TERRIFYING WINTER ASCENT LEAVES EXPERIENCED YR WYDDFA CLIMBER VOWING ‘NEVER AGAIN’

AN experienced hiker endured a difficult crossing over a knife-edge ridge when she began panicking over the amount of snow and ice.

Cheryl Bennett, 37, has tackled Crib Goch on multiple occasions, but never before in winter snow.

She spoke out to warn others about the perils of winter mountaineering and the need to go properly equipped.

On her scramble around the Snowdon Horseshoe, she saw people sliding around in “pumps” and crawling to the summit of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) on their hands and knees.

Her own trip wasn’t without incident.

“My heart was in my mouth the whole route,” she said.

“I had a few wobbles and almost cried on Garnedd Ugain after I had a little slip.”

Cheryl, a special needs teacher from Cheshire, has climbed many of Eryri’s mountains, but on another visit last week she misjudged the conditions and chose not to pack her boot spikes.

“It’s a tough scramble and you need to know the route and the risks involved,” she said. “You hear horror stories and it puts you off, but with the right experience, research, equipment and courage, you can achieve it.”

Heading up the Pyg track, Cheryl and her partner opted to have a crack at Crib Goch.

“It looked to have only a faint layer of snow,” she said. “However, as we progressed up the mountain, the snow became more apparent.”

As the snow deepened, the climb became more arduous and Cheryl had to complete some sections on hands and knees.

Once on the ridge, which was busy with other climbers, she took her time and was “extra cautious”.

“Once you commit to Crib, you can’t turn back,” she said. “It’s safer to continue than to scramble back, because the ridge is so narrow.

“I panicked myself thinking I was going to slip on the snow. I worked myself up a bit.

“I spotted people sliding after the ridge heading down who were wearing only what I could describe as pumps. This shocked me, as I thought I was silly not packing my spikes.”

Once on the ridge, Cheryl and her partner continued on to to Garnedd Ugain, a summit below Snowdon where the snow was thicker still.

“The fog started to come in and the conditions weren’t great. I saw other people panicking a little as the snow and ice were slippy and it was hard to navigate up,” she said.

For the next ascent, up Yr Wyddfa, conditions were like an “ice rink”, said Cheryl.

“People were on their knees going up the steps to the summit, then they were sliding back down.”

“I’ve tackled all of these ascents before several times in the summer – but never again in snow!

“Call me a wimp, but it just wasn’t for me.”

Snowdonia National Park Authority says it is “impossible” to summit Yr Wyddfa in winter conditions without specialised equipment such as crampons

or ice axes.