Friday 5 September 2014

Snowdonia trip - September 2014

With the summer heat usually over, September is a good month to head off for some fresh mountain air.  And this time round, I had two ideas to put into plan in Snowdonia National Park:

The first, was to have a third attempt at summiting Snowdon via the Crib Goch ridge; previous attempts in other years had failed due to a combination of poor weather and the complex route around the pinnacles.
The second idea was to fly a radio-controlled glider from Snowdon's summit.  If these two goals were to come together then it would mean carrying the glider up Crib Goch; luckily it disassembles and attaches to the back of my rucksack quite easily.

As this was going to be a two day hike, I couldn't really leave the car in the Pen-y-pass pay-and-display car park for that amount of time, so I decided to start from the scenic viewpoint a mile SE of Pen-y-pass.

It was a good hour over some rough terrain before I had walked up to Pen-y-pass, and then began the ascent of Snowdon via Crib Goch.  It's quite a steep scramble up the first part before it gets easier. The ridge itself isn't too bad until you get to the frightening pinnacle sections, and then it is not particularly obvious as to how you are meant to get over or around them!  But this time I found the way.

That evening I watched a magnificent sunset from the summit and view of the stars from my sleeping bag.
The next morning I flew my glider for an hour before heading down the long Watkin Path.
I made a couple of films documenting the climb and flight, which can be seen by clicking on the links below.

Video of Crib Goch ascent

Video of glider flight from Snowdon summit

The Llanberis Pass

Crib Goch ridge

Llanberis Pass from Crib Goch ridge with impressive goat in foreground

Sunset from Snowdon summit

Long exposure photo of Llanberis from Snowdon summit under starry night sky

Long exposure photo of the Snowdon summit cafe under starry night sky

Y Lliwedd (898m)

Flying done, and about to head down the long Watkin Path.

GPS track of the walk (14 miles)