My Welsh 3000s Diary By Alex Ford

A couple of weekends ago - August 30 to be precise - a group of OMers successfully tackled the 15 Welsh 3000 footers in a day. If you want dry information on the best routes and logistical approach you'd better look elsewhere, but if you want to know just how it feels, check our OM member Alex Ford's audio diary and pics by Alex and Andy Ashton of a momentous hill day...

04:50 It's Pen-y-Pass and we are walking across the car park. It's been raining nearly all night and I've had almost an hour's sleep. Here we go, start of the OUTDOORSmagic 2003 Welsh 3000s attempt.

05:18 We're at the fence line just before the stile that leads up to the path that goes up Crib Goch and all I can see, apart from Lloyd's footprints, is a big grey lump that is Crib Goch. Not much cloud, still a few stars, it's quite pretty.

05:25 Here we are about to start Crib Goch, and here we go.

06:10 We are just about to start the proper ridge scramble now, we've come up the North Ridge and it's a bit of a bugger, but I've lost my head torch on the way up. I put it in the mesh side pocket of the sack when it got light and now it's gone. I'm a bit upset about it. We've got the 'flat' level scramble of the knife-edge ridge to go. Pancreas moment I think.

06:30 We've just taken the top of Crib Goch (1) so that's one done and another 14 to go. The ridge was a bit scary, but not as scary as the first time I did it; the boots definitely make the difference. Mescalitos are much grippier and I can really feel the rock which is a good thing, and grip the rock which is an even better thing, and that gives a lot of confidence enabling me to go that bit faster.

Dawn from Snowdon - Andy Ashton

I did have a few pancreas moments, but the sun's out; Lloyd and James are to the front, all the rest are to the rear. We're told that Jon has pulled out as he's feeling his viral symptoms again. Looking across to the right I can see the Glyders and it's looking pretty murky and misty and it's not very happy over there. Off to my left I can see Snowdon disappearing into the cloud, Y Llewidd is clear though, shame we are not going anywhere near it.

07:05 And that's two ticked off, Garnedd Ugain (2) just done. It's fairly misty and murky up here and it's quite cold, but I think that's because I've been sweating, as I do. Gonna keep moving now; don't want to cool off too much. Going to drop down and then the stiff pull up to Snowdon, and then we are at the top of the tops and it's all downhill from there.

James and Lloyd in mid-murk on the top of Snowdon - three down, 12 to go...

---

07:20 That's three ticked off. Snowdon (3) We are at least half an hour behind my personal schedule but no plan survives contact with the enemy, as they say. Conditions up here on Snowdon, well there's nobody about, just the three of us. It's very misty; you can hardly see the station from the summit. It's quite cold as well, and I don't envy the people who bivvied up here. Speaking of which, we met Ben and Andy as we were coming across. They said they had a good night's sleep up here - good luck to them - we'll probably see them later on the Glyders. Right, we are off down to get off this mountain and get back to the road.

07:50 We're just about to go down a "precipitous drop", as the book says. If you ever listen to this then we'll have made it to the bottom. ("Or else it's survived like a black box flight recorder" - James)

08:45 We're off Snowdon and we're on the road. A big tick in the box. That's quite a way down isn't it, looking back up at it. The rain's stopped and the sun's out - dry the waterproofs off a bit. They're still soaking wet, but I think that's from the inside out actually. It took us an hour 25 minutes to get off the summit of Snowy, which isn't bad going. Another ten minutes to the car. We are still behind schedule, so I think we were being initially a bit ambitious, 'cos we haven't slowed at all, and still pushed on.

09:48 We've just seen Alison again, for the first time since near the top of Snowdon, when she said she was with Jeff and his mate. Where they are I don't know, maybe she's eaten them... (Potentially libellous, but left in for effect... Ed.)

10:00 Legs feel like hell. (pant) It's hard work (pant).

