Well, I'm all excited! Last year I bought a massive dome tent for £80 (with 2 double bedrooms + 1 single + a huge communal area), I bought all the camping kit too - stove, pans, double inflatable mattress and so on - but didn't get to use it!
. A few months ago I was up in Snowdonia for a mate's wedding and I drove past the foot of the highest mountain in England and Wales - Snowdon - and it got me thinking, I'd love to go to the summit again.
(Ive done it 5 times before but that was when I lived in North Wales.)
I made my mind up 2 months ago and picked August bank holiday weekend as the time to go, I have a mate and his missus from my gym coming too. The weather report is favorable - clear, sunny and dry - perfect!
I can't wait to see the S*n, the past week down here has been sh*t, no S*n, just constant cloud cover and rain, rain, rain!
My mate has been in Cornwall and said it had been 80 degrees there!
So at 7am today I load my car (which has just sailed through it's MOT at 14yrs old!
) and head over to pick up the other happy campers, then it's a 5 hour drive to North West Wales.
We'll pitch tent in a field in Llanberis, close to the twin lakes.
I stayed here in 1993 for the 33rd Dragon Rally, a biker's event, it was so bloody cold it was untrue!
This is the site, Garth farm near Llanberis and Snowdon is the highest mountain in the picture.
Can't wait to get back to basics, it should be great fun! Pity is I'm gonna miss the match v Sunderland, just hope there's a 3G signal up there otherwise Eddie might have to give me a running commentary on the game! .
I fancy a comfortable 3-1
Have a great Bank Holiday weekend guys, I'll post a few pics and a report early next week!
REPORT SUBMITTED ON 3RD SEPTEMBER
25th AUGUST
Well doesn't time fly when you're having fun?!
A week today I would have climbed Snowdon and be returning to my car, almost to the very minute as I finally get a chance to submit this report!
I hardly slept on Friday night as I prepared all the camping kit for The Bank Holiday trip to Snowdonia. This was the 1st time I'd been camping in 10 years!
I arrived at my mate's house at 7.45am and duly loaded the car with all their kit including the obligatory guitar. The trip North was fairly uneventful save for the fact I nearly crunched the car into the central resevation barrier when tiredness got the better of me,
the rumble patch stirred me instantly and I realized it was time to stop at once - a scary moment indeed. My mate took over the driving for 15mins but got suck in bumper to bumper traffic, I felt fine after a short rest and we swapped back (I didn't appreciate the way he was revving the bollocks off the car so intervened ASAP!).
We arrived at the campsite in Capel Currig at 2pm after negotiating the tourist hot spots of Llangollen and Betws-y-Coed. Now the fun could begin! It took approx. 1 hour to erect the tent (now affectionately called The Castle due to it's size!) It had never been out of it's box since the day I bought it last year but now it was up - groundsheet, guy ropes, fly tent, 2 double inflatable mattresses and 3 self contained bedrooms with en-suite facilities :
Dining was catered for courtesy of Tyn y Coed Hotel in Capel Curig - landmarked by it's famous yellow stage coach. The food is excellent and reasonably priced, perfect!
No cooking or washing up, I'm on holiday! I actually ate too much but when someone else is cooking for a change why not?!
We rustled up some firewood from a skip in the pub car park and Nigel and Kristina belted out a few songs on the banjo, I can't sing / play a guitar to save me life so just had to sit back / lie back and admire. For the 1st time in history I went to bed before Midnight. Photographic evidence has me asleep by the fire as early as 11pm... but it had been a long day and who knows what the 'morrow would bring! The weather incidentally had been dry and sunny all day, a welcome change from a week of cloud cover and rain in London.
26th AUGUST
Woke about 8am and wandered down to the nearby steam for a paddle and a quick freshen up before we headed over to Llanberis (where the train leaves from the foot of Snowdon for the climb to the summit). Was pleased to find an old haunt in Pete's Eats, the climber's caff, was still there. Again it was 10 years or more since I last visited but true to form class is permanent and the cafe still knocks out a wicked big breakfast for a fiver which sets you up for your big day out, whatever you're doing!
So at 11am we dropped Kristina at the Llanberis station, she had decided to go on her own up Snowdon as she needed some 'head space', time alone to work out some issues in her life. It came as a surprise to me and Nigel but she had decided the night before and so we wished her well, arranging to collect her at 6.30pm at the latest. We drove back another 3 miles to our start point, that became 4 miles as the car park was full! a 15min walk got us back to our start point and we saw the Air Sea Rescue helicopter close by as it's landing pad was close to the path we had to ascend.
