The day Yr Aran became Snowdon.....

Location - Snowdonia National Park
Height - 3560 ft
Time - 6 hrs (with detour)
Distance - 10 (ish) miles
Conditions - Morning shower, turning fair to sunny
Walking with -The BM

My first foray into the Welsh mountains and I bag the biggest of them all – Snowdon. What a result! Yr Aran was the intended target of the day but fate stepped in and put us on the path to Snowdon and with weather like this there was no choice really.

We parked in the car park at Bethania on the Beddgelert to Capel Curig road and crossed the main road to start the walk up the Watkin Path.

 This is the lower section of the Watkin Path and is a popular route for Snowdon but we would only be using that route part way today, instead we had an alternative route in mind and yet another route that would emerge as we started our walk.

The old mine track climbs steadily through a forested area with the views unfolding before our eyes.  Spectacular!  We walked up by the waters of Afon Cwm with is beautiful waterfalls trundling down the hillside and this is where we encountered our morning shower (as predicted by the BBC weather report), shrouding everything in mist and we even had a snow flurry or two.

 Further on we entered the dramatic and stunning Cwm Llan with the flanks of Snowdon ahead to whet our appetite further.  The rain shower was brief and the sky soon cleared to the bluest of blues, perfect!

Its here we veered from the noted route and headed out over the pasture towards Yr Aran on some barely visible paths.

 We followed the stream up the side of the mountain through some boggy and rocky terrain and met another path heading right to take us up to the first bit of rocky scramble of the day.

This section took us up and over Bwlch Cwm Llan to meet with the beginnings of the southern ridge of Snowdon.  It's here we see the arrival of some real mountain scenery and the steepening of the path as we headed up to the right, due North on the long ridge to Bwlch Main.

What a spectacular route and with the sky clear the views opening up were unbelievable.   The first section is straight up on stone steps which are a bit of a shock to the system but at least its getting us higher.

 The going was a little scrambly in places with the most difficult section being encountered after we crossed the ladder stile.

The route forward showing all the ridges before reaching the summit in the distance.

The final section of the climb at Bwlch Main meets the Rhyd Ddu path feeding in from the left and passes over a short knife edge arrete which, although not as airy as Crib Goch, provides a taster of the "daddy" of the genre.

A spectacular view of the ridges and the summit ahead.

 At this point we could clearly see we were level with Moel Hebog and quite a bit higher than Yr Aran (great to be towering over peaks that had been above you all morning!) and a good spot to stop for lunch before the final push over the last ridge to the summit.

 One of the trickier sections to navigate round, thankfully on a day like today it was exciting rather than scary, there is the semblance of a path there somewhere, isn't there?

This sums the South Ridge up perfectly!

The South Ridge path usually elicits a blank expression on most walkers when you mention routes up Snowdon. Those in the know however, realise that this is an absolute gem of a route that stands modestly in the shadows, shunning the limelight. In comparison, the PYG, Miners and Watkin are cheap, talentless reality TV z-listers desperately seeking endless attention. The South Ridge knows it’s good, and is happy to stand back a little until you realise just how good it is. It’s in no rush.

Far below the Watkin path could be seen winding up from the valley.

Reaching the last section of the ridge the view opened up to the eastern side of the range over Y Lliwedd to Moel Siabod, its familiar shape marking the end of the high summits in that direction and a summit to be tackled on an other day perhaps?

At last, nearly there and an inelegant final scramble up some rocks brought the summit cafe into view with its throngs of tourists and people ascending from different directions.

The summit marker stone to our right signified that we were indeed approaching the summit and it was a quick wander up some stone steps to the side of the cafe and there before us was the trig.  Well it would have been before us had there not been  about a zillion people huddled round it.

Tourists having come up on the train and walkers having come from different routes all wanted their moment at the trig.  We didn't hang around on the summit long.  Just enough time to take some summit pictures and then it was back down to the ridge to start the descent.

The route going down over the Bwlch Main Ridge was as good as coming up and with the sky still as clear as a bell the views going back were as stunning as they had been previously in the day.

A reasonable descent down the south ridge gradually steepened to become an uncomfortable loose rattle down a well used but precarious path.  The track provided us with more scrambling opportunities till the gradient eventually eased as we approached the junction of the paths at Bwlch Cwm Llan signifying the end of the ridge walk.

A sharp right turn took us back down through Cwm Llan where we could look back and see most of the ridge that we'd walked today.   

A quick wander through Cwn Llans boggy meadow with Yr Aran on our right, we picked up the Watkin path again which led us down along the banks of Afon Cwm towards the car park.

Not the planned route up Snowdon and not even a plan to go up Snowdon but when the conditions are right then you just can't say no...........