For this month’s Mellow Expeditions, we caught up with outdoor enthusiast @yourhandle following a summit camp on Y Garn in the heart of Snowdonia. From steep climbs and hiking through thick cloud to an unforgettable cloud inversion above the mountains, this was a trip that reminded him exactly why North Wales keeps calling him back.
I’ve had a huge passion for the outdoors since I was 10 years old being brought up in & around Noth Wales. To this day I spend most of my weekends in the Welsh mountains – either scrambling up Tryan to summit camping Cadair Idris. On this week’s agenda was the Y Garn (914m) summit camp.
As I was heading down to Betws Y Coed, I could see the sun bursting through the clouds, which was a great sight to see, seeing as it was forecasted rain. Me and a friend of mine stocked up on food & a couple beers for the night ahead. We pulled up at the layby underneath Tryfan where we were greeted with an Airbus A400M cruising over our heads to give us the extra boost we needed.
As there was not much daylight left, we grabbed our packs & took the quicker route to the top past Llyn Clyd Bach tarn. This route was certainly rough on the legs, but the reward was so worth it!
As we got 200m below the summit, we were hiking through some thick clouds, we had lost all hope for a nice view… until we saw a blue sky slowly approach us above, which we were absolutely amazed with an insane cloud inversion! It was as if we were walking on them.
As we were setting up camp, my friends Joe & Serhii had also arrived just in time to enjoy the sunset through the clouds. I made sure to wake up for sunrise the next morning & wow it was mental! Just a thick layer of clouds with the sun reflecting down. It truly amazes me the fact this place is only 2 hours away… I will always LOVE Snowdonia (Eryri).
