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SNOWDON AND MOEL EILIO

Llyn Llydaw from Bwlch y Ciliau (Walk 1)

Snowdon summit from Bwlch Ciliau (Walk 1)

The popularity of Snowdon, Yr Wyddfa in Welsh, has scarcely diminished since the first recorded ascent by the botanist Thomas Johnson in 1639. However, the 18th-century Welsh historian Thomas Pennant mentions a ‘triumphal fair upon this our chief of mountains’ following Edward I’s conquest of Wales in 1284, which, if true, indicates the likelihood of significantly earlier ascents. And although all the early ascents were by scientists of one breed or another, by the time Norfolk-born author George Borrow appeared on the scene to quote Welsh poetry from Snowdon’s summit in the middle of the 19th century, he and his companion were ‘far from being the only visitors to the hill…groups of people, or single individuals, might be seen going up or descending the path as far as the eye could reach.’

Yr Wyddfa is known to everyone as ‘Snowdon’, the highest and arguably the most popular summit in England and Wales. The name Yr Wyddfa, like that of Pen y Gadair to the south, is a name with origins in legend. It is said, although there is no archaeological evidence to support it, that the summit of Yr Wyddfa is the tomb of Rhita Gawr, a fierce, king-killing giant who dressed himself in a cloak made from the beards of those he had killed. Rhita was eventually slain by King Arthur, who had a great cairn thrown over the giant on top of the highest mountain in Eryri.

In 1857, an anonymous writer commented on the number of walkers, saying: ‘Snowdon is ascended by everyone because it is the highest top; no one seems to ascend the other mountains but the shepherds of the country. Snowdon is the Righi of Wales, with a trifle worse inn at the top.’ Snowdon is certainly the highest mountain in England and Wales but it has so much more to offer than its bare altitude. It has something for everyone, easy ways and hard ways. In the words of the English judge and sometime Member of Parliament for his home town of Reading, Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd, who, comparing it with Cadair Idris, Helvellyn and Ben Nevis, wrote: Snowdon ‘forms…the noblest aggregate, because, except on the side opposite Caernarvon, its upper portion is all mighty frame-work, a top uplifted on vast buttresses, disdaining the round lumpish earth, spreading out skeleton arms towards heaven, and embracing on each side huge hollows, made more awful by the red tints of the copper ore which deepens among its shadows, and gleams through the scanty herbage of its loveliest pathways’ – which really says it all.

There is a history of refreshments being served on the summit dating back to 1838, a licence to sell intoxicating liquor being granted in 1845. When the Snowdon Mountain Railway was opened in 1896, a hotel was built a short distance below the summit. In the 1930s, this was replaced by a restaurant to a design by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis. By the end of the 20th century, this was operating as a café and shop complex. However, it was becoming increasingly dilapidated and its state led to a campaign to replace the old building. In April 2006, Snowdonia National Park Authority agreed to start work on a new café and visitor centre complex. By mid-October 2006, the old building had been largely demolished. The shell of the new visitor centre was erected during 2007 and finally opened on 12 June 2009, and named Hafod Eryri – ‘Eryri’ in English is ‘Snowdonia’, but there is no adequate translation for ‘Hafod’, an old Welsh term for a residence on high land.

The steep cliffs in the Snowdon group hold an important place in the history of British rock climbing. The first recorded climb was the 1798 ascent of the Eastern Terrace of Clogwyn Du’r Arddu (Cloggy, as it is affectionately now known among the climbing fraternity) by the Reverends Peter Williams and William Bingley, botanists looking for alpine plants. What prompted them to complete the climb was summed up by Bingley, who wrote: ‘I believe it was the prospect downwards that determined us to brave every difficulty.’ Nothing has changed on Cloggy.

The north face of Y Lliwedd was explored in the late 19th century, and in 1909 became the subject of one of the first British climbing guides, The Climbs on Lliwedd by J M A Thompson and A W Andrews. The testing nature of Snowdon’s wall is testified to by the fact that Edmund Hillary trained here in preparation for his successful ascent of Everest in 1953.

Amazingly, for all its trampled ways, Snowdon remains an impressive mountain, with a menu of ascents to suit all abilities and dispositions, and although, as Pennant observed ‘It is very rare that the traveller gets a proper day to ascend the hill’, when perfect days do come, the extent of view is remarkable, reaching as far as the hills of southern Scotland.

Overshadowed somewhat by the mountains that radiate from Snowdon, those of the Moel Eilio range to the north-west have the advantage of solitude, which has merit, especially on a fine summer’s day, that should not be undervalued. Lying near to Llanberis, the four grassy summits comprising this group present splendid views of Mynydd Mawr across Llyn Cwellyn, the Nantlle ridge and of the sombre precipices of Clogwyn Du’r Arddu. The complete round of the four summits is no mean undertaking, and a perfect antidote to the much-trammelled hills close by.

Y Lliwedd from the summit of Snowdon (Walk 1)