Its still a dangerous mountain, as i discovered this afternoon.
My friend who is half my age, and currently studying hard in Sandhurst, was home this week, and he talked me into going up Snowdon.
I had suggested Carnedd Llewellyn, as the mountains were clear, and apart from the chilly conditions, it was good walking weather, SO I THOUGHT.
My suggestion was an ascent of the Rhydd Ddu miners path from llanberis, the path below the Moel Elio route, and then an ascent of Snowdon via the Snowdon Ranger.
The mountains western flanks were fairly sheltered, a bit windy but nothing compared to what awaited us at the marker stones at the PyG and Miners path junction.
He continued on to the summit, whilst i decided it was simply not worth the risk,
We have all heard about the majestic views from the top of Snowdon, well they were incredible this afternoon, amongst the best ive ever seen, in every direction, you could see an incredible distance, with almost the entire coastline of Wales mapped out in front of us.
I only wished i had been able to stand with a pair of binoculars, but the severity of the wind really scared me, by far the strongest ive ever experienced in the many years of climbing Snowdon, and with my knowledge and experience of the mountain, i knew it was no place to linger.
It was the sensible decision, as just approaching Clogwyn station, the rain arrived, and i knew i could get down to safer ground far quicker from there, than higher up the mountain.
To prove how strong the wind was, i was blown over just opposite the new station halt opposite Llechog, thankfully onto grass, but it still surprised me, as the gust of wind came with no warning,
Its been many a year that due to challenging conditions, ive failed to reach the summit, so long in fact, i cannot remember how many years ago it was, but certainly back in the 1980s.
Yes Snowdon is an easy mountain in favourable conditions, but it certainly bared its teeth this afternoon, and the National Parks weather forecast had not predicted such high winds.