WALES - MAY 2015

SNOWDON HORSESHOE VIA CRIB GOCH

So for the first time in all the time that we have been together, we had a long bank holiday weekend off together! We both were off over the bank holiday from Friday and we planned to go to Wales to finally climb and conquer the Snowdon Horseshoe via Crib Goch. We have been threatening for ages to climb Crib Goch, which is a very sheer knife edge ridge walk around to the summit of Snowdon....only the hardcore need apply!

A lot of websites about Crib Goch suggest getting some scrambling experience under your belt before attempting it, such as Striding or Sharp Edge, so we were well and truly broken in. We went up early on the Friday, meeting Mr & Mrs S there and planned to camp at a camp-site that was literally at the bottom of Snowdon, but on the other side of where we needed to start our climb. Mr & Mrs S had got there before us having left and hour and half before us (keen beans!) and so had their tent up already. They brought along another tent for us to live in whilst we were there too. Unfortunately by the time we got there, it was showering a fine misty rain and so sat in the car waiting for it to ease off and had lunch which Mrs F made before we came out so we were all set and ready for our lunches on the mountain and no need to make them in the tent. Once both tents were up and ready to live in, we did plan on going for a mini climb/trek somewhere to stretch our legs ready for the big 8-10 hours climb the next day. However, with the weather being pretty nasty, we were actually quite content with just chilling out in the tents.

We decided to go out for a quick drink before coming back to a home-made Chilli-Con-Carne which Mrs S had prepared for us which was lovely and tasty. Mr F decided at 8:30 that he was completely shattered and so we ended up heading off to bed whilst Mr & Mrs S took a quick stroll down by the lake that was right next to our camp-site.
Mrs F had one of the best hearty laughs that she needed in such a long time...she envisioned Mr F turning over during the night and coming off the air bed and bringing the tent down with him and couldn't get the image out of her head and so was laughing her head off for at least 5 minutes with Mr F looking puzzled as to what she was laughing at. But every time she tried to tell him it just made her worse!
Mr F was all snuggled up in our sleeping bags that we hadn't used since being on our Everest Base Camp trek, whilst Mrs F was quite awake still. There really was no point at all in even trying to sleep as the camp site was getting quite busy with the sound of air beds being blown up, kids playing, dogs barking and one guy played his guitar consistently until 11:30!! Since we head to be up really early to guarantee a parking space by the start of the climb, this didn't bode well with Mrs F who needs lots of sleep without a planned climb. She was woken up during the night by the man in the tent behind who was one of the worst snorers in history. The funny thing was Mrs F was elbow digging Mr F thinking it was him!


Getting ready in Mr & Mrs S's tent for delicious chilli....

Our Tents Whilst The Site Isn't So Full

                                      In Our Tent...

DAY 1: SNOWDON HORSESHOE VIA CRIB GOCH
8 HOURS TREKKING/SCRAMBLING/CLIMBING

The early morning mountains around us...

Needless to say we were awake well before our alarm went off at 6am. There was no point in waiting to get the day started once we were awake at that point, so we all just got up and started to get ready. Mrs F taped her knees with Kinesio tape the night before and pre-cut her knee tape so she could half the time spent on knee taping as we needed to get a shifty on in the morning and get out. Mrs S made us tea and porridge for breakfast and we had a banana too...carb loading for the mammoth day ahead. We were out half an hour than intended and managed to take the 2nd to last parking space at the Pen-Y-Pass car park that is at the top of Llanberis pass. Mr F was pointing a few other people around in their cars being the good Samaritan :-)

As we started heading up, we stopped to say a prayer as always asking the Lord to be with us as He always is on our climbs and carried on for Crib Goch...

