Mountain Wales

Pocket Wales

Mountain Wales captures some of the most breathtaking landscapes and best vantage points in the country.

Written by Rhodri Owen. Edited by Peter Gill.

Mountain

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Wales

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View to Black Mountains from Sugar Loaf Mountain The wooded slopes of Sugar Loaf (1,960ft, 598m), one of the summit peaks of the Black Mountains northwest of Abergavenny, have been deemed a Site of Special Scientific Interest. During the 1990s prehistoric flint tools were found on a nearby foothill, Y Graig. Currently in the hands of the National Trust, the conical-topped Sugar Loaf is grazed by sheep during the summer months but remains a popular attraction for hill walkers all year round.

Photo: britainonview / Graham Bell.

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Pen y Fan Sheep may safely graze but Pen y Fan has an altogether more treacherous reputation among Britain’s armed forces. The mountain lies at the heart of the notorious ‘fan dance’ fitness and navigation exercise, part of the unforgiving selection course for the world famous Special Air Service regiment. Carrying a 35lb backpack, candidates are required to reach the summit of the mountain, walk down the other side, then promptly repeat the feat in reverse – and all against the clock.

Photo: Allen Lloyd, © PhotolibraryWales.com.

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Aran Fawddwy viewed over Bala Lake Aran Fawddwy (2,976ft, 907m) near Dolgellau is the tallest mountain in southern Snowdonia and one of half a dozen Aran peaks stretching north to south along the Dyfi Valley. Despite being taller than the popular Cadair Idris and Pen y Fan to the south, its relatively remote location means that it offers a far more peaceful and undisturbed environment for the discerning hill climber. Aran Fawddwy is the source of the River Dyfi.

Photo: Dave Newbould, Š PhotolibraryWales.com.

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Lliwedd from Crib Goch One of the peaks of the Snowdon Horseshoe, Y Lliwedd (2,946ft, 898m) occasionally rewards the early bird with a breathtaking carpet of mist at dawn. In 1909 this peak was the subject of The Climbs on Lliwedd by James Merriman Archer Thomson and Arthur Westlake Andrews, the first guide to climbing in Snowdonia. The book was published by the famous Climbers Club, one of the earliest rock-climbing clubs in England and Wales, which was founded just 11 years earlier.

Photo: Dave Newbould, Š PhotolibraryWales.com.

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Cwm Idwal This classic U-shaped valley in the Glyderau Mountains north of Snowdon is a magnet for rock climbers, hill walkers and botanists, and was recently voted the seventh greatest natural wonder in Britain. Charles Darwin is said to have visited the cwm, the most southerly place in Britain to find many arctic plants such as the Moss Campion (Silene acaulis) and a variety of alpine saxifrages.

Climbers are lured by the Devil’s Kitchen, a deep rock cleft resembling a chimney belching clouds.

Photo: Hywel Harris, Š PhotolibraryWales.com.

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Tryfan As its craggy spine suggests, any route up Tryfan (3,002ft, 915m), part of the Glyderau range north of Snowdon, will involve a scramble to challenge any hill walker. At the top the successful will find the notorious Adam and Eve – two boulders set a few feet apart with an off-putting fall between them. If the wind and rain allows, it is traditional to jump from one to the other in order to gain ‘the Freedom of Tryfan’.

Photo: Dave Newbould, © PhotolibraryWales.com.

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Y Garn Not to be mistaken with the peak of the same name that rises above Coed y Brenin in the Rhinogydd range of southern Snowdonia, Y Garn (3,107ft, 947m) in the Glyderau group rises like an armchair above Llyn Ogwen, said to be the resting place of King Arthur’s sword Excalibur. The more adventurous hill walker will descend Y Garn after crossing from Tryfan and the Glyders, Fawr and Fach – a 13km route described as ‘very hard’.

Photo: britainonview / NTPL / Joe Cornish.

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Llanberis Pass mountain wall With its topography and climate, Snowdonia has played a significant role in the history of rock climbing since the Victorian era, proving a popular preEverest training ground for renowned climbers from George Mallory to Edmund Hillary and Chris Bonington.

For more than 150 years the snowy crags and sheer walls of Snowdonia have succumbed one by one in the face of increasingly sophisticated climbing techniques and equipment – not to mention bare-faced nerve.

Photo: Ray Wood, Š PhotolibraryWales.com.

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Pocket Wales

Mountain

Wales

There are some 19 mountain ranges packed within Wales’s modest 20,000 square kilometres, amounting to hundreds of peaks – some famous and well-trodden, but many more unspoilt and waiting to be discovered.

With powerful images and informative captions Mountain Wales offers a tantalising taste of the nation’s breathtaking upland landscape. www.graffeg.com Also in this Pocket Wales series: Castles of Wales, Coast Wales and Landscape Wales. Coming soon: Pembrokeshire Wales, Snowdonia Wales, Brecon Beacons Wales and Gower Wales.

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