There was no snow (gutted!) so figured I needed something else to challenge me. Decided to depart from the plan of going up the Pyg Track and headed for Crib Goch (921 mtrs) and the ridge way instead.
(Click on the images if you want to enlarge them)
Of course, my route planning skills are not as sharp as they could be having not yet done the weekend of mountain skills training and I very soon found myself faced with a grade 1 scramble that I hadn't really been expecting. Not one to shy away from a challenge, off I went up the rock face.
LOVED IT!!!!
All the indoor climbing has really paid off and I found I was very comfortable with my own ability for route finding and foot/hand placement so off I went thinking I'd find a foot path up along the ridge.
Boy, was I wrong! I got to the top to find a knife thin ridge of rocks stretching out for what looked like miles and miles in front of me. But, it's a whole different thing trying to scramble DOWN so I really only had one option. Off I went.
I don't think I've ever concentrated so hard in my whole life.
I got over the first bit of the ridge and looked back at what I'd just done...
I did begin to question how many marbles I might be missing.
Still, there's always a guardian angel when you need one and it was at this point that I stumbled (literally) across a fabulous gent-come-mountain-goat who offered to show me the route over the rest of the ridge. There's lovely!
(View back from just before the half way point)
So off we set as a pair and were very soon admiring the view from the top of Garnedd Ugain a.k.a Snowdon's little sister (1065 mtrs). From there we had an eye-popping view of Snowdon herself with the clouds just lifting and promising panoramic views to rival any other.
So, just a short hike to the summit at 1085 meters.
YIPPEE SKIPEEE!!!! First mountain goal of the programme achieved and the highest point in Wales ticked off the list!
The view was utterly awesome:
I couldn't quite believe this was what I'd just come over.
So, time to head back to the car and the Pyg Track is another fabulous route. I couldn't resist stopping to take in the views once more (and I wanted to measure up the second half of the Horeshoe for my return journey...)
(Thank goodness for self-timer!)
Here's the vid from the journey in case you haven't had enough yet: Week 9 - Snowdon!!
And there was still two days of mountains ahead of me....
1 comment:
Hi, Emma, glad you enjoyed Snowdon via Crib Goch. I opnce took a friend via that route having done it 15 or so years before. I'd forgotten about the knife edge and my thoughts when I poked my head over the edge and saw it was 'OH SHIT!'
Not for myself, but for my friend who dicovered half way up thye climb that she got vertigo! (She had previously done all her walking on Dartmoor). Give her credit though, she travesed the ridge all the way to the Pinacles before deciding she'd had enough and we decended the slope down to the Pyg track. THEN, rather than give up, and because she STILL wanted to climb Snowdon, we carried on to the summit that way! Just goes to show women have more guts and determination than men! Good luck, and keep up the good work.
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