Getting Ready To Set Off From The Car Park

We set of going up the same way that connects up to the Pyg track, which got it's name from the Pen y Gwryd hotel at Pen-y-pass, which was the base for Hillary and Tenzing while training for Everest. It's a popular route to take if you have kids or aren't used to heavy treks. We went got to the summit via the Pyg track once before when we were training for Everest Base Camp, which was in January and very hard going with the cold blustery 80mph winds! However, today was perfect climbing conditions for what we were about to climb, it wasn't warm but enough intermittent cloud covering so we didn't have the hot sun beating on us constantly. The main thing was we ha 100% visibility which was vital for going over Crib Goch...

The Way Up With Crib Goch Dead Ahead

Mr F Selfie

Half An Hour In And The Humidity Was Starting To Kick In!

Heading For Crib Goch

After we trekked up and onwards a while, we came across a wooden stile at Bwlch y moch which had a warning sign for those not wishing to carry on via Crib Cogh...

Making Our Way To The Eastern Side Of Crib Cogh Via Zigzags 

The zigzag path bent round to the right where there is a good scrambling chimney to climb in order to make our way to the start of the Crib Goch ridge walk. It was technically quite challenging in itself but loads of fun to climb. It was quite a bit of upper body work with having to hoist ourselves up steep parts...

Mr F Checking Out The Scramble

Mr F Heading Back Down To Help Mrs S

Mrs F In Her Mountain Goat Element!

Almost At The Start Of Crib Goch

We made it to the start of Crib Cogh which didn't seem as bad as what some on-line descriptions were making it out to be. It was no worse than Sharp Edge to Blencathra or Striding Edge to Helvellyn in the Lake District. However, it was fairly severe and needed full concentration and lots of careful treading, 3 points of contact ruling and more upper body work holding on whilst making your next step....all in all, it was awesome!

Another Mr F Selfie

Where We Had Just Been

The highest point on Crib Goch is 923 metres above sea level that is around a hundred and fifty metres along the knife edge ridge...

Once we were over safe and sound, we took a little look back at what we had just conquered with confidence and it was like God had held back the rolling in clouds until we were safely across and then let them go! Mr F took a very good atmospheric photo of them...

Mr F's Photo

From here, we reached The Pinnacles which are three rock pinnacles you can chose to scramble over them or take the slightly more easier route down to the left and around them. Needless to say none of us were feeling that brave to tackle the Pinnacles after having just used a lot of leg strength trying to stay alive going across Crib Goch! However, the 'easier' climb down wasn't exactly a breeze! It was quite a steep way down via a gully past the first 2 pinnacles with gravel underfoot and big rock sticking out just waiting for the next victim to bash their head on on break a leg on, so to become complacent at this point wasn't really advisable. Scrambling down is a lot harder than scrambling up! We eventually made our way around and back up past the third pinnacle to a nice flat open col of Bwlch Coch.

Making Our Way Around The Pinnacles

The Boys Loving It As Always

A Look Back At The Queues Of People Now On Crib Goch

Snowdon Summit In The Distance

Mr F Staying Covered Up From The Sun

...Another Look Back At Crib Goch

We stopped for a quick 5 minute refuel then headed towards the ridge of Garnedd Ugain that leads to the summit of Snowdon, which was again a fair amount of scrambling but nothing like Crib Goch. A little while on, we were joined up on the Llanberis path and eventually joined the rest of the Pyg track trekkers. Having just done the London Marathon less than 1 month ago, Mr & Mrs F got a spurt on towards the top along the step steps and joined the queue of people waiting to get their photo taken at the very top. Mr & Mrs S have been to Snowdon a few times so weren't fused about a photo and waited at the bottom.

Queuing Up

To be honest, the photo doesn't suggest at all that we were at the summit of Snowdon, it could be anywhere! 

A Little Proof Of The Being Snowdon!

Pyg Track Coming Up

The Way Back Via the Watkin Path

We went into the cafe and bought more bottles of water as we still had a fair bit to go down and it was a very warm day. We headed back down via the Watkin Path that eventually picked up the Miners Track. We stopped for a well earned lunch but there were a lot of annoying little flies around so didn't stop for too long. We had to get our walking poles out for this part as it was a steep scree path down. Once we were past the scree, we were then faced with steep rocks to scramble down to head toward the bottoms where we picked up the Miners Track. Our legs were really tired by this time so each careful step down was a big ask on our shaky legs, but we eventually got there.

