Great Mountain Days in Snowdonia. Terry Marsh

cover the areas described: OL17 Snowdon/Yr Wyddfa, OL18 Harlech, Porthmadog and Bala and OL23 Cadair Iris and Lyn Tegid.

      Welsh place names

      The Welsh language (Cymraeg) is an ancient one, emerging in the sixth century from the Brythonic languages, the common ancestor of Welsh, Cumbric, Breton and Cornish. It is a phonetic language, and once the pronunciation of the alphabet has been acquired, a fair stab can be made at the actual words of the language. However, over the years inconsistencies have arisen, most of no great consequence, but sufficient to cause confusion if not explained. Spellings of many Welsh place names have changed over the past 50 years, as use of the proper Welsh language and spelling has gained ground.

      For this book, the spelling shown on maps has generally been retained, but not always, especially where it is known to be wrong. (One notable such exception is the spelling of Carnedd Llywelyn. The Lord of Snowdonia was Prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, not Llewelyn, as some maps suggest. So Carnedd Llywelyn is used here.) In general correct Welsh has been followed: Cwm y Llan, south of Snowdon, is rendered on maps as Cwm Llan but Cwm y Llan is used in the text. (There is a subtle linguistic difference, but that need not trouble us here.) But this example highlights another issue that crops up throughout the maps of Snowdonia, and varying between OS and Harvey versions. Should it be Cwm y Llan or Cwm-y-llan? Guidance has been taken on these thorny issues from a Welsh-speaker and this accounts for some further variance from the maps for the sake of linguistic accuracy without compromising the clarity of the route descriptions.

      Y Garn and Llyn Idwal (Walk 7)

      In addition, many names have become Anglicised over the years. In most instances, this book uses what is believed to be the correct Welsh version, departing only rarely in the most widely-accepted cases of Anglicisation, for example the use of Snowdon instead of Yr Wyddfa and Conwy Mountain instead of Mynydd y Dref. Moreover, the author’s local knowledge has led him to name features sometimes not named on the maps at all. Appendix 3 also contains a glossary of Welsh words that you are likely to encounter on your great mountain days in Snowdonia.

Weather to walk?

      Mountains everywhere tend to generate their own climate, while remaining subject to whatever is going on nationally. Proximity to the Irish Sea can and does make a difference at times, making conditions change in an instance. So, while out on the hills, you need always to be aware of what is happening to the weather: is the wind changing direction? – are clouds gathering? – is it getting hotter, or colder? Make allowance for the fact that conditions on the tops are generally more severe than in the valleys.

      You can get some indication of what might happen by checking the weather forecast both the day before you go and again on the morning you intend to walk. The internet is the best way of checking this, as the websites are regularly updated:

        www.metoffice.gov.uk/loutdoor/mountainsafety/snowdonia/snowdonia_latest_pressure.html

        www.news.bbc.co.uk/weather

        www.mwis.org.uk/sd.php

      IN CASE OF EMERGENCY

      There are four key mountain rescue services operating in Snowdonia:

       Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team (www.llanberismountainrescue.co.uk)

       Aberglaslyn Mountain Rescue Team (www.aberglaslyn-mrt.org)

       South Snowdonia Search and Rescue Team (www.southsnowdoniamountainrescueteam.co.uk)

       Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Team (www.ogwen-rescue.org.uk)

      The following information is provided by Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team, who, as do other teams, produce excellent information on safety in the hills; theirs is available for download from www.llanberismountainrescue.co.uk. This is what to do if you need a mountain rescue team:

       Call 999 or 112 and ask for Mountain Rescue.

       Tell them where the ‘incident’ has occurred by giving an accurate grid reference, and the nature of the incident. Give them a contact phone number.

       The messengers may be required to wait by the phone for further instructions, and may be used to guide the Team to the exact location of the incident, so they should be the fittest group members if possible.

       Be prepared for a long wait – comprised of the time it takes for your messengers to reach a phone, the team callout and assembly time, and the time required for the team to walk to your location with heavy equipment. You may decide that if there is a danger of hypothermia it is best to evacuate most of the party and leave a small group remaining with the casualty. You may also decide that it is necessary to move the casualty to a more sheltered or safer location (if so, ensure that someone will be on hand to guide the Team to your new location).

       Consider how group members or passers by can best be deployed, and how the equipment carried by the group can best be redistributed and utilised.

       Consider ‘alternative’ uses for the equipment you are carrying, for example camera flashes can be used to attract attention in the dark, a rope laid out along the ground will maximise your chances of being located in poor visibility, and a survival bag can be used for attracting attention.

       The standard distress signal is six sharp whistle blasts (or torch flashes) followed by a one minute silence, repeated.

       Don’t lose touch with common sense when coming to any decisions!

      Pen y Gadair from Cyfrwy (Walk 36)

Before you start

      What to wear

      Someone once said: ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, just inadequate clothing.’ Well, as everyone knows, there is such a thing as bad weather, sometimes so bad that no amount of clothing will prove adequate. But the anonymous optimist makes a fair point, and, unless you aspire to being no more than a fair weather walker, then going adequately and suitably clothed facilitates walking regardless of all but the most severe weather conditions. Regular walkers will talk at length (usually in a bar), about days spent in the hills battling wind and rain; it’s a circumstance that breeds its own delightful perversity, a dash of self-esteem at having coped safely with a bad weather day, an exhilaration that is often breathtaking in more ways than one. Let’s face it, if you have to wait for the sun to shine before venturing out, you may never begin.

      Being adequately clothed makes all the difference, and well-equipped walkers, enveloped in wind- and waterproof garments, have little to fear from a moderately inclement day.

      So, what to wear?

      This question can be answered only in general terms for the simple reason that each of us is physically different, we have different metabolisms, our bodies function in different ways when exercising, and the way, and amount, we perspire varies, too. All these factors generate bodily conditions that are specific to each of us and which require individual solutions.

      To complicate things even further, there are numerous clothing and equipment manufacturers clamouring to sell you their own brand, but without the certainty that one brand is any more suitable for you