Cwm Glas horseshoe (classic)

Peaks: Crib Goch, Garnedd Ugain

Area: Yr Wyddfa, Eryri

A return to Cwm Glas four days after my last visit, although this time prospects for an inversion seemed even better. The opportunity to do Crib Goch in a full cloud inversion was too good to miss, so I headed up towards Cyrn Las then took the very faint paths that lead to the boggy ground above Dinas Mot. I was aiming for the North Ridge of Crib Goch, and eventually located the horrible steep scree that leads up to the ridge itself. The mist was very thick, the weather dank and dreary, but I was growing increasingly confident about the conditions. The North Ridge gets narrow at the top, narrower than Crib Goch proper in fact, and was greasy and damp in the clag. Then, at the exact moment I arrived on the summit, I poked through the cloud: an absolutely stunning moment, one of the most memorable single experiences I have had in almost 40 years in the Welsh mountains. From then on, the day was stupendous: the narrowest part of the ridge was clear, then a layer of cloud framed Yr Wyddfa and Garnedd Ugain beyond. The Glyderau poked through, but in all other directions a sea of cloud. Even more remarkably, because it was still early I had it all to myself. The early part of the ridge was truly unforgettable, as occasional wisps of mist lapped over me then dissipated. I took the crest to maximise the impact, then traversed the first pinnacle. The exposed move up the final pinnacle had only just emerged from the clag so was damper than the rest, and then it was briefly back into the mist at Bwlch Goch before emerging into the light. The remainder of the ridge to Garnedd Ugain was stunningly clear, the sun higher up now, Yr Wyddfa glistening above a bank of cloud. I had a tremendous brocken spectre, my shadow framed against the shadow of the ridge itself and projected onto the cloud bank with rainbow halo. After a memorable few minutes on top of Garnedd Ugain I jogged back towards the Cyrn Las ridge that I had ascended on Monday. A triple 'glory' at one point, projected onto the cloud bank where Llanberis would ordinarily have been. More amazing effects over Cwm Glas and then it was back into the damp clag down Cyrn Las with some wet scrambling initially. I've been visiting Eryri very regularly since 1988, hundreds if not thousands of outings, but this was right up there as one of the most memorable days I have ever had in the Welsh mountains.