The stars aligned today for my mountaineering team, who were hoping to make an ascent of Snowdon. The weather was perfect, with neither cloud nor wind, everyone assembled on time with the correct kit and most importantly, there was a vacant space at the car park at Pen y Pass (unheard of these days!).

With the weather and time on our side, we upped the ante, by heading up to do the classic ridge traverse of Crib Goch.

We were pretty fast getting onto the first summit. The views were so good that we stopped for a mini lunch and drink so we could take it all in, and steel ourselves for the crossing of the next, most exposed, section…

We moved cautiously, but steadily along the ridge as it does require some careful group management!

With the main difficulties behind us, the final uphill section seemed to go on and on as we began to tire.

It only took a further fifteen minutes from the ‘finger stone’ to reach the summit, where after a few photos, we took our packs off and finished off what food we had left.

We opted for a descent of the PyG track (see photo below), for speed, as by now the day was ticking along and some of the lads had school buses to catch!

Our average speed plummeted for the final few kilometers, as water bottles and energy reserves emptied, but we pushed on, reaching the YHA with just enough time to get everyone back as planned. Just! An absolute classic of a day.

An then, to finish the day off – as if I’d not walked far enough – having been dropped near the garage by John, to pick up the van, it turned out that it wasn’t ready to use, so I had to walk the final few kilometres back home to The Cottage, where I arrived just after 7pm, very much ready for some food, drink and a shower!