Snowdon Mountain: Holiday June 2018 - page 1
Snowdon is Britain's second highest peak and at some
1,085m (or 3,560 ft) a walk up any of its various trails is not to be
taken lightly! The mountain is located within the magnificent
2,132 square km (823 sq ml) Snowdonia National Park (Eryri), a National
Park since 1951. This area in North Wales attracts oodles of
outdoor lovers to enjoy its stupendous mountain scenery - including
us! We've not visited Snowdonia for some 17 years, so before we
get too old to climb Snowdon we returned to ascend the mountain by way
of the very scenic Pyg Track and back down the Miners' Track. The
start point for many of Snowdon's popular trails is at the busy
Pen-y-Pass (on the A4086) so that's where we headed for our Snowdon
ascent...
This is page one of five.
Snowdon
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Forewarned that the car park at Pen-y-Pass fills quickly, we used the
efficient Sherpa bus service to travel there. Yes, this is North
Wales, and yes, that is a clear blue sky! We first headed...
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...to the small Pen-y-Pass visitor centre and studied the informative
displays on the mountain where we learned that peak (previous photo) is
not the Snowdon summit but the scary Crib Goch. After
refreshment...
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...in the large café at Pen-y-Pass it was time to begin our Snowdon
ascent. The Pyg Track is the shortest route up Snowdon and
involves the least amount of ascent as it already starts at 359m
(1,177 ft)...
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...so that should be, erm, easy then... Well, the initial bit was
and shortly after commencing our climb we stopped to admire the
fantastic view through this gap in the dramatic mountain landscape...
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...towards Llanberis and its huge Lake Padarn glistening in the
distance in the sunshine. There were plenty of other people on
the Pyg Track and many were descending Snowdon already! Soon...
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...we encountered the first of many steep 'step and boulder' bits to
scramble over but then arrived at this ledge; time once again to take
in the breathtaking mountain views and more photos. After...
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...taking on water and a breather the Pyg Track continued to where the
route to the knife-edged Crib Goch peeled off to the right at Bwlch y
Moch. Yes, up there was the peak we saw back at Pen-y-Pass...
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...while to the left we enjoyed a splendid view of Llyn Llydaw.
Taking a look at our trusty tracking app we saw we'd done almost 2km of
the 5.6km route, well on the way up Snowdon! The Pyg Track...
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...ran fairly level at this point for a good while, although often
loose underfoot so we were thankful for our sturdy mountain
footwear. That's Llyn Glaslyn down there, and after rounding the
bend we got...
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...our first view of Snowdon's summit. Hmmm, still some way
to go then, so at this point we consumed our picnic while observing the
people negotiating the Crib Goch ridgeline on their hands and knees
high...
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...above. After applying more sunscreen on this gloriously sunny
day in Snowdonia we continued along another level part of the Pyg
Track, but presently the route became...
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...pretty steep and rocky at the point where the Miners' Track
merged. This rocky part of Snowdon continued for a good while
until we got to the viewpoint and another well-deserved breather...
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...just before the start of the famous zig zags. Now on the final
leg, the various Snowdon tracks merge just after the zig zags for the
final haul to the...
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...top. Snowdon is an extremely popular mountain to climb
but it was still a shock to see the summit trig point literally
crawling with...
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...oodles of people! Now the weather can change rapidly on
Snowdon and as we climbed the final leg to the mountain summit...
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...the clouds rolled in, quickly obscuring the view and almost the
track itself! Here Mike's pointing out the sheer drop through the
clouds. Undeterred, we...
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...climbed on and before long arrived at the 1,085m Snowdon
summit! Woo-o-o! Can you spot Mike waving from the trig
point at the top? Looking...
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...down at the 'view', despite the disappointing clouds we simply
appreciated that we had made the strenuous climb up the Pyg Track to
the very top of...
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...the mountain; no mean feat for middle-aged casual walkers like
ourselves. Now here's Belinda waving from Snowdon's summit
alongside...
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...trig point No. 10684 on top of which is an engraved brass disc with
direction and distances to many other Snowdonia landmarks. Also
atop Snowdon is...
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...the terminus of the famous rack and pinion Snowdon Mountain
Railway which runs from Llanberis and which we rode one-way (down!) in
a previous Snowdon visit.
Alongside...
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...the Hafod Eryri Visitor Centre has café, bar, toilets and the
obligatory gift shop. Here there's also a Snowdon exhibition with
exhibits on the tables and wall. Well, time to descend the
mountain...
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...and back into sunshine! The panoramic views across Snowdonia
are simply awesome, they literally took our breath away (did we have
any left?) as you can see in our selfie above. Having...
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...ascended the mountain by the Pyg Track, we descended by the Miners'
Track, around 6km (3.7ml) in length. The route took us right down
to the shores of Llyn Glaslyn...
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...and Llyn Llydaw, passing the many old mine working ruins of the
Britannia Copper Mines that gives the Miners' Track its name.
Although the terrain was a little less intense than the Pyg it was
still hard-going after our day's mountain walking, despite some earlier
preparatory training hill walks we'd done -...
More on Snowdon in our UK tourism resources.
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...phew! So back at Pen-y-Pass exhausted, aching and knackered
after our day on Snowdon, we boarded the Sherpa bus looking forward to
a well-earned pint which we can report definitely didn't touch the
sides!
If planning to tackle Snowdon we urge you to follow
sound safety advice - it's not a walk in the park!
Next page: Some Llanberis
attractions >>>
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Snowdon
| Llanberis | Snowdonia Mines | Snowdonia Railways | Aberglaslyn Pass Walk + Tramway
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