There are six routes up Yr Wyddfa, the most popular of which is the well-graded Llanberis Path. However you get there, the views of the surrounding mist-shrouded mountains are astonishing, says Julie Brominicks
Julie Brominicks is a Snowondia-based landscape writer and walker.
WALK: Llanberis Path, Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), Gwynedd
It seems I have the summit to myself. “Yr Wyddfa,” I say, grinning stupidly. Any mountain makes me euphoric, this one especially so. For a special few moments I stand alone at the apex of Cymru. Or not alone, as it transpires. A herring gull hunkers here too, grumpy but not incongruous.
Cold mizzle slaps my face and the entire squally summit, with rocks and ghostly figures looming through swirling cloud, resembles a shipwreck.
The figures slowly materialise, grinning and whooping. There is always a party atmosphere on the top, even when, like now, the weather (which only 24 hours earlier was forecast to be light snow and sun) has closed in – vanishing the fabulous views of north Cymru into a theatre of mist.
1 ON YOUR WAY
The longest, steadiest and most easily navigable route up Yr Wyddfa begins at the end of Victoria Terrace opposite the Victoria Hotel in Llanberis. Ascend the steep lane beyond the cattle grid.
2 PAST THE TEA HOUSE
Pass characterful Pen-y-Ceunant Isaf Tea Rooms. A warm Welsh welcome is guaranteed at any time of year but is particularly special off-season when you might get the open fire and Steffan’s hospitality to yourself.
3 OFF-ROADING
Continuing uphill, turn left off the road on to the waymarked path. Note the mountain railway, below right, whose rack and pinion track has been conveying passengers since 1896.
4 HALFWAY HOUSE
Halfway House is open in the summer months for basic refreshments. From here on the path is steeper and the weather less predictable, so it’s a good place to turn back if you’re feeling wobbly.
The path up Allt Moses is steeper and
