I’m not really sure how I’m going to put this story into words to be honest, I think this has to be the most dangerous thing I’ve ever done, some might say the more stupidest and that’s going some!?
Let’s start from the start, this trip was planned weeks ago so there was no way I was rearranging regardless of the weather, we planned to do the Watkin route as this is the longest and starts right at the bottom, I didn’t want to start half way up the mountain, to me this is cheating haha!
The first part of the route takes you through the beautiful woodland past rapids and waterfalls, this was a nice start and good little warm up before we started to go up, it wasn’t a very clear day but at this point the view was still pretty amazing!
The whole thing actually reminded me of the video game Skyrim, if you've played it you'll see what iImean in the photos!
The trek up from here was actually fine, slow and steady and some stunning scenery to take in… It was a lot colder than I thought though I will say that! And because it was cold I had my hands in my pockets…what slithers out of my pocket… my phone… cracked screen! But at this point I had no idea what else we were in for!
So the further we went up the snowier it got, the windier it got, the colder it got and the steeper it got!
Most of the route had been a gentle incline but we got so far and the path with footprints in the snow became less and less visible… I guess a mixture of people having second thoughts, giving up and the snow covering the footprints up… this was the point we probably should have turned around but I just couldn’t and kind of dragged my friends with me to risk their life for a selfie on the summit!
I actually don’t have any photos of this point of the ascent or any really of the tough parts and I don’t even really know how to describe it other than completely vertical, rocky and slippery, the path was invisible from the snow… we had no idea where we were putting our feet and because we were just in walking boots with no studs we weren’t getting much grip at all so we were literally crawling on our hands and knees scrabbling to get up and pulling ourselves up using the rocks!
After what seemed like the worst part we kind of joined a mixed queue of people… some stuck, some lost, one injured and also we made a friend who joined the queue behind us. The people in front were taking forever, I know they were looking at maps and gps and trying to point everyone in the right direction but I’m not gunna lie I wasn’t happy waiting behind them freezing cold sat in the snow having my head blown off by freezing gails of wind and hail! Not only this it was getting later and later means darker!
Anyway we eventually went around them and continued to climb this almost vertical wall of rock and snow and then we heard cheering! We knew we were close and there was no way I was giving up now, besides we’d never make it back down the way we’d came alive so we crawled up a few more metres and yesss! Finally we made it!!
But the top was like an ice rink so we didn’t stick around!
I have to say we would not have done this without Chris, our motivating and lifesaving friend! We would have also not made it back down again without him, nor made it back to the car haha!
After we got our selfie and made the most of finally making it to the top we decided to head down a “safer” route… by safer I mean it was longer and less vertical buuuuut on the opposite side to the carpark we started at! We came down the Rangers Path I believe.
The first part of the descent felt dodgier than going up to me! It was so slippy from being walked on, it was literally an ice slope and I think I fell on my ass about 5 times, it would have been more without Chris to catch me or hold me as I slithered to something grippy!
The way down felt like it took forever but we plodded on and chatted crap together. When we got to the bottom we were debating waiting for a bus…. On a bank holiday…no chance! Just as we were going to call a taxi one went past and agreed to take us to the carpark on the way to taking this couple to wherever they were going. It’s as if it was fate!
I don’t think anything I can say or the pictures do justice to how sketchy this whole thing was but I wouldn’t change it, it was amazing and such an achievement! Not only did I climb Snowdon but I smashed it (and my phone) in extreme weather conditions mainly on my hands and knees haha!
I wouldn’t recommend this though haha! It was amazing but yeah! Do it in the summer guys! Choose life!
Here are some pics from the day!
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