Mount Snowdon - North Wales Walk and Railway Guide<<>> This is a brief account of my Mount Snowdon Walk in the North Wales area of the UK in 2008. In that year we were spending our main holiday doing a trek in Nepal. So it was part of a fitness program for the Himalayas. We are used to walking but thought it would be a good idea to do some decent climbs. We decided to start with the highest welsh mountain. We though this was a good way to combine it with a weekend together with Malcolm’s brother and his wife. They live in Wales and we don’t see too much of them. We also took along mum in law who was 87 at the time. Only Malcolm and I climed the mountain. We stayed in one of the many superb B & B’s in Caernarfon. You can’t beat a good B & B for great set you up breakfasts, especially if you are planning to climb a mountain. The only thing you can’t plan for is the weather so we just hoped for the best. Although we have wet weather gear, and we would have gone up whatever the weather, I didn’t look forward to a drenching. It didn’t help to know that the area has one of the wettest climates in Britain with an annual average of 180 inches of rain.
Here is a bit of information about Snowdon Wales. It is, of course, the highest mountain in Wales and the highest one south of the Scottish Highlands. The summit is 1,085 metres (3560 ft) above sea level.
As the name suggests, the miners’ track is the route used by miners working in the copper mines. I should think they were tired before they even got to work. More of the meaning of ‘Pyg’ later
We picked up the trail from the southern end of the Pen-y-Pass car park, it was very easy to find, and the best thing was that the sun was shining. This was in May by the way. It was an easy walk to start off passing small lakes and evidence of former mine workings. We then crossed by a larger lake called Llyn Llydaw and after that the path became progressively steeper until we reached another lake, Glaslyn
After this it is quite a scramble and I remember having to be pulled up some quite steep rocks. It is just beyond this point where the Miners Trail joins the Pyg Trail to reach the summit.
I was grateful that it was dry but inevitably the higher we got the colder it became and very windy too. I am always amazed at the number of people you see out on the hills at any time in just tee shirts and obviously no extra layers. This was really illustrated that day when we were quite near to the summit and a young man had hurt his ankle or leg and couldn’t walk. Yes it was dry but being immobile even when it is relatively warm means that you lose body temperature very quickly and we saw him being rescued by helicopter. I can’t emphasise enough that good boots and layers of clothing plus some food are the bare essentials to take when out on the hills, or climbing a mountain.
One-way down that wasn’t open when we did the walk is the railway Snowdon North Wales that goes up and down the mountain everyday. But hey, where’s the fun in that!
We then started down the Pyg Track. I asked my Welsh sister in law what ‘pyg’ meant but although she speaks Welsh she wasn’t sure. There is one explanation that it could have something to do with the pitch carried up that way to the copper mines. I believe it is sometimes spelt in the English form ‘pig’ and I have to say that is the name I would give it. It is only a personal opinion but to me it was a 'pig' of a track. I found it very tiring as we were constantly climbing over rocks, there never seemed to be very much of a track as it was at the start of the Miners’ Track. Maybe I was just tired but it felt never ending and I was just so glad the see the car park. The good thing about using these two tracks is that their start points are both from the same car park so you finish where you started.
We finished our day in a lovely café bar in Caernarfon by the side of the Marina and I felt quite justified in ordering homemade Snowdonia steak pie and chips. I hope this Snowdon guide is helpful.
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