Lucky Horseshoe by Glen Millington
It always rains in Wales" This is a hard statement to refute in my experience but there we stood, in the car park at Pen Y Pass beneath a baby blue sky. The sun was too low to penetrate the Snowdonian valleys, but the snowy peaks of surrounding mountains were blindingly lit by shafts of February light penetrating laser like through the immaculate atmosphere. How lucky can you get!
Today the target was to round the Snowdon horse shoe. A long mountaineering walk with a section of grade 1 scrambling and mile upon mile of high altitude (for Britain), ridge walking. As the name suggests the route follows a horse shoe shape around the ridges of Snowdon taking in the mountains of Crib Goch, Crib Y Ddysgl, Snowdon and Y-Lliwedd. We left the car park following the path that heads off west down the Llanberis pass, instead off the more usual Miners track. This path wound up to Bwlch Moch (a Bwlch being a gap in a ridge). From here the east face of Crib Goch rose to our right and the tranquil black waters of Llyn Llydaw Spread out before us. The Assent of Crib Goch is great fun. Easy scrambling, just hard enough to warrant using hands and feet but never hard enough to cause too much concern. Upon reaching the east summit of Crib Goch, Its Pinnacled, razor edged ridge stretched out before us. The finest Ridge in Wales, if not Britain meandering invitingly onwards to Crib Y Ddysgl.
This day was one of the finest days I have ever witnessed in any mountains any where. The clinical sun light picking out every shape, every contour of the snow fleeced mountains. It was like the craziest fantasy land you could imagine. It is at times like these that being alive is brought into critical focus. Every breath is a major event. one drinks in every detail of the scenery with biting relish..
The wind on the ridge was very strong but steady. None of the blusters that get you leaning manfully against the wind, until it drops in an instant and throws you hopelessly off balance. The ridge needed great care none the less. We put on our crampons to grip the ice, though it was soft and the our crampon points went straight down to rock, as if the snow and ice weren't there.
After the excitement of Crib Goch the rest of the route is a trudge but on a day like this there is nowhere in the world I would rather have been. The route went from here on to the summit of Crib Y Ddysgl, and then down to the north col of Snowdon herself, rising again to the summit at 3559ft. The route begins to look more spectacular as you descend off Snowdon to the East. The ridge of Y Lliwedd begins to rise above the sky line. As a Scramble the traverse of that ridge does not live up to it's promise but as a walk it is one of the most spectacularly beautiful you can imagine. Stunning snow crowned peaks in every direction.
Eventually the path brings you down to the shores of Llyn Llydaw where you can look up and trace the days adventure around the craggy skyline fringing the still waters of the lake. This scene of unutterable peace belies the brutality of the winds that rip across those Jagged ridges.
Finally the path crosses a causeway over the lake rejoining the Miners Track back to Pen Y Pass, the car and the ruddy glow of the Bryn Tyrch inn. In the words of Lou Reed "Oh, Such a perfect day"
GM