The start - The Pyg Track
The ascent started with negotiating the Pyg track which was well defined but steep in places, a few knees at 90 degrees moments along the way, not a walk in places but leaning more towards a climb. A post in the ground indicated the parting of the ways - the Pyg track continued to the left whilst the challenge of the climb up Grib Goch began on the right. From here on in there would be no path as such and the route to the top of the mountain would be of your own choosing! It would be best to describe the next few hours as a test of nerve as you had to live with the choices you made - each hand grip and foot hold was crucial! - humans falling onto rocks don't mix.
The first (and most difficult) obstacles are the crags appearing to bar the way up the east flank of Crib Goch. Almost any route can be taken up (at varying levels of difficulty) but the easiest route requires a bit of trust at one stage as the way ahead lies hidden while traversing round a steep bulge with a 20m drop beneath. As we scrambled up to the start of the ridge of Grib Goch, I did get that "If I fu*k this up it could be nasty!" moments. I was literally depending on my ability not to bottle it as I moved from one position to the next! I actually had to back track at one point when I came to a dead end in as much as I had a severe drop to my left and no way of progressing! Once above the first obstacle the way up is straightforward but intimidatingly steep on both sides. A small platform on the eastern end of the summit ridge provides the last opportunity for snacks, we surveyed the views before us, it was magnificent!
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Grib Coch
Crib Goch (the red ridge) is in the Snowdon Massif area and forms part of the route called the 'Snowdon Horseshoe', this is a grade 1/2 scramble but is not for those with a fear of heights or exposure. (Grade 3 requires ropes, 3S = Severe / Stupid!
The route starts as a broad rib then as height is gained with some good scrambling the rib turns into a horizontal ridge, a classic knife edge ridge with steep sides and a very narrow top.
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The Dangers
Thursday, 8 March 2007, 17:44 GMT
Walker killed in Snowdonia fall Crib Goch
The man is believed to have fallen while climbing on Crib Goch
A man has died after falling more than 300ft (91m) from a narrow mountain ridge in the Snowdonia National Park.
The experienced hill walker, who was 60 and from the Greater Manchester area, was with his son-in-law, who raised the alarm on his mobile phone on Crib Goch.
Police have confirmed that a rescue operation was launched just after 1100 GMT on Thursday.
The 19-strong Llanberis mountain rescue team and an RAF rescue helicopter were involved in the search.
North Wales Police said the walker was taken to Ysbyty Gwynedd in Bangor, where he was pronounced dead.
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The ridge proper is very narrow with a vertical 100m drop one side and a super steep scree drop on the other side. The ridge doesn't last long (about 200m) and then it's time for the pinnacles! The first two can be traversed easily on the left or climbed with little exposure. It's safest to climb the third pinnacle as the way round is on steep loose ground. This pinnacle requires an exposed 'step ladder' ascent with a large drop beneath you. After the third pinnacle, the way forward is easy and straightforward in comparison. Further along the route is Garnedd Ugain, 1,065 m (3,494 ft) - the second highest peak in Wales, and lies just over one kilometre north of Snowdon itself.
On the descent I broke into a bit of a downhill run before we joined the Llanberis path, adjacent to the railway and also the path Kristina had taken.
The Summit
The summit was packed with tourists and a bit of an anti-climax. A couple of dogs on the summit made it worth my while! The views were second to none, well worth the trip. A new summit cafe, shop, toilets was under construction so no refreshments were available! I had done 90% of the climb in a sleeveless t-shirt and shorts (with extra clothing just in case!) It was a bit nippy on top of the highest mountain in England and Wales 1085m / 3560ft. I put on my gloves and fleece for all of 5mins before the decent via the Pyg track.
A few hours later we were back at Pen Y Pass and I ran (in my boots!) back to collect the car. It was 6:15pm and we had promised to meet Kristina by 6:30! She had a great experience and actually went back via the Pyg track and was no more than half an hour in front of us! Her ascent was longer but easier so she was able to do the whole trip plus a 3 mile bus ride back to Llanberis so we could pick her up!
It was a great adventure and we celebrated with an Indian meal in a restaurant I'd been to 10 years previously! Another fire was constructed back at base camp and we watched the moon rise and light up the valley to round off an Amazing Adventure!
