Snowdon

Snowdon from Llyn Llydaw

The Snowdon [ snəʊdən ] is the highest mountain in Wales. The name is made up of snow for snow and don ( Anglo-Saxon ) for mountain. It is located in Snowdonia National Park in the county of Gwynedd in North Wales. The summit is at 1,085 meters above sea level and is called in Welsh Yr Wyddfa [ əɾ ' wɪðva ], which means " the grave " or " tomb " means. The national park is very popular with tourists and hikers and mountain its main attraction.

The ridge of Snowdon consists of six long ridges; the north and east they are steep and rocky, covered the south and west with grass, but wild and secluded. During the Ice Age the area was glaciated several times. The glaciers created many deeply incised U-shaped valleys, some of them have lakes. The mountain range is completed by the Crib Goch ( 923 m), the Lliwedd ( 898 m) and the Aran ( 747 m).

Hiking trails lead over all ridges to the summit, but the most popular route starts at the Llanberis Pass; it follows from Llyn Glaslyn and Llydaw ( " Blue Lake " ) an old mine path and then zigzags up to the Bwlch glass ( " Blue passport ").

Who would not want to hike to the peak, the Snowdon Mountain Railway can use. This is a cog railway that runs from Llanberis to the summit. In the mountain station just below the summit there is a restaurant and a gift shop.

The numerous rocks of the Snowdon mountain range play a significant role in the history of British mountaineering. The eastern wall of rock, called Clogwyn Du'r Arddu ( " the black cliff " ) was first climbed in 1798 by Peter Williams and W. Bingley, two botanists who were in search of alpine plants. The north face was climbed for the first time Y Lliwedd in the late 19th century and 1909, the theme of the first British book with descriptions of climbing routes (The Climb on Lliwedd, written by JMA Thompson and AW Andrews ). Sir Edmund Hillary trained on Mount Snowdon for his ascent of Mount Everest.

The Snowdon is one of three mountains that are mounted at the National Three Peaks Challenge. This is a race where it comes within 24 hours to load the highest mountains of Wales, Scotland ( Ben Nevis ) and England to climb ( Scafell Pike ).