Snowdon via Crib Goch

Well I guess the weather had to break at some point; just a shame that it had to be today. It was the final day of expedition training for my group of student mountaineers and they were fully psyched up for a traverse of Crib Goch. It was raining steadily when we left Pen y Pass. Would we or wouldn't we? Should we stay to the easier walkers PyG track, or go for the knife edge scramble? It was a tough call - wanting to please the team, but also staying safe. In the end we went for it - at least you couldn't see how big the drops were on either side!

We'd started the day off with a look at some expedition kit. I'm leading the team across the Sierra Nevada in Spain in a few weeks, so this was the last chance to sort any gear worries. As we'll be carrying everything we need, we need to stay as light weight as possible. It was a fun exercise, strimming all the excess weight away. We'll be experiencing a thirty degree temperature range, so we have to allow for all weathers. Scorching beaches up to high altitude cold camps. 

 

Despite a few nervous beginnings, we made the traverse in good time and all breathed a sigh of relief, when we came across the big cairn at the top of the 'Parson's Nose', which marks the end of the most difficult sections. Having passed only one other team who had turned back near the start, the group were buzzing with their achievements, despite the lack of views.

We carried on upto the summit, where we just made last orders at the cafe. A sausage roll and bottle of coke never tasted so good. So far we had been in thick cloud since leaving the minibus. Suddenly, down below, the clouds began to part and we all rushed outside to see the view. The cloud was sticking to the North Face of Lliwedd making it look amazing.

The cafe closed at about 15:15, so we were forced to start our weiry descent down the PyG track. There was talk of taking the train, but we were severely lacking in funds. The train left without us as we set off into the clearing skies.

We were actually all glad that we got to walk down, as the views were fabulous. It felt like our reward for going for the ridge in the bad weather. 

We had pretty much dried out by the time we got down. Luck was on our side, as we drove off, huge black clouds were building and about thirty minutes later, the rain was torrential as we drove away!