UK Mountains Expedition Report

It was always going to be ambitious; 8 Welsh 3000s in a single day. Some years ago I did the entire route (see the Welsh 3000s report in the Long Distance Walks section) but that was some years ago.

An early start saw me leaving the car at Milestone buttress in the Ogwen Valley at 6am and heading straight up Tryfan to tackle the awesome North Ridge. From previous experience I knew to start steadily; it is steep right from the get go and is a long and sustained climb.

The weather wasn't brilliant but at least it was only misty and not actually raining. Looking for a starting point to the main ridge I headed up the path until almost level with the buttress and then headed in. I don't think there is an official route up and I'm pretty sure I've never done it the same way twice, today would be no different.

I tried to find the Cannon; a huge rock sticking out from the ridge and something of a test of the nerves to walk out to its end, but disappointingly I spotted it from well above and couldn't justify dropping back down, so left it for another day. I've stood on it in the past so it was nothing new.

One thing to bear in mind when climbing the North Ridge is that, if the climbing gets really hard, you are probably off route. It is a Grade 1 scramble so there should be no point where you feel a rope would be essential. Of course, that is subjective and we all have our fear levels. There are a couple of sections that require down-climbing to bridge gaps, following the main ridge this is unavoidable. Keeping Milestone Buttress immediately below is a good indicator of being on the right route

An hour and forty minutes and I crested the summit. Pausing briefly for a short rest I was soon off to the South summit, totally in the mist with about 10m visibility, I decided not to do Bristly Ridge as the rock was quite wet and that route really needs to be done in the dry. Bearing left over a stile, the route picks up the scree shoot on the right which goes straight to the top and is consistently hard going until it levels out. A short walk following cairns and I arrived at the Cantilever stone on Glyder Fach. Off to Glyder Fawr via the Castle in the Wind, best passed on its left. The actual summit is not marked so it is a case of finding the highest pile of rocks. My watch showed 1000m altitude so I was happy I was on the actual summit. From there an initial navigational error lost me a little time, with the rocky terrain and steep crags I couldn't afford any errors but soon corrected and I dropped down to Pen y Pass, finally coming into view out of the mist about half way down. At the Pass, I'd been walking for about 4 hours so I stopped at the YHA for coffee and cake before heading up the PYG track and onto Crib Goch, also shrouded in mist. Some say it's the best way to cross it; you can't see the big drops, but not being worried about heights I disagree.

Crib Goch was great, some superb climbing sections on great rock, not slippery, despite the mist and general dampness. Crib-y-Ddysgl was also great fun but then I came onto the Snowdon ascent route from Llanberis and the crowds! So far I had seen just a handful of people; none on Tryfan, none on the Glyders, five or six on Crib Goch and about a million on Snowdon. The summit was covered in people so I walked up to it, touched the top then went and found a reasonably quiet place for lunch. I'd been walking now for 7 1/2 hours.

Disappointingly water is not available at the Summit, although it was at Pen-y-Pass YH - worth remembering. I purchased a bottle of diet coke instead which was rather expensive at £2.50!

My descent took me down the train line route to the Halfway Station then right and steeply down to Nant Peris. This was probably the hardest part of the whole walk, being relentless and very steep. As I descended I heard the unmistakable sound of a Chinook, so readied my camera. As it turned out, there were two flying up the Pass - what a job is that!

I was really pleased to be at the bottom. My knees were complaining and my toes somewhat disgruntled at being forced to the front of my boots for such a long time. Just before Nant Peris, I found a small stream so refilled my water bladder. Just over 9 hours gone and I was onto the final big climb to Elidr Fawr (the Electric Mountain). On the way up my watch battery finally died which was a shame. I confess I struggled on this one, the legs complaining the whole way up. Thankfully it is not a false summit. A quick stop for food and drink and I headed round towards Y Garn. Just before Foel Goch I noticed a side path which meant I could avoid that one but then noticed a stile and path that headed down to Ogwen. I'd had enough so took the path. Again it was steeply down but then contoured round heading towards Llyn Idwal. I decided to head down again and pick up the small road to the Youth Hostel and along the road and back to the car, finally arriving after 13 hours which included an hour or so of stops. It had been an epic day, 39 km covered and 2,700m of ascent.

Today was a walk on the Carnedds. I'd planned to meet up with some friends I was in Nepal with which promised to be a nice day out.

