Part One:
On Saturday 2nd July a group of Walking Forum members succeeded in an attempt at the Welsh 15 Peaks Challenge walk.
The team consisted of Radder, Little Bird, Barlos, Kiowan, Nvl35, Peakbagger and myself.
Abs and Carolina2k9 made up the much needed and appreciated Support Crew.
This was a charitable effort, we will have raised well over £900 for Mountain Rescue by the time all the funds have been collected in.
For those of you who don’t know the essence of the Challenge, I’ll begin with some cold facts and figures;
The 15 Peaks Challenge requires that all the 3000ft+ mountains in Wales are summited in one day, completely on foot (I.e. there’s no driving between mountains).
There’s no set route to bag all the peaks, but there are a few well-established ways of tackling the challenge.
The peaks are (in the order we did them):
Snowdon Section:
1) Crib Goch, 923m (3028 ft)
2) Garnedd Ugain, 1065m (3494 ft)
3) Snowdon, 1085m (3559 ft)
Glyderau Section:
4) Elidir Fawr, 924m (3031 ft)
5) Y Garn, 947m (3106 ft)
6) Glyder Fawr, 1001m (3284 ft)
7) Glyder Fach, 994m (3261 ft)
8.) Tryfan, 915m (3001 ft)
Carneddau Section:
9) Pen y Ole Wen, 978m (3208ft)
10) Carnedd Daffyd, 1044m (3425ft)
11) Yr Elen, 962m (3156 ft)
12) Carnedd Llewelyn, 1064m (3490 ft)
13) Foel Grach, 977m (3205 ft)
14) Carnedd Gwenllian (Uchaf), 926m (3038 ft)
15) Foel Fras, 942m (3090 ft)
Our Start: Pen y Pass, 3:45am
Our Finish: Bwlch y Ddeufaen (SH 720 715, nr. Llanbedr y cennin), 10:15pm
Our time between 1st and last peaks: 15Hrs 50 mins
Our total time: 18Hrs 30 mins
Total Distance Walked: 30.5 miles
Total Ascent: 4023m (13,200ft)
Ok, sorry, please don’t fall asleep, here we go....
Confession time, yours truly nearly didn’t make it on this one....
Don’t get me wrong, the walk was a mere stroll, it was more to do with the fact that I got trapped in my bedroom at the hostel the night before!
The latch had given up inside the door, I was yanking the handle as hard as I could, but nothing was happening (don’t you just hate it when that happens?). The commotion bought the whole household to the landing, someone sourced a screwdriver and Radder whooped the knob off (stop sniggering), but to no avail. Fortunately I had my rucksack in with me, in which I keep a pocket knife, so I was able to jimmy the latch back and make my escape, but everyone on the landing was treated to the sight of me in just my pants. I’d only wanted a wee, but I suppose it was better than finding out I was trapped later on when it was time to leave for the challenge.
Things could only get better.
I suppose we all got off to sleep about 11:30 to the sound of my dad telling his granddaughters a bedtime story in the next room.
We were to enjoy a blissful 3 hours before the alarms went off at 2:30am and it was time to get ready for our big day!
30 minutes to get out the hostel, 30 minutes to drive round to Pen y Grwyd to meet Peakbagger and Caroline2k9, and a short while to transfer their stuff into the mighty Alhambra and get up to Pen y Pass for 3:45am to meet Little Bird, who soon came tearing into the car park in characteristic ‘Carlos Sainz in a Yaris’ fashion.
As it was, it was like a well-oiled machine, and we actually managed to hit the hill at about 3:45am, but not before Radder had befuddled some poor bystanding girl into trying to take a group photo with a camera that steadfastly refused to activate its flash.
I had better luck with Abs’ little Lumix:
It looks really dark there, but that’s just the flash, and actually there was plenty of pre-dawn light to see by as we made our way up the Pyg Track.
We could see the dark bulk of Crib Goch rising above us, and torchlight moving about on the mountain’s flank giving away the presence of other nutters, I mean, 15 Peakers.
