The Not Snowdon In The Snow trip 2017

Llanberis path on Snowdon In The Snow trip

The last few years have seen me join a trip to Snowdon / Yr Wyddfa (traditionally called ‘Snowdon In the Snow’) with a group of friends – some old, some new. I’ve organised it a couple of times too, if my unreliable memory serves me well.

The trip this weekend comprised seven of us and was organised by Jenny.

The annual (to date) trip originated before I first attended in 2012.

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A Snowdon jaunt

I headed over to Yr Wyddfa / Snowdon on Saturday with some Marsden mates and my son (also a mate). I knew them all but (stick with me) they didn’t all know each other before the walk. I forget how a big a village / small town Marsden is.

Five of the guys hadn’t walked up Snowdon before so there was a nice sense of excitement. I’ve been on a few ‘Snowdon in the Snow’ trips over the last 4 years, always sociable fun and a good day’s walk. But being in January or early Feb, they had all been susceptible to poor weather. In fact, last year saw four of us battle a blizzard and turn back (sensibly) just before the Clogwyn Coch area.

So this year’s trip, falling as it did in the third week of March, could have brought clear skies and amazing vistas.

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The Misty Mountain .. a walk up Snowdon

Hiker Snowdon Pen Y Pas

I planned  for a while (along with son Joe) to have a walk up Snowdon / Yr Wyddfa, to ‘rectify’ not going all the way to the top in snowy February. Joe wanted to get the top as he’s never been to the summit and I wanted to see it in actual sunshine. All of my trips to the top have seen mist, rain, sleet or snow (or all four!).

And I also wanted some training for my forthcoming Yorkshire 3 Peaks challenge.

We headed off early on Saturday in the hope of getting a space in the Pen-Y-Pass car park and then starting up the Pyg Track nice and early (7.30 ish). So, we left the house at 5 a.m, we did indeed get to the car park at 7.30 a.m – but it was already full. I parked further down the hill towards Llanberis in one of two large lay-bys. And we then walked for twenty minutes back up hill to the Pyg Track start. It’s all good Yorkshire 3 Peaks training exercise I guess 🙂

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Snowdon In the Snow 2013

Joe on the path up towards Cwm Glas Bach

About this time last week I was two thirds towards the summit of Snowdon (just above the railway bridge and with the cliffs of Cwm Glas Bach on my left as I looked up hill to Clogwyn Coch). And that’s as far as I got. Standing with son Joe and a couple of other mates (from a much larger group strung out above and below us on Llanberis path), I was ho-humming about completing the final section to the top. Some time with Joe and a cup of tea back at the Pen Ceunant Tea House won out. Down through the snow storm (and then sleet) we headed. More of that later, I’m getting ahead of myself…

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Snowdon in the snow – a sociable, introspective hike

This post could be a tale of two hikes. One a social outing, getting to know new people, sharing the challenge (and fun) of taking on one of the highest mountains in the UK, in winter. The other a personal journey, raising money in memory of my Father in Law and also tackling an old demon (more of that later). … read more >

Snowdon in the Snow .. maybe

I don’t normally write ahead of a walk , if I was planning a trip up K2 I could spin it out with talk of meetings and kit planning. Actually, if I was doing a long distance trail (a true Hike with some over-nighting) then I’d share plans. But all of the hikes I do are a bit shorter than that. They’re still tough … read more >