10:05 This mountain (pant) is badly designed (pant). Whoever did it needs to be shot. (pant)

10:11 To add insult to injury here (pant), I can see the top of Pen yr Ole Wen, just round the back of the ridge (pant). Standing there taunting. Just like this bastard is.

10:30 There's a beautiful sight; you can just see the top of Tryfan - I can just make out Adam and Eve. Can't see the top of Elidir Fawr yet.

10:48 You bastard I've only gone and done it. WOW! I'm standing in a hail shower on the top of Elidir Fawr (4). I can see the front moving past me now, the one I talked about a few minutes ago. The rain is going to stop in about 5 minutes. I can see Beaumaris and Puffin Island. Below me is the big reservoir for the power station inside the mountain I'm on. Llanberis is across to my left. I can see a rainbow, and way down into Cardigan Bay. What a view. It might be a badly designed mountain, it might be really crap, it might be scared by man inside and out, but in the words of Hillary, "We've knocked the bastard off!"

10:55 That hailstorm has just whoosh, gone away, it's hammering itself into the Glyders now but there's glorious blue sky out in the Irish Sea, and very, very little cloud out there. The wind is still up and it'll keep that cloud moving with a bit of luck. It looks like a good couple of hours of good weather, let's hope it keeps up. I've got to say, now I've done that climb, I'm feeling quite confident about the whole event. I'm not sure where Jez is, I sort of shamefully left him behind me on the slope. Sorry Jez.

11:30 Sun is out and the sky is blue. Y Garn is in front of me. It's a fairly steep hard pull up and then a run down the other side where a cup of tea will be waiting I believe. I am really determined to do this now, I think it's because I've just invested the last seven hours in this, and I don't want to give up, but we'll see as time goes on.

11:39 I've forgotten just how steep the climb up Y Garn this way is. I've never been up this way before, although I've been down it, and it is a bitch.

11:55 I've just realised that I've just been to the top of Y Garn (5) and I'm running down the other side. I was on the top at about 10 to, and I'm aiming to get down to the Llyn for 12. People are staring at me as I go running past.

12:12 How do I feel about this whole thing? I don't know. I feel very strange. It's an emotional roller coaster, one minute you are all "Yeah off we go. Let's go, this is do-able. I can do it. The next you are fighting your way uphill and it's "why am I doing this? My body is killing me. My muscles are burning." But, yeah, but. Right I don't want to get to philosophical I am going to get going again and get onto the top and see how things go from there.

12:26 Just bumped into Phil, just as I was starting the scree slope, which is nice. He's brought a tent and burner and tea facilities up! Good on him. But I'm not going to stay and partake, as I don't want to get slowed down and stiff legs, time to stop talking and start climbing.

12:48 I'm almost, almost at the top of Glyder Fawr. I've been paced up by a lady who's out with her husband, but has streaked ahead in front of her. She had some sticks and all I could hear behind me was click, click, click. But I didn't stop on the way up - fantastic!

13:00 We're just walking away from the summit of Glyder Fawr (6). I've bumped into Ben and Andy again. Looking good for time at the moment. These guys have caught up with us as we're going well. These chaps are fast, but if I can keep pace with them over onto Tryfan, they know for certain of the quick way off down a gully that gets us to the road a lot quicker, so I need to push myself out. It's nice having someone to talk to again, as I've spent the last three hours pretty much on my own.

Andy and Ben amid the jagged rock architecture of the Glyders

---

'My knees are hurting a little I must say, but I feel generally good'

13:30 We're doing really well for time. That's Glyder Fawr and now Glyder Fach (7) done. The Cantilever is on my right hand side, with, I must say a lady with a very nice bottom on it, but that's by the by. So the scree-run down the side of Bristly Ridge to go. Hoping to be at the bottom of this for my target of 2pm. My knees are hurting a little bit I must say, but I feel pretty good generally. "Feeling good, feeling fine" as we used to sing on the squadron way back. I won't repeat the rest of the song as it is rather sacriligious. Ben and Andy have stopped off in the view of the Cantilever for a bit of food, but they will soon catch me up as they are very fast. They murdered me across the top there, but I really needed to keep up with them. Right the scree-run.

