Crib Goch
Encyclopedia
Arete
Areté is the term meaning "virtue" or "excellence", from Greek ἈρετήArete may also be used:*as a given name of persons or things:**Queen Arete , a character in Homer's Odyssey.***197 Arete, an asteroid....
in the Snowdonia
Snowdonia
Snowdonia is a region in north Wales and a national park of in area. It was the first to be designated of the three National Parks in Wales, in 1951.-Name and extent:...
National Park
National parks of England and Wales
The national parks of England and Wales are areas of relatively undeveloped and scenic landscape that are designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949...
in Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
. The name means red comb in the Welsh language
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
, presumably referring to the serrated ridge and the colour of some of the rocks.
The highest point on the arête
Arete
Areté is the term meaning "virtue" or "excellence", from Greek ἈρετήArete may also be used:*as a given name of persons or things:**Queen Arete , a character in Homer's Odyssey.***197 Arete, an asteroid....
is 923 metres (3,028.2 ft) above sea level. All routes which tackle Crib Goch are considered mountaineering routes in winter or scrambles
Scrambling
Scrambling is a method of ascending rocky faces and ridges. It is an ambiguous term that lies somewhere between hillwalking and rock climbing. It is often distinguished from hillwalking by defining a scramble as a route where hands must be used in the ascent...
in summer—meaning that they must cross "graded territory" as defined in Steve Ashton's "Scrambles in Snowdonia". The easiest of these lines (the "bad step" part of the route) is given a scrambling grade of Grade 1 (the most difficult being Grade 3—routes more difficult than Grade 3 are considered rock climbs
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
).
Route
Mountain pass
A mountain pass is a route through a mountain range or over a ridge. If following the lowest possible route, a pass is locally the highest point on that route...
at Bwlch Coch. This first part of the ridge is exposed with precipices below, having resulted in several fatalities, even of experienced mountaineers; the Snowdonia National Park Authority describe it as "not a mountain for the inexperienced". Moreover, on fine days the ridge may be very busy and queues can form. To avoid the long queues on the ascent from the east, it is possible to ascend Crib Goch's North Ridge, which adjoins the main ridge. It is recommended that walkers who use this route do have climbing skills and climbing equipment.
It is possible to ascend Crib Goch from Bwlch y Moch SH663552 or from Nant Peris, an ascent via Cwm Beudu Mawr.
From the col the ridge rises again, joining the main Snowdon
Snowdon
Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales, at an altitude of above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles outside Scotland. It is located in Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, and has been described as "probably the busiest mountain in Britain"...
ridge via the sister peak Garnedd Ugain
Garnedd Ugain
Garnedd Ugain, sometimes incorrectly referred to as "Crib y Ddysgl", is a mountain in Wales that forms part of the Snowdon Horseshoe. It is the second highest peak in Wales, and lies 1 kilometre north of Snowdon...
in the west. Here the path meets the Pyg Track (which descends to Pen-y-Pass
Pen-y-Pass
Pen-y-Pass is a mountain pass in Snowdonia, Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It is a popular location from which to walk up Snowdon, as three of the popular routes can be started here...
) at Bwlch Glas (marked by a large standing stone), before the final climb to Snowdon
Snowdon
Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales, at an altitude of above sea level, and the highest point in the British Isles outside Scotland. It is located in Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, and has been described as "probably the busiest mountain in Britain"...
summit. To the south of the arête lie the lakes of Glaslyn
Glaslyn
Glaslyn is a lake in the Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, north-west Wales.It is found at approximately above sea level in a cwm on the eastern flanks of Snowdon...
and Llyn Llydaw
Llyn Llydaw
Llyn Llydaw is a lake in Snowdonia National Park on the flanks of Snowdon, Wales' highest mountain. This long thin lake has formed in a cwm about one-third of the way up the mountain....
. To the north is the Llanberis Pass
Llanberis Pass
The Llanberis Pass in Snowdonia carries the main road from the SE to Llanberis, over Pen-y-Pass, between the mountain ranges of the Glyderau and the Snowdon massif. At the bottom of the pass is the small village of Nant Peris, clustered round the ancient church of Saint Peris...
. Crib Goch is classed as a Welsh 3000er
Welsh 3000s
This is a list of what are known as the Welsh 3000s, i.e. those 15 mountains in Wales which have a height of 3000 ft or more. Geographically they fall within three ranges, all sufficiently close to make it possible to reach all 15 summits within 24 hours, a challenge known as the Welsh 3000s...
and is also often climbed as the first part of the Snowdon Horseshoe, which goes on over Garnedd Ugain, Snowdon and Y Lliwedd
Y Lliwedd
Y Lliwedd is a mountain, connected to Yr Wyddfa in the Snowdonia National Park, North Wales.Its summit lies 2,946 ft above sea level....
, before returning to Pen-y-Pass
Pen-y-Pass
Pen-y-Pass is a mountain pass in Snowdonia, Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It is a popular location from which to walk up Snowdon, as three of the popular routes can be started here...
.
Crib Goch is one of the wettest spots in the United Kingdom
Climate of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom straddles the geographic mid-latitudes between 50-60 N from the equator. It is also positioned on the western seaboard of Eurasia, the world's largest land mass. These boundary conditions allow convergence between moist maritime air and dry continental air...
, with an average of 4473 millimetres (176.1 in) rainfall a year over the past 30 years.