Pen-y-Gwryd
Encyclopedia
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 the head of Nantygwryd and Nant Cynnyd
Nant Cynnyd
The Nant y Cynnyd is a small river in Gwynedd, north Wales, starting near the Pen-y-Gwryd hotel near Capel Curig. The Ordnance Survey map is not completely specific, but the river grows into Afon Glaslyn and into Llyn Gwynant.-External links:*...
rivers 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...
, North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
and a quarter of a mile from the boundary with Conwy in northern 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:...
, close to the foot of 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"...
. It is located at the junction of the A4086 from Capel Curig
Capel Curig
Capel Curig is a village and community in Conwy County Borough, in Wales. It lies in the heart of Snowdonia, on the River Llugwy, and has a population of 226...
to Llanberis
Llanberis
Llanberis is a village in Gwynedd, North Wales, lying on the southern banks of Llyn Padarn in Snowdonia. It takes its name from Saint Peris, an early Welsh saint.According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the population of Llanberis was 1,954...
and Caernarfon
Caernarfon
Caernarfon is a Royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,611. It lies along the A487 road, on the east banks of the Menai Straits, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is to the northeast, while Snowdonia fringes Caernarfon to the east and southeast...
and the A498 from Beddgelert
Beddgelert
Beddgelert, or in older English spelling often Bedgellert, is a village and community in the Snowdonia area of Gwynedd, Wales. It is reputed to be named after the legendary hound Gelert. Population 617.- History:...
and Nant Gwynant
Nant Gwynant
Nant Gwynant is a valley in Snowdonia, Gwynedd, north Wales. The A498 road descends into the valley in about two miles from Pen-y-Gwryd; it follows the Nant Cynnyd, the Afon Glaslyn and alongside Llyn Gwynant, then beside the Nant Gwynant river to Llyn Dinas and passing below Dinas Emrys to...
about a mile from the head of 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...
, and is the site of the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel.
A Short History of Pen-y-Gwryd from 1810 to present
Llanberis
Llanberis is a village in Gwynedd, North Wales, lying on the southern banks of Llyn Padarn in Snowdonia. It takes its name from Saint Peris, an early Welsh saint.According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the population of Llanberis was 1,954...
, who eventually sold the Inn (c1840) and left for America. A Mrs. Hughes,
who was the widow of the first landlord of the Capel Curig Inn, a Joseph Grifith, (which became The Royal Hotel, now Plas-y-Brenin) and later the widow of Reverend Robert Hughes Capel Curig
Capel Curig
Capel Curig is a village and community in Conwy County Borough, in Wales. It lies in the heart of Snowdonia, on the River Llugwy, and has a population of 226...
, took over the Inn (c1843).
In 1847 Henry Owen acquired the Inn, initially combining the work with a position of Agent at a nearby copper mine, and later with farming. By 1858, the business was sufficiently successful to allow him to purchase the freehold, and during his tenure the original building was considerably extended, transforming it from a farmhouse Inn to a well-known and popular hotel.
During the Owens tenure the Inn's status for its comfort and hospitality
would only be surpassed by its connection with mountaineering in North Wales. In May 1898 The Climbers Club originated at Pen-y-Gwryd, as it is recorded in its first journal "....its natural birth at Pen-y-Gwryd" and "...its congenial atmosphere...... (The Climbers Club) first struck its roots". The Climbers Club is now based at Helyg on the A5 between Capel Curig
Capel Curig
Capel Curig is a village and community in Conwy County Borough, in Wales. It lies in the heart of Snowdonia, on the River Llugwy, and has a population of 226...
and Ogwen Cottage
Ogwen Cottage
Ogwen Cottage Outdoor Pursuits Centre is part of Birmingham City Council's Outdoor Learning Service. It provides outdoor education and has links to the climbing community.-Thomas Telford:...
.
In 1870 the Society of Welsh Rabbits (c1865) came into being, the object of which was to explore Snowdonia in winter, and as close to Christmas as possible. Anne Owen related a story to Mr. Carr (author) in 1895, that some thirty years ago that the society had written an article "praising Pen-y-Gwryd as an excellent resort at Christmas", prior to that Mrs. Owen went on to say " ....we rarely, if ever, had a guest at Christmas and since then we have hardly been without guests during the period".
Harry Owen was born in Beddgelert, Caernarvonshire on the 2nd April 1822, the son of a farmer, Owen Owen. He married Ann Pritchard, of Llanbeblig. Ann's excellent cookery was apparently to pay no small part in the success of their hotel venture.
Both Harry and his wife Ann would run the Inn until 1896 when Anne Owen died, Harry Owen having died in 1891.