13:31 And a Sea King helicopter from RAF Valley is playing about on the North Ridge of Tryfan. It seems to be having fun - I hope they are anyway and that they are not up here for something serious.

13:34 I've caught up with John! He's been watching the Sea King too. He says that he tried to keep up with Lloyd and James, but they were going really hard and fast.

13:40 And we are going down the scree slope beside Bristly...

Woman: Which way is the best way to go up?
Me: The best way to go up is up Bristly Ridge.
Woman: Which way did you go up?
Me: Go up? Well we came from Snowdon at 4:30 this morning so that's a bit irrelevant. Sorry.
Woman: Are you going down?
Me: Yeah, were going over there (points in direction of Tryfan and the Carneddau).
Woman: Tryfan?
Me: Well, yes but also over there too (points to Pen yr Ole Wen).
Woman: You're rather mad aren't you!

13:40 As I was saying, still going down the scree. Memo to self: Never do this again.

13:55 We are down the scree and at the wall at the back end of Tryfan. Looking good for time, and Ben and Andy are down too chatting to a mate of theirs that they have just bumped into. I've just met John, the chap who volunteered to drive a few of us to Pen-y-Pass this morning, and he's given us some good encouragement. Nice chap. I think we are talking about half an hour up to the top and hopefully the same down the other side. At the worst case I am aiming for the A5 for 3:30pm.

14:45 So that was the summit of Tryfan (8), we got there at about 2:30. The climb up was a lot harder than I anticipated and it took a lot out of me. But as Ben said the scrambling took the mind off the ascent up. We are going down the gully which was pretty obvious actually, I wonder why I've never seen it before? I can see the car park now, which is a good thing, but is Phil there? Not necessarily. Hmmmmm. We are hoping to get to the bottom for about 3:30.

15:45 For the last fifteen minutes I've been wandering along the road looking for Phil's Galaxy. I left John behind, as he seems to be struggling with the steps that lead the way down here. I must say they were quite nasty and do jar the knees quite badly. I am totally unable to find Phil. I shall go back to the car park and wait for John. Ben and Andy have got to their car which is being driven about by Ben's partner. But the most important thing is that we're at the road. Now is decision time! To go on or not to go on. I have loads of reasons to stop, but only one reason to go on. I really want this. REALLY.

16:35 We're just about to start the climb for the last leg of this mis-adventure. We've made the executive decision, John and I, to go up the South Ridge of Pen yr Ole Wen. We are going to go straight up the path of death, right after I've been to the little boy's room, of course.

17:35 Sun's still out - no rain clouds at the moment. We're going up Pen yr Ole Wen it's hell! The pace is slow but steady, and we're not stopping. I've changed my clothes completely and I'm in running shorts but I have a pair of Tracksters in my bag for later. The path is a slog and we've just been passed by a group of people wearing climbing helmets for some reason. One of them said that the climb would kill me. He's not far wrong, but I've done this before (albeit by slightly different route) and I know I can do it.

18:20 Pen yr Ole Wen (9) done! Thank God. I won't say it's the home stretch 'cos it's not yet, but we're not far away from it now.

18:55 Carnedd Daffydd (10) done and we are climbing down from it. We can see Carnedd Llewelyn, and Ben and Andy are over there somewhere. Yr Elen is over there too out of the way. A badly designed mountain range.

19:40 Carnedd Llewelyn (11) done and we are on our way towards Yr Elen. Not far to go now. The climb up was really hard. It's hurting now. We are right on the edge of the cloud and it's quite spooky, quite spooky indeed. The cloud base is right at 1000m just below the summit altitude of the mountain. Amazing.

