Mount Snowdon

Mar 19, 2007 05:03:18

Mount Snowdon At 1,085m or 3,560ft Mount Snowdon is the highest mountain in Wales and can be both a rewarding and satisfying achievement for those who reach the summit. The main access points to Snowdon and the mountains are : from Llanberis on the A4086 for the Llanberis path. Pen y Pass at the top of the Llanberis Pass for the PYG and Miners Tracks, on the Beddgelert road the A498 at Nant Gwynant for the Watkin Path and on the A4085 at Rhyd Ddu for the Rhydd Path and the Snowdon Ranger at the Youth Hostel with the same name. As you climb up Snowdon you'll not just be climbing in height but also in geological time. From the Llanberis slate, originally mud and silt deposited by the rivers, lakes and seas which once occupied the area 400 million years ago which were then squeezed and baked under great pressure and heat, to gritstones then mudstones and siltstones and, on top, rocks made of volcanic ashes and on the very top more slatey beds with the shells of marine animals - showing how once the very summit was deep under the sea bed. The layers are not horizontal. Snowdon has been pushed into folds by immense eruptions and earthquakes. Then the action of glaciers advancing and retreating, and the ice melting cut out the broad valleys and hanging valleys, and truncated spurs on the north facing slopes. The summit of Snowdon is the bottom of a syncline, the dip in folded rocks. The best place to see this is from the top of the Pyg track especially when the summit is covered in snow as this brings out the contrasting layes of the strata of the rock.