I had had the desire to complete the Welsh 3000’s (the 15 Peaks over 3000 feet in Wales) in 24 hours for a couple of years. I had intended to complete the challenge last year but had not been up to it. However, this year, both myself and Dafydd felt in pretty good shape and determined that the challenge would indeed be completed.
1. Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) – 0355
We started walking from Llanberis at around 0000 on Friday (3rd) morning. In Llanberis a fairly thick fog limited visibility, but as we gained altitude we managed to leave this behind, though unfortunately the stars were still blotted out by the clouds above us. The walk passed fairly uneventfully with the only other creatures out being bats and sheep whose eyes looked very spooky in the torchlight.
We didn’t particularly strain ourselves on the ascent and reached the summit at around 0210. We stood at the summit a while and noticed another head lamp below us. As it began to get closer we heard voices as well – voices which seemed to indicate gladness at our presence because we marked out the location of the summit for them! Eventually two other intrepid explorers emerged from the mist, who then informed us that they were on the last leg of the famous 3 peaks challenge and had come up from the Miner’s Track that starts in Pen y Pass. After having congratulated them and wished them all the best for their return to Hastings, Dafydd took a picture for them and they went on their way again.
The challenge officially starts from the top of Yr Wyddfa and we had set our starting time at 0400, which meant we had almost two hours to wile away (not wanting to take on a slippery Crib Goch in the dark). We wandered down to the deserted Snowdon Summit Café and sat down in an alcove. Most of the next two hours was spent in trying to work out how to use the flash on my brother’s camera, something we failed to do and which we later came to regret.
At around 0350 we decided that to wander over the summit again and after having snapped a couple of pictures we started the walk officially at about 0355 – the race was now on to complete the 15 Peaks in Wales over 3000 feet in 24 hours.
2. Crib y Ddysgl (Garnedd Ugain) – 0420
A quick and uneventfull stroll along the ridge brought us to Crib y Ddysgl bringing up our second peak of the day. I was feeling very fresh at this point and was setting a good pace. The only slightly awkward part of this section was ensuring that we left the Llanberis path at the right point to follow the ridge to Crib y Ddysgl. In the mist we could have easily missed this and ending up traipsing back down to Llanberis. However, there is a boulder that clearly marks the way and we had no difficulty in following the ridge along to Crib y Ddysgl.
3. Crib Goch – 0530
From Crib y Ddysgl we came to probably the most dangerous part of the walk. Even in dry and sunny weather Crib Goch is not particularly safe, but in wet and misty weather as on this morning it is very dangerous. On one occasion I found myself edging out onto a ledge to my left with a sheer drop below wondering why I was doing this.
The last time I went across Crib Goch it was both dry and packed with day walkers; this time it was wet and absolutely deserted. While the wetness made it more treacherous, the isolation simply made it seem somewhat less safe than it seems when one is surrounded by other people – particularly when the other people are clearly less adept than oneself. In this situation one feels that surely if someone is going to fall off it will be one of these people - when one is on one's own, however, there is not such comfort.
We eventually and somewhat surprisingly reached the summit, though we didn’t realise this until we had begun descending fairly steeply – the summit of crib goch is notoriously difficult to identify – and I was very relieved to see a faint path to the left down the scree onto some grassy banks which led down to the road. Eventually we reached the road and turned left to reach the Snowdon Sherpa carpark where we were to meet my dad. At about 0700 we wandered into the carpark, by which time my boots were filled with water (and this was the first time that I severely regretted failing to waterproof my boots before the walk).
4. Elider Fawr – 0950
It was getting on towards 0800 before we took the plunge again and went out into what was by now a torrential downpour to make our way up Elider Fawr. After an initial wrong turning we got onto the right track and began to make headway up towards the summit.
Of the whole day this was probably the mountain I least enjoyed. My feet were soaking and it was about this point that I really began to feel the effects of not have slept since 0800 on the previous morning. I felt almost nauseous all the way up and the wet blistering feet didn’t help, but eventually after what seemed an interminable length of time we finally saw the summit cairn. But there is still no rest for the wicked and no sooner had we rested momentarily than it was time to conquer the next summit – Y Garn.
5. Y Garn – 1115
Though both of us had been up Y Garn several times previously neither of us had ever approached it from Elider Fawr before. I’m not sure if it was covering new territory that enlivened me but at about this point my tiredness suddenly slipped away and by the time we were approaching Y Garn I was feeling fresh and lively.
