Last week was that time of year again for the annual pilgrimage to Yr Wyddfa / Snowdon summit: Snowdon In The Snow. Pilgrimage? Well, the same route repeated each year, albeit with varying group composition and often with a physical / meteorological challenge to get to a snow-capped pinnacle feels like a pilgrimage to me. I’m not religious but I was praying for decent weather and the chance to see (for once) some views from the top. Hallelujah (ok, I’ll stop now) – the weather was with us and we had great views in the biting air on the summit.
Snowdonia
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.
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 >
Walking The Rhinogs
I tackled the Rhinogs this weekend. I had them billed in my mind as great training for the Yorkshire 3 peaks but they turned out to really challenging in their own right. To find them not challenging, I would have had to have been a bit fitter and also not so plagued on a couple of steep boulder climbs with … read more >