Normally at this time of the year I would spend a few days in the Lake District before Christmas, but this year that is not possible. It is heartbreaking for me to not go to the Lake District, but that will only make the moment when I am finally able to return all the more special. With nothing to write about in this blog I thought I’d start an examination of some of the great mountains in Britain and Ireland and I am starting with the mountain that I have climbed more times than any other: Snowdon. My total is now seventeen times since my first ascent in 2003, however they were almost all in the first ten years having achieved my fifteenth ascent in 2012, and when I realised I was climbing Snowdon every year simply out of routine, I stopped. So, what had motivated me to climb one mountain so many times in such a short space of time? The best answer is because it is a great mountain with few others in Britain that come close. First off, the appearance of Snowdon from a distance looks like a mountain rising to a sharp peak as we always imagined mountains to do when we were children. From the eastern approach, particularly on the Miners' Track, the top of Snowdon makes a striking appearance from near Llyn Teryn, the first and smallest of the three lakes that are passed on this path.
Snowdon is a broad mountain that has many different paths that can be used coming from all directions. The one that I used on my first ascent, in 2003, was from the west passing over the lower foothills before joining the Snowdon Ranger Path that starts from the shore of Llyn Cwellyn. This is one of the easier routes of ascent, but involves a satisfying climb up the ridge above Clogwyn Du’r Arddu. There are so many different routes up Snowdon that the very next day after my first ascent I climbed Snowdon again, this time using one of the most difficult routes up Snowdon, along the Watkin Path. Perhaps this is another reason why Snowdon is such a good mountain as there are so many different routes you can keep coming back and hardly traverse the same path twice. Officially there are six different routes up Snowdon, however I have used another four. How many other mountains have this many different routes of ascent? The Watkin Path starts from Nantgwynant to the south climbing through the valley of Cwm Llan before reaching the saddle of Bwlch Ciliau and from there climbing across the steep, southern slopes below the summit.
This is a great path and is one of my favourites, but the best place to start an ascent is at Pen-y-pass to the east where two different paths set off towards Snowdon. The Pyg Track is an excellent path that must rank as one of the best routes up any mountain in Britain. It climbs rocky ground that requires some scrambling to Bwlch y Moch before traversing the slopes below Crib Goch and Garnedd Ugain. For all of its difficulty it is pretty safe, which cannot be said for a variation that leaves the Pyg Track at Bwlch y Moch to climb with some serious and steep scrambling to the knife-edge ridge of Crib Goch. I first climbed this way in 2005 in bad weather, which is not a good idea, but somehow I succeeded in the hair-raising traverse and returned the following year in much better weather. Subsequently I have done the traverse two more times in the opposite direction and it has always terrified me. The routes up Snowdon vary considerably from the tame to the terrifying and there are others even more difficult than Crib Goch that I have never done. Whatever level of difficulty you want there is a path or climb for you.
Also starting from Pen-y-pass is the Miners' Track, which is very easy while gently climbing to the shore of Glaslyn, but then a steep climb leads up below Garnedd Ugain to join the Pyg Track up to Snowdon. The Snowdon Horseshoe walk ascends by Crib Goch and descends over the ridge to the south of the Miners' Track passing over Y Lliwedd before descending to join the Miners' Track. This is one of the greatest mountain walks in Britain and I did it in 2006 and again in 2012 in the opposite direction. It is an unrelenting trial of your scrambling skills and of your head for heights as you traverse the two narrow ridges either side of the lakes passed on the Miners' Track. Seeking an unorthodox route in 2007 I came off the Miners' Track just before Glaslyn and scrambled up a ridge called Y Gribin that leads steeply up to the Watkin Path between Bwlch Ciliau and Bwlch y Saethau. This is a great climb, but all too short, though it shows that variations of the official routes are always possible and only adds to the appeal of this great mountain.
The route up Snowdon that I have least used is actually one of the best. It starts from the village of Rhyd-Ddu, south west of Snowdon and lends its name to the path. I ascended by the Rhyd-Ddu Path in 2009 and it is initially pretty straightforward with a gradual gradient before climbing steeply to the top of the western ridge of Snowdon that is called Llechog. An excellent ridge walk continues the ascent even when the terrain steepens again with the path taking the gradient through a series of severe zigzags. In 2009 I discovered snow at this point that threatened to force me into turning back, but I judged the snow to be soft enough to proceed even as the ridge narrows deliciously. At this point the southern ridge above Clogwyn Du joins as the Rhyd-Ddu Path passes over Bwlch Main before a final ascent takes the path up to the summit. The southern ridge is often used as the return route for the Rhyd-Ddu Path and is also an excellent route, but I have only ever used it with the Watkin Path, and it works equally well with either. I have been guilty of forsaking the western slopes in favour of the more famous eastern approaches from Pen-y-pass, but the routes from the west are no less great and I must make a point of climbing by that way again, when I am able.
It doesn’t matter which route you take to climb Snowdon even if you follow the hordes of people on the longest and gentlest route that starts from Llanberis. Snowdon is a proper mountain with rock in abundance on its upper slopes and many narrow ridges branching in many directions. There is a reason why I have climbed it so many times, but also a reason why I have not climbed it much since 2012. Snowdon is such a great mountain it draws in people who don’t ordinarily climb mountains, many of them doing the ascent purely for charity. But Snowdon is too good to climb simply for money and deserves to be climbed simply for its own sake. Unfortunately the immense crowds now put me off as I love to get away from people when climbing a mountain and on Snowdon that is not possible. If only it was a little lower and everyone was crowding over Carnedd Llewellyn instead so they can leave Snowdon for those who appreciate it for what it really is and not simply the highest mountain in Wales. That is not why I have climbed it seventeen times. I have climbed Snowdon seventeen times because it is an utterly great mountain.
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