We realised that we had to skirt round Foel Goch prior to the ascent of Y Garn, and in the mist we were careful to avoid ascending what we though was probably Foel Goch and when later we came to a path stretching upwards we attacked it with vigour. However, on reaching the summit we quickly realised that this was certainly not Y Garn, but was in fact Foel Goch. This was somewhat annoying as it had needlessly added additional ascent to our journey, but we were not especially perturbed by this and continued along the grassy ridge to where the path began to ascend the slopes of Y Garn, continuing then to the summit.
6. Glyder Fawr – 1235
From the Y Garn summit onwards the walk was on territory that we both knew very well which did make me feel slightly better and almost as if to encourage our new found optimism the low cloud began to clear as we headed down to Llyn y Cwn. From Llyn y Cwn we went up the steep scree to the left and after about 20 minutes slog came out onto the plateau which gently rises up to the peak of Glyder Fawr, to the peak of which we simply followed the excellently bountiful cairns.
7. Glyder Fach – 1320
We then proceeded on towards Glyder Fach along a path that was again clearly marked by cairns. We ignored completely the enchanting Castell y Gwynt, which though an exhilarating climb, would have been an unnecessary delay as at only 50 feet prominence it is only classified as a Nuttall (and only just a Nuttall at that!). The real goal, instead, was just beyond it.
Glyder Fach is always a nuisance to reach, particularly from Glyder Fawr. It isn’t so much that it is tiring as that there are just so many rocks to climb over and every time one imagines the summit is near one sees another pile of rocks ahead. However, eventually what we knew was the summit came in sight, confirmed by the sight of the famous “canon” to the right of it. After a clamber to the top we were infuriated to find that the camera battery had gone flat – no doubt as a result of our persistent messing with the flash earlier that morning. I proceeded to attempt to take some photos on my phone, but was also thwarted in this because it wanted a memory stick or something and I didn’t know how to change the settings.
8. Tryfan – 1445
Next up was one the most distinctive mountains in all of Snowdonia. Though the smallest of the 3000s it is perhaps the only mountain that involves pretty serious scrambling to reach the summit no matter from which direction one approaches. Prior to ascent though we had a choice, either go over the famous bristly ridge or skirt round bristly ridge to the right to join the path later. In the end we took the latter route.
The sun was out in force by this point and we ascended to the top without much incident, though there were one or two points when we were clambering up ledges with large drops to the side when I was extremely thankful that the sun had now dried the rocks.
My mind wandered back to the last time I had attempted to ascend Tryfan. We had come up the north face, but at a certain point (which now we realised must have only been a few feet from the summit) decided to turn back due to excessive ice, which we were not prepared for with no crampons or ice axes. We turned back only to find that the worst was yet to come.
Now the north face of Tryfan, which we had ascended, is a difficult scramble, which virtually merges into climbing at some points, and while this is fine when one is ascending it becomes much harder on the descent. Added to this we seemed to find ourselves descending a particularly difficult section and on several occasions we were faced with two equally daunting options for descent, neither of which we would have taken ordinarily but that we were forced to take now. On one occasion I remember we had to slide down a narrow ledge, and it was at this point my hiking bag started to push me off the ledge, I remember thinking that I’d better just go for it so allowed myself to fall grabbing on the way down a hand hold and swinging myself to safety – rather daunting though, nonetheless! Equally at one point we were left with two impossible descent routes as options and so had to edge along the mountain until we found a more reasonable descent – which thankfully happened to lead to a nice scree and than grass slope which no longer presented a danger.
Anyway there were no such problems this time and we descended by the west face and found what must be one of the easiest ways possible down Tryfan. How glad we were though to see my dad in the car park below and be given the chance to restock on fluids and change soaked socks.
9. Pen Yr Ole Wen – 1820
From the carpark below, Pen Yr Ole Wen seemed daunting. I had used all my blister plasters trying to patch my feet up and the last thing I wanted to do was ascend the undoubted beast that is Pen Yr Ole Wen. There had been some discussion, with no resolution, as to whether the South or the East ridge would be more appropriate but at this juncture we both unanimously agreed that the East ridge, rather than the dreaded South ridge was appropriate. Though longer, the east ridge is considerably easier and at this stage we were both unwilling to face the South. So we started from the bottom of Pen Yr Ole Wen at around 1700 and we were up in under 1 hr 20 minutes, which we felt was a good time. It was interesting that from this moment on a new freshness came upon us. I had expected the ascent of Pen Yr Ole Wen to be a real difficulty but actually I found myself more energised than at any previous point. As I came to the top I met and spoke to an old 15 peaks veteran, who gave some heartening encouragement that further helped the way forward. Furthering the extra empowerment was also the fact that by this point the weather was quite marvellous with brilliant views all around.
