Snowdonia Way, Part I
Northern Snowdonia, end to end: Beddgelert to the sea at Conwy. Solo, self-supported, five days.
GOES LIVE · OCT 2026
The route
- D01Beddgelert → Pen-y-Gwryd — The walk-in, up Nant Gwynant8.5 mi
- D02Crib Goch → Snowdon — The crux — guided, daysack7.5 mi
- D03Glyders → Llyn y Caseg-fraith — The night out7 mi
- D04Trefriw, via Llyn Crafnant — The long green valley10.5 mi
- D05Conwy — Castle walls and the sea9.5 mi
Where Everest was trained for
The 1953 Everest team used this inn as a training base, and signed the ceiling of the smoke room when they came back. The signatures are still there.
Toby stays two nights and walks the hardest day of the route from its front door — the same ground, in the same weather, with rather less at stake.
The knife edge
A Grade 1 scramble along a genuine arête, and the most famous stretch of ridge in Wales. There is no easy way off it once you are committed.
He crosses with a mountain guide, and the decision is made on the morning, on the wind. If it is the wrong day, the mountain keeps it — that is the whole point.
The ground
Crib Goch, looking along the arêtePhoto: Diliff CC BY-SA 3.0 
The Pen-y-Gwryd — the Everest team’s training basePhoto: Peter S CC BY-SA 2.0 
Llyn y Caseg-fraith, under Tryfan — the wild campPhoto: Peter S CC BY-SA 2.0 
Conwy castle and the bridges over the river — the finishPhoto: Nilfanion CC BY-SA 4.0
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From the first morning
- Live satellite tracking, updated every ten minutes from the inReach.
- A film from the hill each evening, uploaded on whatever signal there is.
- The morning's conditions — wind on the ridges, cloud base, and the call he has to make.
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