19:50 Walking across to Yr Elen - the bastard one. It seems pointlessly out of the way. Quite tired now, actually. Feeling the day's work, but after this one's done it's meant to be quite easy after that, just the pull back up here, and then it's an hour and a half off to the last one. So we are looking at about a 10pm finish. I'm going to give this last section all I've got and then take it easy on the walk in to the car where hopefully Phil is waiting for us.

20:05 Summit of Yr Elen (12). Well (sigh) that seemed pointless for a few spikey rocks.

20:30 Still going. Going strong actually. The end is nigh. We can see the whole of Anglesey to our left, all the way to Holyhead Mountain and the lighthouse over on the other side of the island. To our right we can see down into Colwyn Bay. In just about 3-400 metres in front of us, is what looks like a nice wide-open path. Which should take us onto Foel Grach and we are going to have a bit of a jog and a go at it.

20:55 Head torches are on now. We took in Foel Grach (13) and Garnedd Uchaf (14) so quickly I forgot to get this recorder out as we've been running for about 10 minutes. We have one more 3000 foot jobby to do now, and it's a rather dull looking grassy green lump. Once you are over and off Carnedd Llewelyn they become pretty uninspiring lumps but they still have to be done.

20:56 Either the sheep are pretty ugly up here and they are deformed or there are ponies up here on the top of the mountain. Our running sort of spooked one into a gallop that came out of nowhere. How nice, ponies on the top of a mountain. Shows how grassy and green they are.

21:30 We've slowed a bit now as it's really dark. The moon popped out for about 10 minutes but it was only a thin sliver anyway, so that was useless. Mars is out and is a bright orange ball in the sky. But we've come across a trig point and it's the one on top of Foel-fras (15) so we've finished! Whew. Just gotta get off now. A celebratory handshake and we are moving again.

22:05 We think we're on the top of Drum, and we have looked at the map and John isn't too keen to go straight off it due west down to pick up the track at the lake. To be honest I agree with him. It looks a nasty descent and there is NO path. We are going to follow the boundary on our right here and pick up the track off the summit of Drum instead. It's a bit further on the map, but one slip in the dark going down to the Llyn would be nasty and that is not what we are here for.

22:30 There is no bloody track. It's marked on the map, but it's not on the ground. Bastard. We have made the decision to handrail the fence all the way and then pick up the track later as it crosses this wall somewhere further on.

22:35 I've just phoned Phil to make sure he doesn't call out Mountain Rescue. They are sorting out some Chinese food for us! Bless him.

23:15 At last! We have hit a solid track and have the power cables marked on the map as a reference. Somehow we've deviated out of our route by quite a way. Why did that boundary wall swing the wrong way? I just can't figure it out.

23.38 My phone battery is dying so I've turned it off for a bit, John's got his out now and we are walking due west along the track. There's a signpost in the distance.

23:40 We now have a definitive on our position. Exactly. Bastard. How did we get that far off? Still John's looked at the map closely and reckons 15 minutes to the road head.

23:55 We are there! At last. Bugger that was a long day. Alison is waiting at the car, what a lovely sight. I have never been so pleased to see anyone. I have been running on adrenaline for the last hour, just wanting to be on tarmac. To be on a road means cars, which means a sit down, which means soon we'll be in our tents.

00-something I am too tired to read the clock. I slept all the way back to the camp site, sorry Alison, I have been terrible company for that journey. I have to text Lorna and tell her that I am back safe and sound. Looking at the map, the reason we didn't swing round following the wall is that the boundary is marked by Boundary Stones along there and not a wall. The wall goes off north and we just followed that. If we hadn't been so tired we'd - no I'd have seen it says "Boundary Stones"...

01:00 Just eaten Prawn Chow Mien and Fried Rice! HOT out of Phil's fridge. Apparently you can reverse the polarity and it'll keep the food warm. Lovely, just what the doctor ordered. Thank you Phil, you are a star! Now into that sleeping bag. 19 hours on the hill. What a day.

Alex 'Epic' Ford - 30 August 2003