Ten years of indifferent fortune passed before Miss. Roberts from The Royal Hotel, Capel Curig
Capel Curig
Capel Curig is a village and community in Conwy County Borough, in Wales. It lies in the heart of Snowdonia, on the River Llugwy, and has a population of 226...
took over the running of the hotel, however it was not until William Hampson along with Arthur and Florence Lockwood took ownership and further developed the property, and in the 1920s created the small trout lake, Llyn Lockwood, opposite the hotel. Under their management the hotel and its mountaineering traditions develop once again. During the second world war, the hotel was taken over by Lake House School from Bexhill-on-Sea.
One hundred years after the Owens drove the hotel and its mountaineering connection into the public consciousness , Chris and Joe Briggs, at the same time, both improved the hotel and enhanced its mountaineering links by becoming a Mountain rescue post (the plaque is still attached to main entrance), whilst maintaining the hotel's history.
The Pen-y-Gwryd mountain rescue post was closely tied with the two other mountain rescue posts in the area, namely Ogwen Cottage
Ogwen Cottage
Ogwen Cottage Outdoor Pursuits Centre is part of Birmingham City Council's Outdoor Learning Service. It provides outdoor education and has links to the climbing community.-Thomas Telford:...
Outdoor pursuits Center now the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation and Plas y Brenin
Plas y Brenin
Plas y Brenin, is currently the The National Mountain Centre for Wales . The Centre is situated in Dyffryn Mymbyr, the Mymbyr Valley, in Snowdonia and is less than a quarter of a mile south-west of the centre of Capel Curig on the A4086 road....
.
Each of the guest bedrooms is named after one of the thirteen peaks over 3000 feet, and the bath is one of the largest Victorian period pieces.
Everest connections
The hotel's most notable mountaineering connections are largely due the first successful EverestMount Everest
Mount Everest is the world's highest mountain, with a peak at above sea level. It is located in the Mahalangur section of the Himalayas. The international boundary runs across the precise summit point...
expedition in 1953 and the Kangchenjunga
Kangchenjunga
Kangchenjunga is the third highest mountain of the world with an elevation of and located along the India-Nepal border in the Himalayas.Kangchenjunga is also the name of the section of the Himalayas and means "The Five Treasures of Snows", as it contains five peaks, four of them over...
expedition in 1955, where training and testing of oxygen equipment for those expeditions took place, at Helyg near Capel Curig. On the right at the hotel entrance there is a Tyrolean style Stuberl with the signatures, written on the ceiling, of the team that did the first ascent of Everest in 1953 and of the successful first ascent of Kangchenjunga in 1955, these include Sir Edmund Hillary
Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE , was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest – see Timeline of climbing Mount Everest...
, Tenzing Norgay
Tenzing Norgay
Padma Bhushan, Supradipta-Manyabara-Nepal-Tara Tenzing Norgay, GM born Namgyal Wangdi and often referred to as Sherpa Tenzing, was a Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer...
, Sir John Hunt
John Hunt
John Hunt may refer to:*John Hunt , Quaker minister, originally from London, England, and one of the "Virginia Exiles"*John Hunt , Quaker minister and journalist from Moorestown, New Jersey...
, Charles Evans, George Band
George Band
George Christopher Band OBE ) was an English mountaineer.Band was born in Taiwan and educated at Eltham College...
, Joe Brown
Joe Brown (climber)
Joseph Brown, CBE is an English climber, born the seventh and last child of a family in the Manchester suburb of Ardwick. He became famous for climbing during the 1950s, and was a member of the Valkyrie climbing club and founding member of the Rock and Ice climbing club. An early climbing partner...
, John Angelo Jackson
John Angelo Jackson
John Angelo Jackson was an English mountaineer, explorer and educationalist.-Early life:He was brought up and educated in Nelson, Lancashire. Before World War II, he was apprenticed in pharmacy. However, at the outbreak of war, he left to volunteer for the R.A.F. in which he served for six...
, Wilfred Noyce, Tony Streather, Tom Mackinnon, Norman Hardie, Neil Mather, John Clegg and others including Noel Odell
Noel Odell
Noel Ewart Odell was an English geologist and mountaineer. Educated at Brighton College and the Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, in 1924 he was an oxygen officer on the Everest expedition in which George Mallory and Andrew Irvine famously perished during their summit attempt...
from Mallory's 1924 expedition and Chris Bonington
Chris Bonington
Sir Christian John Storey Bonington, CVO, CBE, DL is a British mountaineer.His career has included nineteen expeditions to the Himalayas, including four to Mount Everest and the first ascent of the south face of Annapurna.-Early life and expeditions:Educated at University College School in...
of later successes. There are many photographs and exhibits provided by the original team members in the main bar and guest lounge. In the past each year, now every five years, Pen-y-Gwryd hosts the Everest and Kangchenjunga
Kangchenjunga
Kangchenjunga is the third highest mountain of the world with an elevation of and located along the India-Nepal border in the Himalayas.Kangchenjunga is also the name of the section of the Himalayas and means "The Five Treasures of Snows", as it contains five peaks, four of them over...
reunions.
