TEST YOUR NERVE
JUNE Crib Goch Snowdonia
How hard is Crib Goch? It’s a very tough question to answer, but one likely to nibble at you with increasing frequency if you find yourself unable to resist the lure of the rough edges of Snowdonia’s mountains. The simple answer is that Crib Goch is a Grade 1 scramble, which places it right at the bottom of the tiered system devised to assess the difficulty of routes requiring hands as well as feet to ascend.
This is the Grade 1 definition from the British Mountaineering Council’s
website: All scrambling grades require a degree of rock-climbing, as both hands and feet are employed, but a classic Grade 1 scramble is essentially an exposed walking route. Most tend to be relatively straightforward with many difficulties avoidable, and some of the most popular days out in the British mountains are ‘easy’ Grade 1 scrambles. Despite some knee-trembling sections, the likes of Snowdon’s Crib Goch can typically be attempted without ropes and protection.
So there you go… officially nothing to worry about. But of course, there are many factors at play here. For example, just look at the picture on this page. Does that look easy to you? How comfortable is your relationship with heights? How much experience do you have moving on exposed, narrow and often slippery sections of rock? Do you get spooked by wind or a bit of rain (both very common in this part of the world)? How will you cope with fellow walkers either slowing you down or trying to overtake you on the sharp crest of a ridge, with nauseating drops on either side?
To break it right down, think of Crib Goch like one of those wooden rope bridges in a kids’ playground, which hover about 2ft off the floor. You’d skip across one of them without even looking at your feet, because the consequences of a slip or fall never enter your head. But place that same obstacle 900m in the air, wide open to the North Wales mountain elements, and you’d have a big conversation with yourself before taking that first footstep.
Crib Goch is a mountain ridge like no other in Britain, delivering you to within a few hundred metres of Snowdon’s summit. It’s big, jagged, exposed, in as grand a setting as you could ever dream of, and just about easy enough for anyone to attempt. But before you stick it on your summer to-do list, make sure you ask yourself those questions above.