Even the best laid plans need adapting to the weather, or the traffic, or any number of factors. On Snowdon, we ran the gamut from A to L.
Me, Tom and John decided to head over to Snowdonia to attempt the Welsh 3000 in winter.
For those unfamiliar with this challenge, in order to complete the Welsh 3000s you need to reach the top of all 15 of the 3000ft+ mountains in Wales within the space of 24 hours, without using any form of transport. It’s about 24 miles, but walks to the start and finish can take it over the 30 mark.
Snowdon Plan A
After leaving work we will drive over to Wales, drop Tom’s car off at the end of the route and proceed to Snowdon. We will all bivvy at the summit of Snowdon for a first light start.
Plan B
The weather is not kind to us, so a bivvy at the base of Snowdon seems more doable; we will wake before dawn, then head up to the summit to start at first light.
Plan C
It's freezing, far too cold for me. We will sleep in the car instead, then start before dawn breaks.
The inevitable happens; we are so comfortable that we oversleep.
Plan D
We set off at 07.30. It's been light for half an hour. It's cold but dry and we can see the tops covered with snow. We head up the miner’s track and eventually reach the snowline. Me and John immediately step in behind Tom and let him take the lead; we know our place on the mountain. Progress is slow but we keep on keeping on.
Follow my leaderPlan E
Battling through the snow we agree that we are not going to be able to complete our target.
Plan F
We could just do Snowdon and the Gwydyr then back to the cars. We march on relentless and on reaching the summit we take the obligatory photograph and head slowly and carefully back down.
Summit selfies
Plan G
We head back down the miner’s track meeting several people along the way who upon discovering we have been to the top are very impressed.
Plan H
We reach the car and decide to get changed and head to Plas y Brenin for a cup of tea then go over to collect Toms car.
Plan I
Drinking tea, we discuss our plans and agree we made a few but had a fantastic day out.
Plan J
We will be back in the summer to finish what we started. Hopefully this time from A to B.