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8th June 2000

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A Day in the Hills
The Welsh Three Thousands

15 of the Welsh Mountains exceed 3000 feet, the official total was 14 until a new survey added Carnedd Uchaf to the list, One of the 'Challenge Walks' is to complete all 15 in a day.

While laid up with a back problem last year I had plenty of time to read many of the walking books which have lain undisturbed in the bookcase for years. With the medical advice to give up running down hills and on hard surfaces, I set myself a target of getting back to a sufficient fitness level to enable me to walk all the Welsh 3000's in a day (at the time I could only manage to walk about 100 yards).

For some reason the classic route is from the summit of Snowdon to the summit of Foel Fras, a distance of 24 miles with 10,000 feet of climb, the competitive souls look for a time of under 12 hours. Unless you camp on Snowdon overnight or take the train up then you are faced with the climb up Snowdon and of course the walk off Foel Fras, making the total walk around 30 miles with 12,200 feet of climb. I also feel that to claim to have climbed all the 3000's you must include the climb up to the Snowdon range.

Having studied the options I decided to start from the car park at Pen y Pass and proceed to Grib Goch, Carnedd Ugain and then Snowdon, leaving the summit via the Llanberis Path to the railway bridge near Clogwyn Station. From here it is possible to descend via Cwm Glas Bach to the road at Gwastadnant. Roy Clayton describes the descent in his book 'The Welsh Three Thousand Foot Challenges' as 'precipitous and spectacular'.

I have a brother-in-law at Llanfairfechan, Eric offered to meet me at the road crossings and suggested I stopped with him the night before my attempt. So my destination from Foel Fras would be over Drum to Llanfairfechan.

I decided to make my attempt in the week commencing Mon. 8th August 2000. However the weather remained poor with rain and low cloud; Thursday's forecast gave reasonable weather for the following day, so I went to Llanfairfechan on theThursday evening. Driving through Llanberis at 05:45 on Friday morning the Snowdon range was covered with low black cloud and we drove into the Pen y Pass car park in mist!

I left Eric on schedule at 06:00hrs hoping the cloud would lift for the climb up to Grib Goch, On leaving the Pyg Track Grib Goch became visible. On the ridge traverse towards Carnedd Ugain the cloud returned and remained until I reached the Railway Bridge near Clogwyn Station. I changed into Fell Shoes for the descent (I feel more confident on steep decent in fell shoes) but after all the rain the ground was very wet and slippy. I lost my footing three times on the steep grassy section, leaving me with several small cuts in my left hand which bled profusely.

Scheduled Time to Nant Peris : 3.5 Hours. Actual : 2.75

Eric was waiting for me. Having made a good start I was keen to just change back into my boots, pick up fresh water and get away, however Eric insisted on cleaning up my hand and applying plasters.

The second section takes in Eldir Fawr, Y Garn, Glyder Fawr, Glyder Fach and Tryfan, then drops down to Llyn Ogwen. I see this section as the crucial part of the route with about 9/10 miles and 5500 ft. I set off at 09:00 hrs to tackle the long climb of Eldir Fawr. Caught up with three walkers at the summit of Eldir Fawr, they were also walking the Welsh 3's and had spent the night on Snowdon. Comparing notes they had set off before 06:00 from Snowdon Summit carrying small packs, all in shorts and wearing trainers or fell shoes, I left them to press on to Y Garn, if they ever made Foel Fras it would be in the dark.

The general cloud base was now above 3000ft with the occasional cloud down to 2000/2500ft. Experience has shown me that one of the worst sections to navigate in the mist are the Glyders and I hoped this area would be clear. I hit thick cloud climbing to Glyder Fawr and the visibility on the summit platau was down to 10/12 yards. Decided caution was better than speed and used the compass to ensure that I kept to the path. Lost path around Castell y Gwynt and set course for Glyder Fach summit, after some scrambling and descent over rocky slabs found myself on path, but where was Glyder Fach? Used GPS to confirm position, which showed I was on Glyder Fach, had I passed over the summit rocks? Set course for Bristly Ridge, after short distance a lone walker comes into view through the mist, he tells me he has just passed the Cantilever, which confirms my location. Visibility had improved a little, I decided to go back the short distance to Glyder Fach to ensure I had climbed the summit.

Left Glyder Fach, visibility very poor again with no sign of the path, set course for Bristly Ridge, arrive safely at path beside Bristly Ridge. Changed into fell shoes for the rest of the section to Ogwen. Leave cloud behind after 3/400ft of descent. The next objective, Tryfan, is clear and sunny with no problems in ascent although the descent seems to go on forever.

Eric was waiting at Ogwen and had anticipated that the thick cloud on the Glyders would slow me down, however overall I was still on the schedule I had set myself.

Schedule Time : 4.5 hrs. Actual : 5.0 hrs

Had planned a longer stop at Ogwen to have lunch, change back into boots and sort out what kit to take with me for the final stage. Fortunately the weather now looked settled with clear skies and a gentle breeze, looking back the Glyders had also cleared.

Set off for the final stage over the Carnedd's at 14:20. This starts with a tough 2300 ft climb up Pen yr Ole Wen, then on to Carnedd Dafydd, detour to Yr Elen, Carnedd Llewlyn, Foel Grach, Carnedd Unchaf and finally Foel Fras. A total distance of 9 or 10 miles and 4000 feet of climb. Although the Climb to Pen yr Ole Wen felt slow, a check on my watch showed I had reached the top faster than I had anticipated. With clear visibility this section went well, I felt much better than I had expected. Arriving at Foel Fras at 18:30, 12.5 hours after the start from Pen y Pass.

Scheduled Time : 5 hrs. Actual : 4.2 hrs

I was delighted to have made the journey and in a faster than expected time. I now had to continue over Drum, where Eric joined me for the 4/5-mile trek to Llanferfechan. Reached Eric's just after 20:00hrs, 14 hrs after the start. After a hot bath and a good dinner Eric and I retired to the local for a few well earned pints.

Roy Tunstall

PS. Anyone interested in walking or running the route is welcome to the knowledge I have gained from my experience. I can recommend it, it was easier than running a marathon.
I think the record for running the route from Snowdon summit to Foel Fras is still 4-hrs 19 min set in 1988 by Colin Donnelly and 5 hrs 29 min set by Angela Carson in 1989.