A cold night on Snowdon!
Facebook has just shared a memory of 5 years ago!
The memory was from 2012, the year Britain partied. The Jubilee and the Olympics, we were returning from our second Alpine holiday listening to the 3 golds being won…awesome memories.
I digress.
The memory that popped up was that of Llanberis Mountain Rescue setting off flares in celebration of the Queens Jubilee. I and Clare had decided to spend a few nights in Snowdonia, climbing, running and wild camping near to the summit of Snowdon.
The weekend started great with a few routes ticked off on Little Tryfan. We rearranged our gear and packed the kit for our wild camp, food, tent, waterproofs, hat, gloves, snacks and camera ( iPhone).
After a little last minute faffing on my part, we started to ascend Snowdon. We decide to take the quieter Snowdon Ranger Track from the South West side of the mountain. The is much quieter than the Llanberis, Pyg, Miners tracks. We passed a few navigationally challenged day trippers and helped them in their way.
The weather was super, warm clear skies, slight breeze and far reaching views to the coast and the surrounding mountains.
As we had set off late in the day the summit was very quiet, with a few small groups waiting to celebrate the jubilee.
We pitched our tent on a flattish area of ground about 150 metres below the summit cafe.
What awesome views…. the sun setting behind the island of Anglesey turning the sky pink and as the sun lowered further it cast a shadow of Snowdon, her pyramidical beauty covering the valley below.
We pitched our tent, a terra nova solar, a tried and tested lightweight 2 person tent. We unrolled and inflated our roll mats then it happened….
I unpacked my sleeping bag!
Well, I thought it was my sleeping bag, it was in the same coloured dry bag!! But it wasn’t my sleeping bag, it was my down jacket! I little bit of panic crept in, I must have out it in. I unpacked all of the contents of the rucksack (which wasn’t much as we travelled lite), nope I’d forgotten my sleeping bag…ooops!!
Oh well, nothing I could do about it. On the plus side, I had a very warm down jacket, a set of waterproofs, a rucksack, food, water, hat and gloves.
We chilled for a bit, Clare in her sleeping bag, me in my down jacket. With the sun setting the temperature began to drop and the crowds gathered near the summit for the celebrations after dark.
I spoke to a member of the mountain rescue team. He said the plan was to light the flare at the same time Rossendale & Pendle team would light there’s on the summit of Pendle Hill, just north of Blackburn, then Duddon and Furness Mountain Rescue would lite theirs on Black Coomb at the south-west tip of the lakes. Each team would be able to see the next team’s flares, but true to British weather the skies were too hazy. Good idea though and spectacular none the less.
After the celebrations, we waited to have the summit to yourself. There was a chap with his young son waiting too and the son asked his dad if he could be the last one to stand on the summit for that day.
He did and I gave him that accolade.
Returning to our tent we snuggled down for a night’s sleep high on the mountain. It was dark now so in the light of our head torches Clare was toasty in her nice warm sleeping bag and me in my down jacket!! I had though put together an improvised sleeping bag.
I put my feet into my rucksack, which came to just below my knees. I also put on my waterproof trousers, down jacket, hat and gloves. I was Surprisingly comfortable, only the small section from my knees to my waist got cold. Time to settle down to some intermittent sleep.
The morning was, well a stark contrast to the day before! The cloud was down and the rain had returned. After packing our tent we set off in waterproofs to descend the south ridge and then the Rhydd Du path. No views today other than the mist and wet rock. After our descent, we arrived at the Rhydd Du railway station on the Ffestiniog railway, just in time for a train to the Ranger hostel station and to our car.
After drying out and changing we headed to one of our favourite watering holes, the Bryn Tyrch Inn in Capel Curig. We settled down for lunch and decided to share a sticky toffee pudding, just as well as it was the size of 1/2 a house brick.
Awesome few days in the mountains, and sometimes we have to improvise when things don’t go to plan! The mountains are a great classroom and a place to disconnect.
Have an awesome day and hope to share some wild experiences with you soon.
