This route forms part of the popular Snowdon Horseshoe and is accessed via the Pig track from the Youth Hostel at Pen y Pas.

The route branches off to the right at the col, where Llyn Llydaw first appears, below and to your left. After a scrappy start over steep, broken ground the scrambling begins at a pleasant, broad buttress traversed by numerous routes on excellent, clean rock equipped with plentiful handholds.

Higher up the buttress narrows to an arête. Thin tracks run to the right, below the ridge but it’s probably better to stick to the solid stuff on the crest (unless it’s uncomfortably windy, in which case you might like to think of better things to do with your day – see below). Eventually the gradient eases off but the ridge continues as an airy tightrope with vertigo-inducing drops on either side.

Several points are worth making here. Firstly, while it’s true that Crib Goch is rated as a mere grade 1 scramble, the exposure is very noticeable and is sustained for a remarkable distance. Some people may find this tiring, not to say panic-inducing. Secondly, although you may be able to drop down a couple of feet from the crest there’s generally very little protection from inclement weather.

Thirdly, there’s still plenty of demanding and inescapable scrambling ahead. Eventually, having ignored all warnings, you’ll reach a series of pinnacles. These mark the end of the ridge but provide an interesting finale. A path picks its way left round the base of the first pinnacle though keen scramblers will obviously prefer to go over the top. After this, it’s a free-for-all with the route twisting over further slabs and little ridges before reaching more civilised terrain at Bwlch Goch Though at this point you’ve technically completed the Crib Goch scramble you might like to know that there’s still another obstacle head of you.

This takes the form of a dour bastion barring the continuation of the Horseshoe ridge onto Carnedd Ugain. At first sight this looks quite formidable. If you look at the crest of the bastion, however, you’ll see a sort of notch over to the right and if you follow this down slanting slightly to the left you’ll see that it meets the ground in a broad cleft. Climb this on good holds and you’ll find you can then follow an easy, well-worn route to the top. At this point all difficulties cease.

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