Snowdon over Crib Goch

I am continuing my series of posts from my exploits in Wales during May 2005 with my first ever traverse of the perilous Crib Goch:

Monday 2nd May 2005

The weather for this walk was pretty awful as is usual on a Bank Holiday Monday, but that didn't put me off as I parked at Pen-y-Pass and paid my £4 fee for the pleasure. Initially I set off along the Pyg Track with the crowds of people who were heading up to Snowdon but I left them behind after going through a gate at Bwlch y Moch and headed up towards Crib Goch past all the warning signs. The weather was worsening as clouds closed in and it started to rain, but I was resolved to go over Crib Goch under any circumstances so I continued unabated. Soon, I encountered other people also heading up the rocky slope and started following two guys also picking their way up the steep, slippery surface. We started chatting and agreed that we would brave the weather conditions together and head over Crib Goch. I found the scramble up rather straight forward if a little tricky in the difficult weather conditions, but the top of the ridge was another matter. Once at the top I was in a no-mans land with clouds all around me and a constant buffeting of strong winds, though fortunately the rain had eased (for the moment). I don't mind saying I was petrified up there. Climbing up the rock wall was easy compared with shuffling along the top of the knife edge ridge with my right leg constantly kicking my left leg as I tried to get past it so I could move a little further along. In the strong wind I had no confidence to move along the ridge by anything more than a short shuffle, and at the points where I had to make a short descent I was almost struck rigid while trying to bring up the confidence to make even one simple step, and even that was easy compared with one point where I had to cross a flat slab of stone that couldn’t be crossed by any other means than walking across! It took me quite a few moments before I could summon up the courage to go over to the rocks on the other side of the slab.

The worst was almost over, with just one more tricky point where we couldn't find a way over a pinnacle on the ridge ahead that necessitated scrambling around the southern side of the structure in order to get past it. One of the two guys I was with thought the path must head straight downhill at this point for there was apparently no other route, but I was sure we had to stay at the top of the ridge so argued for us to find a way back up, which was eventually found. I'm sure in good weather this uncertainty would not have been present, but in bad weather the presence of a few cairns were a reassurance that we were indeed going the right way and soon the top of the ridge was found again, which led us down to Bwlch Coch. The remaining ridge up Crib y Ddysgl, while still presenting some tricky moments, was a more straight-forward ridge walk and led us up the hill to eventually reach the trig point on Garnedd Ugain. The way to Snowdon was down a simple slope to Bwlch Glas, where we joined the Llanberis Path and the railway, with the Pyg Track joining us from the left. The crowds increased as we climbed up to the summit, which as always, even in such poor weather, was full of people. After all the excitement, thrills and nervousness on Crib Goch it was almost an annoyance to see all these people. The deserted summit of Garnedd Ugain was much more to my liking.

After a lunch surrounded by the dozens of people milling around the summit I said goodbye to my two walking companions who were descending by the Pyg track as I headed south-west from the summit to the start of the Watkin Path. The scree slope below the summit of Snowdon where the Watkin Path descends to Bwlch Saethau is a maze of paths that can be very confusing when in clouds. When I did the Watkin Path two years previously I was also under clouds on this section and found that the most difficult part of the route then, probably because I was straying off the easiest path. On this walk I had a similar problem as my route became steeper and more precarious until eventually I discovered the proper path below me. I resolved then to do this section in clear weather as soon as possible just so I could see where I should have been going on both these occasions. As I descended the heavens opened and it started raining heavily which made the descent even more awkward.

When I reached Bwlch Ciliau I had a decision to make: do I continue over Y Lliwedd as planned or do I stay alive and keep on the Watkin Path all the way down into the valley. The weather conditions were now so bad I decided that the prudent move would be to go down the Watkin Path into Cwm Llan as heavy rain was continuing to fall. This was a pleasant walk in the rain but I did have a problem: my waterproof trousers had split while going over Crib Goch so my trousers were now saturated which was making my foot wet as well. Because I'd bought a cheap pair of waterproof trousers I would be finishing the walk with a wet left foot; c'est la vie. When I eventually reached Nantgwynant I discovered that I had just missed the bus, so rather than wait an hour for the next bus I decided that I would walk back to Pen-y-Pass up the valley. I followed the northern bank of the Afon Glaslyn along some very muddy and often indistinct paths past Llyn Gwynant and the small hydro-electric power station at the head of the valley. I had walked from Pen-y-Pass to Nanygwynant on the walk mentioned before, though in better weather, but even then I remember the path as being difficult to follow and muddy, but of course compared with the top of Crib Goch it was a piece of cake and soon I was walking up the hill beside the Afon Trawsnant back up to Pen-y-Pass.

That was the end of my very eventful weekend in Snowdonia. It had many highlights but also many bad moments, not least seriously hurting my knee. I rested my knee for most of the rest of May but returned to Snowdon at the end of the month in order to complete my traverse of Y Lliwedd when I enjoyed considerably better weather.