Welsh 3000s - almost!

This was my second attempt at completing the Welsh 3000s. The first go, two years ago, was hindered by very poor weather and some slightly dodgy navigation. But also by lack of mental preparation. This year I was possibly more mentally up for it. And had visited Snowdonia a few times in between so knew my way around better. I wasn't as fit as I was two years ago though!

My two co-trekkers had not attempted it before either. We decided the set off early at 5am. This was earlier than my previous, but could have been earlier as the first ascent up the Pyg track was quite easy in the dark. After a quite easy climb we arrived at Snowdon summit at just after 7am. From there you take a short descent to Garnedd Ugain, arriving about 730am. The next stage down Crib Goch ridge is probably the highlight of the trek and good to do with fresh legs. The knife edge descent is not as bad as I thought. My previous was in thick cloud. There is some scrambling, but if there are no strong winds, this shouldn't be too tricky. The view from Crib Goch summit at 830am was sensational.

From the summit you take a due north unmarked path along a ridge. Staying to the right initially then to the left, this leads to a sharp shale descent. The route down in unclear but a few bear trails show the way. We lost a fair bit of time on this bit. So after walking along the road back to Nant Peris we got to the campsite for a pitstop at about 1030am. The next ascent up Elidir Fawr was one of the hardest of the day. As the midday sun came out, the slow ascent up over 800 metres was really tough. One of our group dropped out half way up this. We finally reached the summit at 1240pm, quite a lot of time had been lost. The Glyder section is quite straightforward, but heat was hitting me quite hard. After Y Garn, you take a tough shale ascent past the Llyn Y Cwn tarn to Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach. By this time it was about 4pm so time was passing quicker than we would have liked.

The descent from the Glyders to Tryfan was another painful one. A steep shale descent with tonnes of loose rocks. This bit killed John's legs. So we reached Tryfan summit at 53opm. At this point time was really running out. So I decided to go on ahead alone. After crossing the A5 by Llyn Ogwen, I took the steep path up to Pen yr Ole Wen at 978 metres. This was one of the most exhausting bits of mountaineering I've ever done - totally out of breath and still hot..

The Carnedds are thankfully on a long plateau. There is a slight ascent to Carnedd Llewelynn which I reached at 930pm as an amazing sunset was stretching across the north Welsh coast. I didn't have time (and energy) to make it across to Yr Elen, so it wasn't the full 15 3000s. I also accidentally missed Garnedd Uchaf, but this is an unofficial one. Finally I reached Foel Fras at 1040pm. So almost completion. After this, it's still not over, by a long stretch!. The long trail beside a fence is quite easy but goes on for ever and has a couple of small ascents. I finally arrived at the car at midnight.