Crib Shock (Yr Wyddfa for beginners) - Photo Gallery

I arrived at Dolwyddelan in the dark and had my usual trouble finding a side road, negotiating the stone walls and avoiding the sheep protecting their new born lambs by lying across the road in front of me. Eventually I managed to park the car without damaging it outside the Bunkhouse at Bryn Tirion farm just below Dolwyddelan Castle or what remains of it. The night was chilly under a clear sky, I was hoping the weather would be good enough and my friends would be keen enough to take me to Snowdon the following day.

In the morning the mist was thick for a short while but when the sun came through it was warm enough for me to venture out in shorts and teeshirt. Five of us set off intending to leave the car at Pen-y-Pass but by 9:15 the car park was already full, I had to drive a mile along the road to a layby and catch the Park & Ride bus back to the Pass. We walked across the crowded car park to a gate, the start of the famous Pyg Track and our walk to Snowdon.

The path is well made but quickly steepens and as it gets steeper it gets rougher in rocky surroundings. Soon we got the first view of Crib Goch, for my own purposes I'm calling the steep sided hill by that name although technically it probably just refers to the arete. Whatever it is called the hill is impressively steep sided and elegantly shaped, the climb up the ridge looks intimidating and inviting at the same time.

The path is interesting and you don't notice the steepness, all the while I was anticipating Crib Goch, I have heard about it many times but never seen any photographs. You reach a small col named Bwlch-y-Moch, obviously the local version of a Scottish bealach, this is where you leave the Pyg Track and begin the climb to Crib Goch. No more messing about, it is all steeply uphill from here and the higher you get the steeper and rockier it becomes.

At first there is a path of sorts as you scramble over boulders but as you get higher it is rock you are climbing, too hard to be eroded by mere boots. There are some steep sections to negotiate along narrow ledges but the hand holds are very reliable and so are the footholds most of the time. It is walking with all four limbs but the best way of gaining height, the rock is very abrasive so you won't slip but it is hard on the hands when you are clinging on tightly.

It is an excellent climb, steep and strenuous but the view is fantastic already, then you reach the top of the ridge and you get the first view of Crib Goch. If someone had been there for me to say something I would have been speechless, I suppose it exceeded my expectations. The ridge itself is steep sided rising to a pointed crest, it is just perfectly presented in the light and shade of a sunny day. Beyond is the elegant mass of Snowdon joined by a shallow col to the equally impressive Garnedd Ugain.

Any apprehension about crossing the knife edged crest was quickly eradicated by the large number of people on it already and even more behind me on their way, if all this lot are going to do it then it must be alright. There is a definite stepping on place when you are suddenly part of Crib Goch. The conditions are so good that I could have seen the thousand feet to the bottom of slope if I had taken my eyes off watching where I was putting my feet. To be honest it wasn't as difficult as I was expecting, you walk a little bit off the crest and hang on to the top of it like holding a handrail.

Having said that nothing could take away the exhilaration of being there, I wasn't worrying about whether I had locked the car. When I stopped to look around it certainly looked like hard work for other people and I also had a suspicion that Crib Goch would have a surprise in store. Most exhilarating ridges wait until you think you have finished before showing their own version of a “bad step”. After descending the end of the knife edge there is a small broader area before you get to a rock outcrop, did I hear someone mention the word “pinnacles”?

We walked around the outcrop and then they came into view, those outcrops were not for going around. I watched my two friends climb up the first rock pinnacle and I saw two other walkers struggling over steep rocky ground to get around it. I might never be here in these conditions again so I decided I had to climb, it is only about five metres of hard bare rock but it is a very long and hard way down. The climb up was alright, good abrasive rock with excellent hand holds enabling me to make that final little pull onto the small top of the pinnacle.

Now I was sure that I didn't feel very comfortable, the way down was just as steep, it was still a long way down to the valley, the second pinnacle was now visible and there was no option to go around that. I noticed that there was a way down from my perch, on the left without the exposure of the right hand side and I was soon amongst a crowd of walkers queuing to climb the second pinnacle. From a distance it looked impossibly steep, from close it still looked impossibly steep but at least you could see the way up.

Being in the shade there was a little bit of ice on some of the rocks where you put your feet but the hand holds were secure, this was no place to hesitate and everyone just got up as quickly as possible. Then suddenly it is all over, after a short rest and a short steep scramble down we were at Bwlch Goch ready for an easy walk to the summit of Garnedd Ugain. After a short walk over grass we came to a rock outcrop that looked as though you might walk around it but no, this one had to be climbed too. Well, the initial rock step would normally be bypassed but that wouldn't have been in the spirit of Crib Goch would it?

Good hand holds again got me over the rock step, then boulders to be scrambled over and you are on another rocky ridge. This ridge is set at a different angle so the crest is flat topped and can be walked and you can't see the even steeper drop on the left hand side from the crest. This would be everybody's favourite ridge if we hadn't just come across Crib Goch. Eventually you reach the triangulation column at the top of Garnedd Ugain, all this and a thousand metre summit as well.

The descent to Bwlch Glas is relatively easy, no more boulders and it isn't too steep or too far. It was around this time I began to notice the backs of my neck and legs reminding me just what a sunny day it was, it is only March so I can't possibly be getting sunburned can I? At the col is where a couple of other paths meet, the one that started life as the Pyg Track and the so called tourist route. It is a strange meeting place where those who have experienced an exhilarating ridge join those who have walked up by the side of the railway line.

The railway line then keeps you company all the way to the station just below the summit, the trains aren't running at this time of year and in a couple of places the track is blocked by the remnants of snowdrifts. The summit of Snowdon is full of people, those who insist on touching the summit cairn would have to struggle through a ten deep crowd of people to do so. The views all around are fantastic and it was very pleasant sitting just below the summit whilst my bare legs are forehead were roasted just a little bit more.

After all that the descent was going to be a bit of an anti climax, back down to the col first and turn right on the good reconstructed path. Funny how snow always seems to collect in the best paths and so it was we had the first couple of hundred of metres of the path full of snow. From then on it was just a gentle stroll back down to Pen-y-Pass or it would have been if I hadn't been trying to keep up with Simon and Sharon. It was only with keep stopping to take photos that I fell behind, honest.

It took the best part of two hours to get back to the car park from the summit of Snowdon, it was still sunny and warm while we waited thirty minutes for the bus. It had been an excellent day, I had a new respect for the mountains of Wales and a determination to pronounce Yr Wyddfa properly.

Andy Wallace 19th March 2005