A Wales Tale – Part 2

AKA What Happens When You Hike With Seasoned Climbers

Saturday morning started with relatively sunny skies and no rain, which was perfect in keeping with our plan of hiking Snowdon. While it may not have been raining, it was freezing, so we all geared up for the cold.  I, being the person who is always the most cold, decided to wear thermals underneath my clothing along with a microfleece and jacket while Kevin, Sarka and Allister stuck with regular hiking clothes and a jacket.  After a breakfast of sausage buns (or a bagel in my case), we set off on our 20K roundtrip hike.  Right away, I had to start removing layers, having been overzealous with my layers.  By the time we reached the actual trail, I had removed all the layers I possibly could (with the exception of my Tuukka Rask Bruins shirt.  I couldn’t let the fact that I was in Wales hiking interfere with my donning of at least one Bruins item a day during the playoffs.  The last two times I didn’t wear something  both resulted in Bruins losses the next day!)  However, I was still wearing a pair of thermals under my jeans, which was a seriously bad idea since it caused me to almost die of heat exhaustion.  Needless to say, we had just started the actual hike and not only was I the only one pouring sweat, but I was already lagging behind.

Wait for me!

We decided to take the tourist route up the mountain as we didn’t want to try and take Floss on the bus.  The tourist route is the longest route, but it is pretty much a graded path, so it is much less difficult than the other routes.  It pretty much follows the train tracks up the mountain, which can be quite discouraging when you are gasping for air and a train full of fatties passes you.

                                                                        Cheater Train

However, taking the tourist path turned out to be a wise decision due to the fact that I am a snail compared to Sarka, Allister and Floss.  Kevin usually isn’t that much faster than me, unless he is with the hiking superstars, and in that case, he leaves me in the dust.

Everyone’s waiting for me - again

Snowdon is the highest peak in Wales, and the highest peak in the UK outside of Scotland.  It stands at 1,085 meters (3,560 ft for you Americans), which makes it the same absolute height as another mountain I have climbed – Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa.  (Come to think of it, I was lagging and sweating bullets on this hike too.  Maybe it’s just me?)  Because of its height, it should come as no surprise that the mountain has some of the wettest (and coldest) weather in the UK.  In fact, there was still remnants of snow on some of the peaks as we climbed.

Floss is glad she is wearing a fur coat up here

The other incredible thing about Snowdon is the fog. In the span of 5 minutes, it went from clear to so foggy you could barely see the path.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The time between the first and the third pictures was only 5 minutes!

We had a contest walking up revolving around who could guess the number of people at the summit.  I guessed last and guessed 167 at which point everyone laughed at me for picking such a high number.  When we finally got to the top – it was insane. I won by far, and I even underestimated the number of people.

A fantastic photo by Sarka.  No, those aren’t pointy rocks – those are people waiting to reach the summit!

Even though I absolutely detest crowds – I managed to get up to the top to get the obligatory photo.

Go Bruins!

Notice how I look like I just died and Kev and Al look fine

         View from atop

After a quick rest and food break, we decided to get the heck off the summit and away from the annoying crowds, once again with me carrying the rear.  While it was good to be able to say “I hiked the highest peak in Wales”, I think I’ll stick to the slightly smaller peaks next time – if only to avoid the annoying crowds.