Caradog Jones
Caradog Jones
Caradog "Crag" Jones is a noted Welsh climber. Whilst he has achieved a number of firsts on peaks around the world, he is most well known for being the first Welshman to reach the summit of Mount Everest, a feat he achieved on 23 May 1995, at the age of 33. As such he was the 724th climber to...
, the first Welshman to conquer Everest, has stated that it was this Welsh connection with the mountain which inspired him.
Gwynedd Council has proposed to create a large car park at Pen Y Gwryd by digging up the verges and installing urban street furniture. The plans were opposed by the Snowdonia Society
Snowdonia Society
The Snowdonia Society is a members based environmental charity. Formed in 1967, it is concerned with all aspects of the Snowdonia National Park. Members take part in practical activities to improve the environment and engage in campaigns to prevent inappropriate development in the area...
, but the Snowdonia National Park Authority offered no objection.
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Other notable visitors include: Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley was an English priest of the Church of England, university professor, historian and novelist, particularly associated with the West Country and northeast Hampshire.-Life and character:...
and Henry Kingsley
Henry Kingsley
Henry Kingsley was an English novelist, brother of the better-known Charles Kingsley.Kingsley was born at Barnack rectory, Northamptonshire, son of the Rev. Charles Kingsley the elder, Mary, née Lucas. Charles Kingsley came of a long line of clergymen and soldiers, and in addition to the two...
, William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
(Gladstones), Augustine Birrell
Augustine Birrell
Augustine Birrell PC, KC was an English politician, barrister, academic and author. He was Chief Secretary for Ireland from 1907 to 1916, resigning in the immediate aftermath of the Easter Rising.-Early life:...
, Walter Parry Haskett Smith
Walter Parry Haskett Smith
Walter Parry Haskett Smith is often called the Father of Rock Climbing. Born in Kent, England, the son of a wealthy landowner, he attended Eton where he excelled at athletics, before enrolling in Trinity College, Oxford.-Background:...
, Thomas Huxley
Thomas Huxley
Thomas Henry Huxley PC FRS was an English biologist, known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution....
, Lord Coleridge - past and present (at the time of writing), John Henry Cliffe "Notes and recollections of an Angler (1860), Andrew Ramsay
Andrew Ramsay
Sir Andrew Crombie Ramsay was a Scottish geologist.-Biography:Ramsay was born at Glasgow, being the son of William Ramsay, manufacturing chemist...
, George Mallory
George Mallory
George Herbert Leigh Mallory was an English mountaineer who took part in the first three British expeditions to Mount Everest in the early 1920s....
in 1914 and Jack Hawkins
Jack Hawkins
Colonel John Edward "Jack" Hawkins CBE was an English actor of the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s.-Career:Hawkins was born at Lyndhurst Road, Wood Green, Middlesex, the son of master builder Thomas George Hawkins and his wife, Phoebe née Goodman. The youngest of four children in a close-knit family,...
(actor - Lawrence of Arabia and the Cruel Sea).
The Roman camp
Dyffryn Mymbyr
Dyffryn Mymbyr is a valley in Snowdonia, North Wales, approximately in length, and leading up from Capel Curig to the Pen-y-Gwryd hotel....
below Snowdon and Moel Berfedd. Nothing remains of this camp but grass and bramble covered mounds. The site was first excavated in 1960 by early surveying courses from Plas-y-Brenin under the auspices of Dr. Josephine "Jo" Scarr, now Dr. Josephine Flood. The camp had no permanent buildings, as it was used mainly as an emergency camp on the march from Chester to Caernarvon.
The camp is difficult to observe due to erosion and local land usage, was roughly diamond shaped, the ditch approximately 5 ft (1.5 m) wide and 2 ft (0.6096 m) deep below the turf-line with a rampart of 8 to 9 ft (2.7 m) wide. The Northern rampart runs through the current location of the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel.
The surrounding area
The "PYG track", one of the routes leading to the summit of Snowdon, begins opposite the youth hostel at Pen-y-PassPen-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...
, and its name is believed by many to be derived from the initials ("P-y-G"). Older maps, however, label the path as the "Pig track" and the name derives from Bwlch y Moch (the Pigs' Gap), where the path passes through a spur. The Old Miners' Track from the Snowdon copper mines (incorporated into the modern A4086 road between Pen-y-Pass and Pen-y-Gwryd) continues northwards beyond Pen-y-Gwryd, skirting Glyder Fach
Glyder Fach
Glyder Fach is a mountain in Snowdonia, north-west Wales, and is the second highest of the Glyderau and the sixth highest in Wales.Routes to the summit lead from Tryfan and Bristly Ridge to the north, via Glyder Fawr from Pen-y-Pass to the south, and along the Glyder ridge to the east, towards...
to Bwlch Tryfan and Dyffryn Ogwen
Dyffryn Ogwen
Dyffryn Ogwen, or Ogwen Valley, is a valley mostly located in the Welsh county of Gwynedd. The upper section of the valley, east of Llyn Ogwen lies in the county of Conwy.- Geography :...
.