Final day in Snowdonia and the plan was to do the Snowdon Horseshoe – often described as the best ridge route in Wales.
We (Tom Lawfield & I) took the bus from Nant Peris to Pen-y-Pass and started up the Pyg Path to where it splits in two and then started the ascent of Crib Goch (923m) – a lovely climb made all the more fun by feeling like we were ascending a waterfall it was that wet. Once past the summit the Arete begins – not difficult at all (grade 1) but not for the faint hearted! Unfortunately it wasn’t a day for “action” shots on the Arete due to the rain and clouds and potentially slippery rocks!
Once past the first tower on the Arete we descended and took a path along that took us just below the summit of Garnedd Ugain (Crib-y-Ddysgl – 1065m) And joined the top of the miners path which took us to the summit of Snowdon. As per every visit of mine to the summit – wind, rain / snow and no view!
From here we descended a decent portion of the Watkins Path until it was time to leave the path and head up to the summit of Y Lliwed (898m). George Mallory undertook many of his early climbs here. It was also the site of considerable training activity for the 1953 British Everest Expedition. From a view that looks very imposing in terms of reaching the summit it was actually a relatively easy scramble (maybe grade 0.3!) to reach the top. We then carried along the right to Lliwed Bach (818m) before heading down (sometimes steep, sometimes slippery, sometimes both) to the Miners Path and exited out back to Pen-y-Pass
Now I’ll rest until Thursday when we fly up to Inverness for the start of our great adventure
