Snowdon

11/06/11

Snowdon - Yr Wyddfa - the highest, grandest, and most popular peak
in Wales is situated in the Snowdonia National Park in North Wales.

From time immemorial, this wild and rugged region of north Wales has been known to its inhabitants as Eryri, the abode of eagles. However, Welsh scholars have more recently proposed a different interpretation and regard Eryri as the high land. The earliest mention of the name in literature is found in a manuscript believed to have been written by the
Welshman Nynniaw, or Nennius. In it we are told that King Gwrtheryn, better known as Vortigern, whilst seeking a safe retreat from the attacks of the English, came to the country called Gwynedd and there found in the mountains of Eryri, a place which was fitted for his purpose and which he proceeded to fortify.

There seems to have been good reason for giving this name of Eryri to the Snowdonia area as eagles have inhabited its cliffs and cwms throughout the ages and have furnished bard and story-teller with many an image. Giraldus Cambrensis mentions the eagle of Snowdon, which perched every Thursday on a certain 'stone of destiny', in the hope that it could feed off the carcasses of men killed in battle.

As further proof of the existence of eagles in Snowdonia, Thomas Johnson, the botanist, claimed the reason he failed in 1639 to get the rare plants he desired from the precipices of Carnedd Llywelyn, was that the small boy who was acting as his guide was "too much afraid of the eagles" to take him there. In 1802, William Williams of Llandegai noted that "some wandering eagles are now and then in these times seen skulking in the precipices", but in the last hundred years or so, no further sightings have been recorded.

The English had their own name for this region, they called it Snowdon the mountain of snow. Camden, in his original edition of Britannia (1586), uses the expression historicis Latinis Snaudonia, though he was mistaken in supposing that the snow lay on the summits all the year round because it was, and still is, a fairly common sight during the winter months from November to April. In very cold years however, remnants of drifts were even found the north face of the Carneddau well into June. To add further confusion, 'Snowdon', as used by the older writers, invariably stood for the whole mountainous area which we now call 'Snowdonia', and never for the single summit to which the name is now restricted.

If you would like more information about this great mountain, I have written ‘The Complete Guide to Snowdon’ which not only describes the many routes to the summit of this wonderful mountain, but also to its flora, its fauna, its local history, and, above all, to the feel of the atmosphere that exudes from this great place.

It is also a guide to what might happen in the future if we do not look after this unique habitat.

The mountain itself draws some 500,000 visitors to its summit each year. Some arrive there the easy way - by train. The others by one or other of the superb scenic walking tracks.

Unfortunately, the modern visitors cannot find Snowdon as it was, with its industries, its old forests, and its eagles, but hopefully this book will provide a flavour of what they might have experienced, even just a hundred years ago.

You might also like to ponder on the fact that when they stand on the summit, 3560 feet in the air, this piece of land was on the seabed of a vast ocean over 400 million years ago.

To the typical day tourist, Snowdon is a place where they can visit in the relative comfort of a unique train journey, and see wonderful views (on a good day!).

To others, it’s just another mountain in Wales (a country full of mountains).

But, to the serious walkers, climbers, and mountaineers it means a lot more. To them it's a place full of history, a place that gives them enormous pleasure, a place where they can find nature at its most natural, and a place in which they can find themselves.

‘The Complete Guide to Snowdon’ is published by Seren Books, and its ISBN is: 978-1-85411-421-1