My task, given to me by Charity Challenge, was to meet a small group of people from WS Smith who were doing the National Three Peaks 24-Hour Challenge, get them to the summit of Snowdon via the PYG Track by 2pm, then bring them down via the Llanberis Path and deliver them to the Victoria Hotel -- a simple task, one might think, but first I had to meet them, with an uncertain arrival time, and not knowing them from any of the other groups of people milling around at Pen-y-Pass that morning.
Early indications during the night were that my group would arrive at Pen-y-Pass at about eight o'clock, which meant that I could not go to Pete's Eats for breakfast, so I made my way to the Victoria Hotel, where I had a good but much more expensive breakfast (disturbed by piped radio -- ugh!) early enough for me to catch the bus which would deliver me to Pen-y-Pass before eight o'clock.
When I arrived I had a quick check round the car park to make sure none of the small groups already there were mine. One group that I approached turned out to be German hikers, and they invited me to join them, which was sweet of them. Then I took to checking each group of new arrivals, but none of them was mine, and I was getting colder and colder waiting around, so I had to layer up. Around this time, between about eight c'clock and about nine o'clock, visibility was poor, with the cloud obscuring the rising ground immediately behind the car park.
Eventually one of my colleagues, Andy Ross, turned up: he been able to delay his arrival based on updated information about the groups' likely arrival time, but I was already on my way when it had come through. We kept each other company until our groups arrived simultaneously.
The cloud base was lifting, and the wind was dropping, and there was the promise of fine day ahead.
Andy and his group headed off about three minutes ahead of me, and after the members of my group had nipped to the loo, adjusted their layers, and gulped something to drink, we headed off. Considering they had been up and down Ben Nevis, up and down Scafell Pike, stuffed into a minibus and driven hundreds of miles, and without of wink of proper sleep for the previous twenty one hours at least, they were in remarkably good shape. We made good progress along the PYG Track, with the group sticking together well without me having to remind them to do so, and the mood was light.
As we passed Bwlch y Moch and started along the great flank of Crib Goch and Garnedd Ugain, we were rewarded with rare, remarkable and inspiring views of the ridge to our right and of the valley, lakes, and mountains beyond to our left, for miles and miles, and in great clarity. The path ahead could be seen in great detail all the way to the standing stone at Blwych Glas except where it tucks out of sight above Glaslyn, which I had not experienced for at least ten years. It certainly made it easier telling the group where were going, what the terrain was like, and how long it was probably going to take -- much better than waving into the impenetrable fog and declaring gnomically "up there".
There was a steady stream of people making their way along Crib Goch high above us, including two people, one of them quite nervous, whom I had met on the bus.
We powered on at a good pace, working our way past the many hundreds of slower walkers and past the early birds already coming down, pausing infrequently to drink and eat but, it seemed, never to catch our breath, which was good. Our last pause was just before Blwych Glas, a chance to layer up for the expected strong winds on the ridge.
Just before the summit, the two people I had met on the bus who were doing Crib Goch passed me coming down: we had a quick chat and I congratulated the one who had been nervous on her achievement.
We reached the summit at 1-02 pm, which was 58 minutes before the 24-hour deadline, and that without me forcing the pace or anything grim like that. We queued for ages to climb onto the cairn to reach the summit marker, but fortunately it was not windy or cold there. I stayed down to take photographs. Then we repaired to the café, were I crammed down two cheese pasties, which was very satisfying, but had potentially very embarrassing consequences later, the details of which I will spare you, dear reader.
I had been hoping that the descent, for which we had bags of time, could be a leisurely affair, so that we could take advantage of the astonishing views and take time really to enjoy the surroundings. However, the accumulated tiredness of their adventure had finally caught up with the participants, and with their main objective achieved, there was a desire (particularly in one member of the group) to make a swift descent and reach the Victoria Hotel early.
The descent was uneventful: nobody had locking-up knees, and morale was good. I took them through Coed Victoria rather then along Victoria Terrace -- the woodland route is prettier, quicker, and gentle on tired feet and legs. We arrived at the Victoria Hotel well ahead of schedule, and I bade the group farewell. They had all done very well.