It’s a peculiar crowd to be found on the Snowdon massif in the wee hours. There were more than a few groups coming off the mountain already, we met 5 Peaks Challengers (doing Slieve Donard, Carrauntoohil, Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Scafell Pike) and other folk carrying camping gear who had bivvied on Snowdon to start their 15 Peaks Challenge that way.
I knew sunrise, at least in Manchester, was at 4:45am. I had an idea that we would be well up the flank of Crib Goch by then to receive the first rays of the new day, so we paused only briefly at Bwlch y Moch before starting the scramble.
As it turned out, we timed it far better than that...
We arrived at the start of the ridgeline just before 5am. The light to the east was rather nice, bands of pastel pinks and oranges striating the sky above Bewts y Coed and the Glyderau. There was also a bit of a cloud inversion going on.
We all took some photos, and, assuming that was that and the dawn sun was sitting behind all that cloud somewhere, most of us started heading off across the ridge eager to get on with the Challenge. A bit hasty, it turned out – I was called back by an urgent shout from Radder –
now the sun was making its true appearance, rising through all that cloud - and it was absolutely spellbinding.
It was an absolute privilege witness that, what a start to our day! The light on Snowdon and the Crib Goch ridge was like balm for the soul, it seemed to soothe away any concerns about the challenge to come, and even the precipices either side of us. There were even very few squeals from Little Bird, who is normally quite vocal when negotiating Crib Goch. I can’t really remember posing for the group photo on Crib Goch’s summit, and the crossing seemed to be over in just a few minutes. :
Our little band were in a world of our own as we scrambled over the Pinnacles and up Garnedd Ugain. There were others making their way across the ridge behind us, but for just that while we seemed isolated in our own little land of orange light and rock. The calm continued as we stopped for a group shot on Garnedd Ugain.
The vestiges of dawn were disappearing and we dropped down onto the already-busy Llanberis path to join plenty of others making their way to the summit of Snowdon – No.3!
We managed a fairly quiet summit for a group photo.
There was also chance for a photo of ‘Team Regatta’ who were wearing and trialling gear donated by Regatta. It’s actually very good stuff, especially the trousers which I kept on all day 'cos they were so comfortable, even though I had two other choices of trousers waiting for me at the stop-offs.
Most of the ‘plenty of others’ mentioned previously turned out to be Welsh 3-Peakers (Snowdon, Cadair Idris and Pen y Fan). There were plenty of trainers, bermuda shorts and hoodies in evidence, it felt good during the inevitable exchange of agendas to explain that we had rather more summits on our list!
We’ve got the descent to Nant Peris down to a ‘t’.
Instructions:
Walk down the Llanberis path, veer off behind Clogwyn Station, follow the railway track down through ‘Rocky Valley’ and you will see a fence on your left bordering the steep ground that drops to Nant Peris. Follow this fence until it veers right, and there lies a little stile. The stile marks the start of a faint path down to Gwastadnant that it quite steep but not punishingly so. It ends at the bank of the Afon Nant Peris very close to the footbridge at SH 608 579. Job’s a good ‘un.
The downside is that you get a full-on view of the next ascent, the less-than-delightful slog up the huge flank of Elidir Fawr.
From the high ground on the descent I could see a blue people carrier in the Nant Peris Park and Ride with its boot open. I had a phone signal, so I rang Abs who confirmed that it was indeed her and Caroline, and yes, she was going to bloomin’ well get the kettle on.
The sun was ever strengthening, and striking the outcrops of the Glyders to cast long, sharp shadows into the Llanberis Pass. I smiled to myself at our good fortune.
The ladies had got everything together on a picnic table at the Park and Ride. We shared the table with another group of 15 Peakers who were being catered-for there too, their Support guy had a stove on the go, and the omnivores amongst us eyed the sizzling bacon thereon with envy. We made do with spicy potato and leek soup which I had rustled up (not chicken [censored]* and engine oil, as some of you were led to believe). This was a slightly odd but welcome breakfast with a cup of fresh, strong tea.
I had to whip my cherry and almond slice away from Peak bagger (who likes to have other people’s cake, and eat it) and there was a bit of midge activity, but the rest stop was otherwise very slick.
It nearly had us ready for Elidir Fawr….