We met in the Ogwen Valley and headed off towards Pen-y-Ole Wen via Cwm Lloer, the steepest climb of the day, with Ken on leading duties - it was great to be out for a walk without having to worry about navigation.

The weather was similar to yesterday's, not raining but misty on the summits with not much in the way of views, although it did clear a few times giving some great views North to Bethesda and South to Tryfan. The best of the views were lower down.

Leaving Pen-y-Ole Wen next stop was Carnedd Dafydd which was an easy walk and not much of a height gain. Wen is 978m and Dafydd is 1,044m. We had a brief rest here and Adam showed his class by bringing out two Pork Pies and offering me one. I have never knowingly refused a Pork Pie and today would not be the first time! Awesome!

Still with no view we headed off to the high point of the day; Llewelyn at 1,064m has been narrowly pushed into third highest in Wales behind Snowdon and Crib y Ddysgl (by 1 metre!) but proved easy again apart from the final climb. Lunchtime was declared especially as there was a circular shelter available. Eventually it was time to leave and head down.

The descent wasn't without its interest, especially when we arrived at a steep wall that required some careful down-climbing. The taller ones amongst us found no problems here but those with slightly, shall we say, shorter legs found it a little trickier, but being a team we all lent a hand and everyone descended safely. Further down just past the saddle where the path heads off to the right down to Cwm Llugwy it again got quite steep, but walkable. Ahead of us was Pen Llithrig y Wrach which Ken told us was Welsh for "Head of the Slippery Witch" and I am sure he is right. He did try, in vain, to get us to say it with a Welsh accent. No-one succeeded and I suspect everyone almost instantly forgot the correct pronunciation.

At the reservoir it was a long march down to the A5 followed by a short section of road before leaving it to follow a parallel track to the car park.

Our total walking distance was 16km with 972m of ascent.

A post-walk meal in the Siabod cafe rounded the day off nicely where we tucked into a variety of meals which were without exception, excellent. I had never been to that cafe before, but it will become a regular post-walk stop from now on.

The weather forecast was pretty awful so I decided to go for Moel Siabod, the highest in the Moelwyns and a mountain I'd never climbed. Whilst it was not one of the big boys, at 872m high it was a good bag nevertheless.

I parked at Plas y Brenin and immediately donned my waterproofs. A nice track circled me round to Joe Brown's in Capel Curig then across the road to pick up the Slate Trail before dropping down to the A5 again to cross it and up a lane to pick up the (signposted) track to the mountain.

A nice easy angled track took me steadily up. On a stop the waterproofs came off, but being the UK, I fully expected to be putting them back on again soon, it was that kind of day. Now, the map I had didn't show the entire mountain but I figured I could wing it near the top. Passing a few small lakes the route was enjoyable until the rain started again. Waterproofs back on. The cloud had descended and I couldn't see the top but knew it was on my right as I'd seen the lower ridge with nothing ahead. Up I went over rock and heather initially following a small track but that soon vanished so I made my way up as best I could. It soon became clear that I was well off the track as the angle steepened and I realised there was no point trying to memorize the route as it would be impossible to reverse it. Some very iffy rock and even iffier grass and heather. Testing every handhold and foot placement I eased my way slowly up in the mist, still not being able to see the top or even a way through the rock walls. Finally I spotted a break in the rock wall to my right so made my way towards that and as I got closer, could see it was a steep grassy slope and not too rocky. Testing the rock that was there I pulled up slowly, my legs complaining about the effort required gaining height until finally I crested the top onto easier ground. A few minutes later I spied a circular rock shelter which I aimed for. Now on the main ridge, the wind had picked up and was doing its very best to blow me off course but I persevered. As I approached the shelter I noticed the summit cairn was in sight so I decided to reach that first then return to the shelter for lunch.

Not wanting to stop for long as it was still cold despite the rock walls blocking the worst of the wind. I ate my lunch quickly and headed out in a North Easterly direction which I knew would take me in the right direction; I had ascended from the South side. As I lost some height, my luck was in, the mist cleared and I could see the road below. I could also see Plas y Brenin and even the path down. Descent was straightforward and probably the easiest and definitely the safest way onto and off the mountain. Soon enough I was in Plas y Brenin enjoying a coffee and cake.

My total distance for the day was 18km with 800m of ascent.