HE LOVED IT UP THERE ... IT WAS WHERE HE WAS AT HIS HAPPIEST
Woman vows to conquer her fears by scaling Crib Goch so she can scatter her partner’s ashes at his favourite place... then get a tattoo of it
A HEARTBROKEN woman has issued a plea to Yr Wyddfa/Snowdon walkers after the death of her partner.
Trudy James aims to get a tattoo of Crib Goch, the massif’s famous knifeedge ridge, to seal her connection with a mountain she has never climbed but which her partner loved.
On March 2, Worcestershire chef James Guffy, 37, was killed in a head-on traffic collision on the way home from work. Both drivers died.
As Crib Goch was his favourite place in the world, Trudy hopes to draw some comfort in knowing it will be his final resting place. She plans to scatter his ashes there this summer.
Last week she issued a Facebook appeal for photographs of the ridge which she can use as the basis of a tattoo.
Trudy, originally from Newport, was overwhelmed by the response.
As well as receiving hundreds of emotionally charged comments, well-wishers shared or sent dozens of images h in the hope that Trudy will find one that is suitable.
“Every single one is so beautiful,” she said.
“Initially I’d planned to have a simple line drawing on my arm, but some of the photos are so amazing,
“I’m now wondering whether to have a larger, more detailed tattoo. I need to do this for him.
“The day he died, my life changed completely.
“We’d hoped to grow old together and we’d talked about the things we’d do in retirement.
“So, I wanted to do something that would mark his life and his love of Snowdon. James deserves it.”
The couple met in 2016.
Two years later, Trudy moved from South Wales to Arley in Worcestershire to be closer to James, originally from Birmingham. They planned to marry this year.
As a young man, James developed a thirst for adventure and physical challenges.
Such was his passion for the outdoors, Trudy used to tease him he was Bear Grylls in disguise.
“He’d go wild camping anywhere, in a field or a forest, with just a hammock and a tarpaulin,” she said.
To pursue his passion, James bought, renovated and sold a series of campervans, using the profits to upgrade each time.
He took Trudy to Ben Nevis and tried to tempt her up Snowdon. They visited the area regularly, staying in Beddgelert and Betws y Coed.
“Our last visit was in Christmas 2019,” said Trudy, 51.
“James decided he wanted to climb Snowdon on Christmas Eve, so went up alone. He was an experienced climber who loved to test himself physically.
“He told me he was ‘just popping up the mountain,’ as if he was popping out to Tesco.
“He went across Crib Goch and returned along the ridge. I was panicking all day, knowing he was up there on his own.
“When he returned, he was so happy – he’d seen only one other person on the mountain. He loved it there, it was where he was at his happiest. was the last time we went to Snowdonia. Life got in the way: you end up doing the things you have to do, not the things you want to do.”
Bereft and directionless after his death, Trudy knew she had to give her life some purpose.
She also wanted to mark her time with James in some way.
Her solution was her own Snowdon adventure – to complete a climb in his memory that she had always been too scared to undertake while he was alive.
“Hopefully he will be looking down knowing I have done the right thing by him,” she said.
A group of around 10 family and friends will make the climb, probably in July.
Trudy is aware of national park sensitivities over the scattering of ashes. Wardens have warned that, in summer, Snowdon’s summit can be “covered” in cremated remains.
Amid concerns over the impact this can have on the area’s fragile ecosystem, she plans to seek permission and hold a ceremony lower down the mountain.
Before then, Trudy has an appointment with a tattooist.
From the scores of Snowdon photos submitted, Trudy has drawn up a shortlist of six.
One person said her quest was an “amazing thing to do”.
Another commented: “I’m sure you’ll be fine and the view from Crib Goch, I’ve never seen anywhere better after travelling all over the world.
“It’s a beautiful place to scatter his ashes.”
“I just wanted to say what you are doing is a beautiful tribute; the mountains are so healing, too,” was another comment.
James’ sister, Fiona Hall, will join the Snowdon pilgrimage.
The hike, she said, was an “absolutely beautiful” way of remembering a man who “never booked a hotel”, always preferring wilderness living instead.
Karl said the final send-off, on the biggest mountain in Wales, was a fitting tribute for a larger-than-life character.
“Whenever he walked into a room, everyone knew he was there,” he said. “The atmosphere became him – he just filled the room with his personality.”