Snowdon has a long history, one that started life on the bottom of the sea, the evidence of this can still be found on the summit in a layer of limestone complete with marine fossils. Shortly after that in geologic time the area then became a massive volcanic caldera and layer upon layer of lava and volcanic dust form the majority of the rock we see today. These layers were adrift on the surface of the Earth, set free on tectonic plates moving with imperceptible slowness.
The collision of two of these continental plates then compressed the land forcing up out of the sea and towards the sky, making the upland environment we see today. This landscape was then shaped by a long period of glaciation to give the tell tale signs of the passing of an ice age.
It was Charles Darwin who on visiting the area after his return from the south seas on HMS Beagle, was one of the first to note, that the evidence of glaciation was so compounding “that a house burnt down by a fire did not tell its story more plainly than did this valley”.
Snowdon itself is a prime example of a pyramidal peak, Crib Coch a knife-edge ridge, numerous Cwm’s and Tarns show where the glaciers were born; the Lakes of Llyn Padarn and Llyn Peris are textbook ribbon lakes, and the Llanberis pass a classic U shaped valley, complete with truncated spurs. There are even the striations etched into the rock by a towering glacier that ground the rocks smooth just outside Nant Peris.
What we see today, isn’t wholly ‘natural’, as despite the landscape typifying a wild and natural place, there was one more final stroke on the canvas of the Snowdon that was yet to take its mark, and was to be made by us, humans. Man’s influences goes back thousands of years to when the area was first occupied from the coast inwards, as the hunt-gatherer’s settled to become subsistence farmers they started to modify the land, through walls, fields and grazing.
These small enclosures are still evident in the area today, it wasn’t until much later that the man took on a far more destructive roll, as the mountains used to be wooded to around 600m, but a combination of man and an axe with climate change have felled all but a few remnants of the lush deciduous woodland. The Wood Sorrel found high on the mountains of the area, hiding under rocks that provide a similar environment to the shady woodland, are all that’s left in most places.
Then as civilization grew and grew man started to mine the Ore that the mountain had within it. On Snowdon this was mainly copper ore, and the extensive working can be seen above Glas Llyn which roughly translates as greeny/blue Lake below the eponymous Miners Track, and from Cwm Clogwyn D’ur Addru. Glas Llyn has that colour because of the ore rich rock that the water drains through.
Slate was also extracted from the flanks of Snowdon and historically its use as a roofing material can be traced back to Roman times, as at fort from that period on the outskirts of Caernarvon, archeologists have found traces of the old slate roofing tiles. The main slate works on Snowdon can be found above Ryhdd Ddu and in Cwm Tregellan below the Watkin Path.
This path was created by Sir Edward Watkin a then retired Liberal MP as a way to get to the top of the mountain from the end of the track that already lead to the then active slate mine, as such it is mainly easy angled but is full of the evidence of the history of the Mountain, from the disused quarry workings that are peppered with bullet holes from Commando training during WW2, to Gladstone Rock, where a the former prime minister open the path in 1892 by giving a political speech on the freedom of Wales. The Watkin Path was the first ‘officially’ designated path, and was a precursor to the opening of the hillsides that was to follow.
The first ascent of Snowdon came much early though and is attributed to Thomas Johnson in 1639, who as a botanist would have been scaling the peak to collect specimens, something that is frowned upon today. At the time he was practicing as an apothecary, so was a producing material and medicine for the developing medical profession, his practice was based in Snow hill London. Which given that the origin of the mountains name is attributed to being olde English for ‘Snow Hill’ or ‘Snow Don”, it begs the question of whether Thomas Johnson was responsible for naming the mountain?
Then of course there is the Snowdon Mountain Railway, which snakes it way from Llanberis to the summit. It was first proposed in 1869, as a new branch of the London North Western line from Caernarfon to Llanberis, sadly Lord Browning decommissioned the line from Bangor, but the end of the old line is now a lakeside track leading from Llanberis to Brynrefail through a tunnel. At the time George Assherton Smith the landowner, who was also responsible for most of the quarry workings visible from Llanberis, was worried about its negative effect on the scenery, so turn down the applications until a rival plan from Rhydd Ddu emerge. Fearing the loss of tourism to Llanberis forever he finally agree in 1894 to build the railway. If it weren’t for the foresight of this landowner, would Llanberis be the pivot around which Snowdon is often climbed?
With the mountains finally being enjoyed by the masses, the government decided after the second world war to start designating places as National Parks, Snowdonia was the third park to be established in 1951, the aim was to:
• Conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage
• Promote opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special qualities of National Parks by the Public
• Seek to foster the economic and social well being of local communities within the National Parks
Of course I couldn’t talk about Snowdon without mentioning the Summit Buildings, these have been here for some time. In fact there was once even more buildings on the hillside, as about 700m from the summit on the LLanberis path there is the remains old the old stables, where the horses were rested whilst those that could afford the ride up walked onto the summit.
The summit building has been re-built and renovated many times in its long history, until a few years ago it was literally a large portacabin that Prince Charles had described as the highest slum in Britain, and to be fair he wasn’t wrong. Today we have a far more contemporary design, and one that many thinks doesn’t sit easily with a mountain. However for the main part Snowdon is lost to the Honey Pot tourism of three peak events and those who want to get the highest point in England and Wales.
In spite of this, Snowdon is something of a close friend to me, in that I know its secrets, its moods and the darker sides of the mountain. It is this, the hidden mountain that I love, those magical places that few people travel, those rugged peaks that are far from the madding crowd and the places a man can stop to think.
If you have manged to get here, well done, this was a piece I started writing but having come back to it, I am not sure it really works. I do like the Snow Hill story, I found that an interesting link.