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WALK FOUR

The Pyg Track and the Miners’ Track

Snowdon from the Miners’ Track

Walkers wanting to reach Snowdon’s summit, who want neither the tedium of the ascent from Llanberis, whether on foot or by train, nor the frights that Crib Goch and Crib y Ddysgl can provoke, will opt for what has become a classic in its own right – up the Pyg and down the Miners’. And there are many reasons why those venturing onto Snowdon for the first time will take pleasure in this approach, not least the emerging prospect of mountains beyond mountains and the sheer adrenalin rush that these rocky theatres generate.

The Route

The walk starts from the car park at Pen y Pass, where the charge for parking is considerably more than the old shilling (5p) once demanded. Ignore the conspicuous track leading south from the car park, this is the way you will return. Instead, start off west, aiming for the pointed cone of Crib Goch seen in the distance. If you can’t see Crib Goch because of mist, you may want to reconsider the day’s plans.

The Pyg Track, contrary to a once-popular belief that it took its name from the initials of the nearby Pen y Gwryd Hotel, the haunt of Everest mountaineers in the 1950s, is actually named from the high-level pass, Bwlch y Moch, the Pass of the Pigs, immediately below the steep ascent to Crib Goch.

The track gains height in a series of stepped sections that lie to the north of the long ridge leading to an unnamed summit (perhaps we could be daring and call it Pen Bwlch y Moch, The Peak of the Pass of the Pigs, albeit with no justification).

ROUTE INFORMATION

Distance	11½km/7 miles
Height gain	840m/2755ft
Time	4–5 hours
Grade	strenuous
Start point	Pen y Pass SH647555
Getting there	Pen y Pass car park, but note that this fills up early. Consider making use of the hourly Snowdon Sherpa shuttle bus from Llanberis or Nant Peris.
Maps	(Harvey Superwalker) Snowdonia and the Moelwynion; (Ordnance Survey) OL17 Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa
After-walk refreshment	Pen y Pass; Pen y Gwryd; Nant Peris; Llanberis

At Bwlch y Moch the path forks. Go left, descending for a short while, to continue along the Pyg Track, and so begin a superb traverse of Crib Goch’s lower slopes, yet sufficiently elevated to have a fine view of Llyn Llydaw and the towering vertical cliffs of Y Lliwedd, which were among the first crags in Wales to be explored by rock climbers. This traverse is to be appreciated; there is nothing quite like it in Wales, and every opportunity should be taken to embrace the scenery. When Snowdon bursts into view, hopefully it will be with a clarity that draws you on.

Snowdon and Llyn Llydaw

The Pyg Track is clear throughout its length, and substantially restored in its upper reaches. Along the way it cavorts with minor outcrops and later passes below the broken cliffs of Crib y Ddysgl, where the Miners’ Track ascends from the left, rising through Cwm Dyli. The final escape is by the renowned zigzags, now pitch paved. This used to be seriously tricky in winter conditions, and is no easier now when snow and ice abound. But in normal summer conditions, there is no difficulty popping up to the finger of rock that marks the top of the path, a key marker, incidentally, for the descent.

Now all that remains is to turn left (roughly south), and follow a broad trail up to the summit of Snowdon.

You make your descent by retracing your steps to the finger of rock above the zigzags, and the turning down onto the Pyg Track. Above Glaslyn, in an area of mining debris that often causes navigational confusion, a path descends steeply to the shores of the lake. There is a stone marker, a little over a metre high, that marks the best point of departure from the Pyg Track.

The Pyg Track in winter

Glaslyn, its water tinted by copper ore, was once known as Llyn y Ffynnon Las, the Lake of the Green Fountain, and is, so legend would have us believe, inhabited by a monster, an afangc, which used to live in a pool near Betws y Coed, where it frequently wreaked havoc among the locals. Tired of its ways, they finally moved it to Glaslyn, pulled by a team of oxen, one of which under severe strain lost an eye at Gwaun Lygad yr Ych, the Field of the Ox’s Eye, on the slopes of Moel Siabod, by which way it was brought. The presence of the beast in Glaslyn’s waters is said to be an explanation of why no bird will fly across the lake.

With the shores of the lake close by, and a substantial if rocky track now underfoot, you pass the outflow from Glaslyn, and continue the descent of the Miners’ Track to mine buildings above the shoreline of Llyn Llydaw. The mines here were never very productive, and although supplied with new machinery in 1915, they closed down a year later.

Llyn Llydaw is divided by a causeway constructed in the 19th century. Formerly it was much lower than its modern-day counterpart and prone to flooding, necessitating a circuit of the north-eastern end of the lake to regain the path, or wading, a sometimes hazardous prospect not because of crocodiles or box jelly fish, but because to misjudge the depth in the middle could cause a seriously chilling sensation in one’s nether regions.

One more lake awaits, Llyn Teyrn, the Lake of the Ruler, occupying a shallow hollow scooped out by a retreating glacier. It is believed to be so named because a local prince had the sole right to net fish there. On its shores are the ruins of barracks used by miners, and legend has it that they were occupied by miners from Brittany who fled at the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars at the beginning of the 19th century.

Press on past the lake, and soon the track will swing around the end of the Pen Bwlch y Moch ridge and runs northwards to the top of Pen y Pass.

Moel Siabod, Llyn Llydaw and the Miners’ Track