Last June I helped organise a walk up Snowdon for a group of guys from my church. There were twenty of us but we had decided to offer two different routes up the mountain. The easier route, up the Llanberis Path following the railway, was taken by seven of the group, mostly men in their fifties. The rest of us went up what is probably the best route up Snowdon, the Pyg Track. I led this group and had chosen to start at the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel, (possibly where the Pyg Track gets its name). This is not the usual start for the Pyg Track, but I knew that Pen-y-pass fills up very quickly and charges £10 a day to park. The parking near the hotel used to be an informal side-of-the-road affair but last year the Park Authority formalised it with proper surfacing and started charging (£4 a day, however when we got there we found the pay machines had been removed). For me the main attraction of starting at the hotel was a new path that had just been built linking the hotel with Pen-y-pass.
After good weather during our drive to Snowdonia the previous evening it was disappointing to wake up to grey cloud-covered skies, and even more so when it rained heavily on the short drive to our starting points. As the Llanberis group left to head over Pen-y-pass to their starting point the three cars in my group parked beside the road just after the hotel. Once we were ready to set off my co-leader asked if I had my map. I replied affirmatively, quickly whipping out my map from behind my back. The map then went back into my rucksack and never came out again throughout the rest of the day, such is my familiarity with the surroundings after thirteen previous walks up Snowdon. With the weather clearing up we started the walk along that new section of path from the road near the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel and across the southern slopes Moel Berfedd. It is a good little path, and I particularly enjoyed a small zigzag near a point that is marked on OS maps as Bwlch y Gwyddel. This involved a short scramble that was a foretaste of what was to come.
From there the path drops slightly to join the old path from Nant Gwynant. Beyond the junction the path deteriorates as the muddy, old path is unable to cope with the added traffic. We soon passed the worst of the mud and climbed steeply up to the crowds at Pen-y-pass. After a breather beside the car park we set off along the Pyg Track across the rocky terrain with excellent views north into Nant Peris. This is a particularly tricky section of the path, but my thirteen keen explorers coped admirably even when the heavens opened briefly once more. Despite climbing up the damp rocks we all safely made it to Bwlch y Moch (the pass of the pigs – another possible reason for the name of the Pyg Track). The path levels off after the pass with stunning views across Llyn Llydaw towards Snowdon giving an added boost to the easier walking. 
The pace of the group throughout was much slower than I’m used to, but I had to put in some much quicker walking on the occasions when I had try and catch up with the leading group who were leaving the others behind. I have hardly done any walking group leading and I found that the hardest thing to do is keeping the whole group together. After passing a second lake, Glaslyn, we climbed steeply up the hillside to the top of Bwlch Glas, the pass between Snowdon and its neighbour, Garnedd Ugain. It is at that point that the Llanberis Path joins the Pyg Track, and as if on cue the rest of our party appeared along the path, except it was only half the Llanberis group as unlike my group, they had split in two. I sent my co-leader off to walk down the Llanberis Path to check on the other half while I took the rest of us up the final half a kilometre to the crowded summit of Snowdon. The rest of our party turned out to be not far behind so after we had all been to the ridiculously crowded summit and café we descended partly down the ridge to a suitably quiet point where we could have lunch.
The pace of the group throughout was much slower than I’m used to, but I had to put in some much quicker walking on the occasions when I had try and catch up with the leading group who were leaving the others behind. I have hardly done any walking group leading and I found that the hardest thing to do is keeping the whole group together. After passing a second lake, Glaslyn, we climbed steeply up the hillside to the top of Bwlch Glas, the pass between Snowdon and its neighbour, Garnedd Ugain. It is at that point that the Llanberis Path joins the Pyg Track, and as if on cue the rest of our party appeared along the path, except it was only half the Llanberis group as unlike my group, they had split in two. I sent my co-leader off to walk down the Llanberis Path to check on the other half while I took the rest of us up the final half a kilometre to the crowded summit of Snowdon. The rest of our party turned out to be not far behind so after we had all been to the ridiculously crowded summit and café we descended partly down the ridge to a suitably quiet point where we could have lunch. 
Despite the cold weather at the summit everyone was thrilled to have made it to the top of the highest point in either England or Wales, but of course now we had to get back down again. After the Llanberis group headed back down the Llanberis Path I led my group down the Pyg Track to the point where the Miners' Track diverges. After a tricky, steep descent to the shore of Glaslyn the remainder of our walk was relatively easy as we dropped gradually besides the lakes to Pen-y-pass, and ended with the short walk along the new path to the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel. After the rain at the start of the walk we were blessed with good, warm, sunny weather except on the cold and windy summit. Everyone had a great time and I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of leading a group up a mountain.
The next day it rained all morning, but despite this we did the short walk around Capel Curig that had been planned. I had never done this walk before but had not brought the instructions with me from the website where we’d found it (and is no longer available). Consequently I was frequently looking at the map and, with hindsight, didn’t follow the prescribed route, and in the end we actually got lost. At one point we had reached a junction of paths and I had no idea where we were or which way we were supposed to be going. With a couple of the other walking leaders crowding around me in the pouring rain, I got out my compass and determined where we were and where we needed to go (along a very boggy path!). After all we had achieved the previous day I can’t believe I got us all lost; please don’t tell anyone, I don’t think I’d ever live it down!
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