Some hikes live longer in the memory than others. And last Thursday, I headed out for an Autumn mid week scramble up Crib Goch in the hope of grabbing some cloud inversions. Side note… yes, I know they’re technically “temperature inversions,” but I’m choosing to stick with the more commonly used “cloud inversions.”
Each of the previous three times I’ve scrambled across Crib Goch I’ve been pretty lucky with the conditions. But I was hoping to get incredibly lucky last week. I wasn’t particularly bothered about summiting Snowdon itself. I did want to see the peak above the clouds though and I always think Garnedd Ugain is a solid alternative to Snowdon and a much prettier (and quieter) summit.
It was a 4am alarm and a 2 hour drive to set off from Pen Y Pass car park on foot before the sun rose.
Misty conditions and low lying cloud gave me a remarkable sense of optimism that today might work out!
A brief hike up the Pyg Track to turn off for the Crib Goch scramble was as fun as ever it has been. I made shorter work of this than previously (it’s over a year since I last hiked up here and I’ve gotten a lot fitter). And while I wasn’t above the clouds by the time I got to the summit of Crib Goch, I was enjoying some ludicrously dramatic scenery.
More to the point, my term time Thursday morning timing was paying off. For much of the time I was on there, I had Crib Goch to myself.
It was a chilly morning and a perfect time to try out a new piece of kit – my Mac in a Sac summit series duck down jacket. The appeal of this one was how small it packs away. Even in cold conditions, I tend to find myself overheating on steep inclines so I need insulated jackets that pack down small as they do spend chunks of the hike in my bag. This one hit the brief perfectly.
Crib Goch wasn’t a bad first outing for this one, eh!
After a fairly quick scramble across Crib Goch and over its pinnacles, it was a continued scramble up towards arguably the prttiest of the Eyryi summits, Garnedd Ugain.
For much of this scramble again I was in cloud with fairly low visibility. But it was starting to thin and I was treated to a Brocken Spectre:
I knew here that I was in for incredible cloud inversions.
The cloud continued to thin on approach to Garnedd Ugain and then there it was. Jackpot. Bingo.
The most complete cloud inversion I’ve ever experienced and the absolute wonder of the Yr Wyddfa summit peeking above a thick, complete and infinite looking blanket of cloud.
I couldn’t believe my luck, to be honest. I continued my scramble to the summit of Garnedd Ugain, the views improving all the time. My pace slowed as I found myself stopping every minute or two simply to ogle in disbelief at how incredibly fortunate I’d gotten with the views.
The summit soon came:
I won’t forget the view of that worn Garnedd Ugain trig point for some time.
For the first few minutes I was up there, I was in the company of a fellow hiker. We said hi, took some photos for one another and went our separate ways.
I then had this summit to myself for around half hour. Having made good time I hung around here for a while to enjoy the views and fly the drone out. I was just utterly spectacular.
Looking pretty pleased with my life choices up there!
For much of the time I was up on Garnedd Ugain, the Crib Goch ridgeline remained under the cloud. But it did make a brief appearance and I was able to enjoy those views. The most spectacular element of it all though was to enjoy those views of the Snowdon peak in cloud inversion conditions. I say it a lot but I’ll say it again… the views OF Yr Wyddfa are better than the views FROM Yr Wyddfa.
As I was leaving Garnedd Ugain, I could see the Snowdon summit getting busy, so I opted not to even summit that this day and instead made my way down the Pyg Track, back into the cloud and down the Miner’s Track – with a phone full of photos and absolutely buzzing with my morning.
What a solo hike.
