Cnicht
Today I met up with sunnysky from the LFTO forum.
We parked in Croesor and took the path up onto the ridgeline above the village. The summit of Cnicht stood out against the background of cloud enveloping the other mountains.
We made good progress and despite a strengthening headwind very quickly we reached the steeper ascent onto the summit, scrambling up over the outcrops into the lowering cloud and light drizzle. Once at the summit, we couldn’t see much so forged on over the north summit.
Now the rain started to pelt down and I was soaked through in just the time it took to put my waterproof on over my softshell. As we descended to Llyn yr Adar we considered our options and decided to head down as the weather wasn’t improving. Then suddenly we emerged from the cloud with Llyn yr Adar spread out in front of us and ordinarily I’d have lingered a while to take it in, but the rain and wind were strong and relentless, so we got on with it.
As we swung right onto the path around the head of the valley we spotted the reservoir Llyn Cwm-y-foel quite close and below us – inviting a more direct descent. So we made our way down carefully alongside Afon Cwm-y-foel to the llyn and the dam at the far end.
Then initially we followed the path across the southern flank of Cnicht but were tempted by the track along Cwm Croesor so descended directly down the wet grass. Realising I’d probably slip at some point I deliberately lowered myself to the ground to carefully slide down in places. Near the bottom a slide got out of hand and I bounced down on my backside for about 15m. I came to a rest, stood up and continued walking.
Soon we were on the track from the old mine with the weather clearing above. Back at the car, we drove back to Beddgelert, said goodbye and I went into by B&B to nurse my sore backside.
Summits: 2
Distance: 9.773 km
Ascent: 547m
Descent: 550m
Time: 4 hrs 30 mins
