QMD Walks The Welsh 3000s: A write up Copyright Bill Fear 2019 Relevant Maps include: OS OL17 (1:25); OS LR 115 (1:50); Harvey Snowdonia North (1:40); Harvey Snowdonia North Superwalker XT25 (1:25) Distance: c. 28 miles; ascent c. 3800m (officially given on some sites as 4500m) Going: Demanding. Some rough ground but mostly on FPs. PRoW and FPs not always clear. Route finding necessary for some small parts. Some steep and slippery ground. River crossings may be tricky in spate. The Welsh 3000s is an iconic challenge with a somewhat inflated reputation for its difficulty. Truth of the matter is that the route is pretty straightforward and pretty much all on good paths. There are a number of water sources along the way (streams and a reservoir) and two road crossings. On a busy weekend large parts of the route resemble Oxford Street on a busy Saturday. That having been said, it’s a route where small mistakes, nominal deviations from the route, unanticipated rests, and a lack of cardiovascular fitness will cost you dearly. A small deviation from the path could cost you an hour. If you blow the Elidir Fawr climb you won’t finish. An unnecessary scramble will sap your energy and add hours to your time – when it counts most. What the challenge requires for successful completion – a summit-to-summit time of 15 hours or less – is discipline and cardiovascular fitness that allows you to climb consistently at a good pace, all other things being equal. It does require careful planning for where you take rest breaks and feeding breaks and where you are going to source water. The summit-to- summit completion time is estimated as a time for the average Hill or Long Distance Walker in a London Hight Street shop in reasonable-to-good weather without support. It assumes, as noted, that the said person is disciplined, sticks to the main paths, and has planned their route carefully in case the weather comes in. For the more experienced walker/mountaineer the expected completion time all other things being equal would be around 12 hours. The main route is straightforward, as said above, but there are number of minor variations for the ascents and descents of the first and third leg. The Route Description (RD) and GPX files give these variations. Water sources and support points are noted below and on the RD and on the relevant GPX files. For the true Welsh 3000s challenge you’ll want to do it without any support other than drop off at the start and pick up at the finish. That means carrying all your own food and water and the minimal necessary mountain kit. 1 The challenge is readily broken down into three legs. The Snowdon leg, the Glyderau leg, and the Carneddau leg. The Snowdon leg has a small Grade One scramble across Crib Goch and has two main variations. The Glyderau leg is pretty much fixed although the transfer to the Carneddau leg has two options. The Carneddau leg is pretty much fixed but there are a number of options from the finish to leave the mountains. The Snowdon leg can be started at either Crib Goch or Snowdon. These two starts give two very different routes with different ways off the mountain. Either route means a strong climb to the start, the first summit, followed by three summits in quick succession then a long descent to the valley. The advantage of a Crib Goch start is that the descent is straightforward with two simple options. A Snowdon start means descending from Crib Goch and using North Ridge followed by a longish stretch on the road, which does have the advantage of giving your legs a rest and means you can make good time. The Glyderau leg is pretty much fixed. From Nant Peris you take the direct ascent up Elidir Fawr then follow the main paths round to the next valley. This leg has most of the big climbs and big descents. The climbs are unrelenting and come in succession and need to be carefully managed. This is not a leg to push on. It needs a measured pace and a low, steady, effort. The risk with this leg, as it is with the first leg, is getting caught up with trying to do too much rock – scrambling – on the Glyderau themselves and Tryfan. This will burn up energy and time alike and is unnecessary. With the exception of Castell y Gwynt the paths take you within the required distance of the summits and there is no need to stop and mess around at each one. Managing this middle leg is crucial to the success of the day. There are a lot of climbs and a lot of potential distractions and deviations from the main path. Blowing the climbs will rob you of the energy you need for the Carneddau and straying of the main path can easily cost you hours in time. The main pinch points in terms of straying are Foel Goch, which you avoid by staying on the main path, and losing the path after Glyder Fawr and getting caught up in Castell y Gwynt and Glyder Fach and on the smaller paths up Tryfan. It is also important to stay in West Gully on the descent. The gully is eroded and full of slabs of rock. There is a small path to the left as you descend, but this should be avoided as the gully itself is easier and faster to descend. The Carneddau leg has the final big climb at the start. The climb can be softened if you take the Glen Dena path (see Alternative Leg Three below) but that adds an extra .4 - .5 of a mile. Once the climb up Pen yr Ole Wen is completed it is an undulating route with one little kick up from Yr Elen to Carnedd Llewelyn. The main challenge on this leg is sections across boulder fields. They are short but greasy in the wet and there are a good number of them. However, if you keep a steady pace and focus you are through them quickly. The Carneddau leg is the one where you can afford to push the pace and look for a good strong finish and make up any lost time. When you reach the finish at Foel Fras there are four possible descents off the mountains: Bethesda, Aber Falls, Bwlcyh y Ddeufaen Car Park, and the Llyn Eigiau Car Park. The shortest route is to Llyn Eigiau, but this is also the most difficult route. Bwlch y Ddeufaen is a simple route and virtually the same distance as the Llyn Eigiau route. It can be much shortened if you know the way across the open access. The simplest finish is to the Aber Falls 2 Car Park. This requires no effort and follows a broad track. The Bethesda finish is the longest finish with some focus and concentration required. The challenge varies markedly with the time of year, the weather, and between weekends and weekdays. The optimum day would be in late April early May in good weather during the week. The mountains will be quiet, you have enough daylight if you get an early start and stick to the pace and the plan, and the weather is at its most stable. Weekends can be noisy and crowded, especially on the Glyderau section, and once past June the weather is starting to turn. If you are a masochistic, experienced, die hard with phenomenal fitness and mountaineering skills the cold, wet, dark, winter days are of course an option. But its not a challenge to take on in either the rain or in the snow or strong winds. The risks are simply to great and a realistic pace is unlikely. What follows is a description (not an RD) of the summit-to-summit route starting at Crib Goch. When I completed the challenge I took a slightly different route but I’ve done every part of the route outlined here with the exception of cutting corner around Carnedd Llewelyn. At the time I rather foolishly thought cutting corner to Yr Elen first made sense and became fixated on that option – to my cost. Similarly for the Tryfan Dash route. The Welsh 3000s route from Crib Goch Leg one; Snowdon Range; Three summits From Pen y Pass you take the Pyg Track up to Crib Goch (1). Its important to take it slow and easy especially as if you want to get round well you need an early start (sunrise). Take the easy route up to Crib Goch, keeping to the right, with minimal scrambling. Cross over and again minimise any unnecessary scrambling. The objective is to move at steady pace and don’t do anything you don’t have to do. Go across to Garnedd Ugain (2) on the right hand path and follow the track up to Snowdon (3). Take the Llanberis path from Snowdon and after Clogwyn station leave the path and continue on the ridge to the 610m ring contour. Cross over the stile and descend on the path, which is on the left and then cuts right, and as you near the bottom bear left to the stile over the wall. Be careful not to keep on with the path on the spur for too long otherwise you come to a steep bit that is very difficult to get down. The 610m descent is a little tough on the knees and in wet weather can be very slippery as it is all on grass.