Mr F And The Boys Having A Chill Out At Our Lunch Stop

Mrs F took a panoramic shot of the horseshoe we had just conquered... 

Once we were on the Miners Track, it was a level path walk all the way back to the car park but still about a half hours walk. So we got a bit of a march on and was back at the car in really good time. Most books and on-line information about the Snowdon Horseshoe says on average it takes between 8-10 hours....including stopping for lunch, we did it in 8 hours...BOOM!!

We headed back to the camp site and saw that all the cars that had parked on both sides of the road had parking tickets on them...every single one of them!!


In the time that we were out climbing, it seemed that the whole world had decided to come and camp on our camp site! It was just full of campers, with their kids, dogs, and more snorers! We got back at a really reasonable time, about 3:30, so after we had all showered, we sat outside our tents for the rest of the sunny afternoon having a good 'ol natter until the sun went behind the mountain which meant it was time to go and get some food in our bellies!We went to eat at a local hostel pub that actually had nice food. Mrs F & Mrs S had the lamb shank, Mr F had a steak pie and Mr S had his faithful burger.

Our Busy Camp Site

                                       

On our way back we stopped off at a viewing point that we stopped when we climbed Snowdon 3 years ago. It was quite nippy, so we didn't stop too long!

Taking A Photo Of The Horseshoe From The Car

                   
                                              The View Point...

Looking Far Too Serious...Have Another Go...

That's Better!

DAY 2: HOME

We had already decided that we would be going home the next day instead of having another day on the mountains and staying another night at the camp site due to the grim weather forecast. God blessed us with the best possible weather for the day that we planned the climb Crib Goch, which was the reason we came in the first place and was able to do it successfully, so we were happy. We also couldn't bare another sleepless night due to late night sleepers and all night snorers and wanted a decent nights sleep before returning back to work on the Tuesday. It rained during the night too and visibility was poor, so going anywhere today wouldn't be overly enjoyable, although we're not fair weather climbers by far, we were all quite achy from the day before...accept for Mr F who never seems to ache....ever!

We packed up the wet tents pretty much as soon as we woke up and left the rest of the jolly campers to it. We figured out later on that the reason why it was so busy was because of the bank holiday that went straight into half term. Mr & Mr S had camped there a few times before and had never seen it anywhere near as busy as it was. We went to a cafe just down the road for a much needed English breakfast before heading straight for home. As our first experience camping it wasn't the best we could have had what with so many other noisy people around us - we would have liked to have had more of a secluded spot where we were woken by the sound of nature rather than snoring! But, God blessed us with great weather in order to do what we came to do on the day that we planned to do it and kept us all safe as He always does. Maybe we'll give camping another go when it isn't a bank holiday weekend that goes straight into half term!

   VERDICT OF WALES - May 2015

Mr F:  Quite some drive but well worth it. Wanted to do Crib Goch for quite some time and it was well worth the wait. The weather was amazing, clear views virtually all day. Marathon training has helped and felt quite fit a definite improvement on our last visit. Camping was good fun but would recommend against a) Bank Holiday weekends and b) Half Term... Back soon for Tryfan....

Mrs F: I do love a dangerous ridge walk and Crib Goch is definitely a good one to do! It was quite tough on the arms and legs but really glad and proud to have done it. It's a great feeling when you make it back down to ground level and look back and what you've just walked/climbed across. It was great to make it back to Snowdon and actually be able to see clearly from the summit compared to the last time we came. All in all, it was a really great, enjoyable day and would recommend it to anyone that loves a good hard scramble. In terms of camping....I'm not dead set against it, it is quite fun and adventurous in itself if we were more on our own and less wet. I do like the comforts of a cottage.....or B&B!