel in Conwy for food, a few drinks and some well-earned sleep.