10. Carnedd Dafydd – 1850
An uneventful stroll over to Carnedd Dafydd followed, with the wind picking up a bit but marvellous sunshine still spread across the mountains. The sun glistening on the sea in the distance was quite stupendous.
11. Yr Elen – 2010
Perhaps the most annoying part of this walk Yr Elen does somewhat ruin the flow because in order to reach it one has to go completely out of ones way. On the ridge towards Carnedd Llewelyn and Yr Elen the wind really started to pick up, but to look back and see first Carnedd Dafydd and then Pen Yr Ole Wen in the distance really showed how far we’d come providing a pick-up.
We had almost reached the top of Carnedd Llewelyn when we veered off to take in Yr Elen. However, it is a quite brilliant mountain with it’s plateau offering superb 360 degree views.
12. Carnedd Llewelyn – 2040
Annoyingly we then had to take in what we had already done in order to get up Carnedd Llewelyn – it is annoying but unfortunately there is no way around it. But at this point we really started to feel it was almost finished. Certainly the last three would be no challenge and anything that may be a strain on the legs was now behind us.
13. Foel Grach – 2110
As we got past the last of the rocks that mark Carnedd Llewelyn we looked at the watch and realised that it was 2100, this gave us just under and hour to complete the challenge in 18 hours. As this seemed a reasonable goal and as it would give us added motivation we set this as the target and proceeded at a fairly vigorous speed to complete these final three mountains.
14. Garnedd Uchaf – 2125
Garnedd Uchaf scarcely seems to count as a mountain, having a prominence of only just over the 30 meters required for it to be classified as a Hewitt, indeed many people do exclude it entirely from the walk they call the “14 Peaks”. However, it is the list and it is scarcely much of a diversion to include it in the walk so it seems reasonable to do so.
15. Foel-Fras – 2150
Now for the final mountain! As with the previous two no great excursion was required to reach this as the grassy slope is fairly gradual. We thus could afford to put on as much speed as our blistered feet and battered legs could muster to reach it just inside the 18 hour mark. What a relief, high-fives were exchanged and then we had the gruelling walk back to Abergwyngregan to come!
Abergwyngregan 1140
Walking back from a completed challenge is always a rather unpleasant experience. This part of the walk almost seems pointless and all energy seems to zap away. As it is purely a psychological phenomena one would imagine that it should be fairly easy to combat. For example, I’m pretty certain that had Drum also been included on our walk then I could have walked along to it perfectly cheerfully, but the deflation of walking miles that don’t seem to count is hard to fight against.
I must confess that it was shortly after the walk back began I really began to crack under the sleep deprivation (almost 40 hours by the time we got back to the car) and physical exhaustion (I had found it very difficult to eat and thereby restock carbohydrates during the day).
I think I first noticed the effects when I stopped to urinate and noticed a badge with a cartoon face on the floor, however on closer inspection this turned out to be a stone. At the time I scarcely thought anything of this and merely put it down to poor light playing tricks on my eyes. However, a little later on I noticed a woven bag by the path that had a golden coloured handle and a picture of a chicken on it. It seemed an odd place to leave it and, hesitant to touch it, I kicked it. Only to realise that it was in fact a stone, but the strange thing was that even when I bent down and examined it closely it still looked like a bag, I concluded that someone had painted it. Then just next to the bag I noticed a stone with the moss arranged into a face – wow, I thought, they’ve done a few of these! Then as I stood up to catch up with Dafydd I realised that every stone I looked at had a face. `I’m starting to go ga ga,' I thought to myself and caught up with Dafydd telling him about it and asking him to make sure I didn’t wander off on my own.
Then the fun really began, huge dolphins on the hillside, clowns in the bushes, I saw things everywhere. Though at the same time I was perfectly rational about it and realised that they obviously weren’t real and that I was imagining it. Though once or twice I was fooled when I was determined I could see some tents with a car parked outside that simply weren’t there!
The joy of eventually turning the corner round the mountain above us (Foel Dduarth I think) to see the headlights of the car waiting to pick us up the the valley below! We quickly made speed down though the gorse, ignoring the prickles, to get to the car where we could finally relax.
1 comments:
Well done you both you and Dafydd. I realy enjoyed reading your blogg. There was some breath taking moment just reading. Well done.
Post a Comment