Scrambling

Facing fears is always going to be a challenge. But, avoidance is not the way to grow, and as I said in my post yesterday - Turning Hard into Easy - this is something I'm facing head on this summer. On Thursday last week we woke in the campsite at Nant Peris, a rare lay in, but still up around 7am. We drove to Pen-Y-Pass and parked up, had breakfast while the tent dried in the sunshine, and got ready for the run along the Miners Track and scramble up Y Gribin.

Running along the Miners Track with Y Lliwedd looming above

The ridge we'll be going across looking magnificent, if a little daunting

Now the full glory of Y Gribin is visible, starting below and to the left of the water cascade and curving round to the left.
Snowdon dominating the skyline and a few wisps of cloud forming along the ridge to Y Lliwedd. By the time we reached the top of the scramble Snowdon was in cloud.

I'm not sure what order the next four photos were taken in, but they're me....scrambling....with big drops beneath me, that actually (mostly) weren't all that bad.

I had several serious internal conversations with myself that went along the lines of "shut up head, I Am Doing This and I Will Be OK". There were a few places my head did wobble, and I had one 'moment' where I really didn't feel happy. That was at a point where I needed to properly commit to stepping up a steep section of rock - which I was fairly confident I couldn't have down-climbed. But, after the wobble, and some wonderful guidance from Tim, I did it...and below is the view looking down the ridge with Llyn Glaslyn way below.

We had three route choices at the top of the scramble....1) turn right and go up Snowdon returning to Pen-Y-Pass via the Pyg or Miners Track; 2) go up Snowdon, then return back to the top of the scramble and head down via Y Lliwedd; or 3) turn left and head back via Y Lliwedd and drop down to Llyn Llydaw. We chose the latter, as we've both been up Snowdon before and we were enjoying having the hill to ourselves.

Made it to the top

At the top of the scramble

Y Lliwedd ridge had been conquered and looks really ominous behind me.  

Descending towards the sure-footed goats and kids

This was my first real scramble and I'm very chuffed to have done it with just a minor 'wobble'. Tim was superbly patient, a massive thank you to him for looking after me. We covered 12.5km with 750m ascent in about 3.5hr but the round trip was much more a mental-confidence building exercise for me. Once we gained easier ground on the path it was lovely to be able to turn up the speed and run off the hill past all the walkers just heading up.