Well, I’ll wait with the scathing post. I was cleaning up the slides I’d scanned a while ago. I used to have slides instead of photos. So I saw them even less than photos. That’s one of the things I love about a blog. I can see my favorite pictures and share them with whoever is interested.
Anyway, I didn’t clean my slides very well before scanning them, so I was doing that in Photoshop last night. Amazing!
These are photos I took one year when I went to the UK by myself, during Easter break. I hitchhiked to Wales and spent a week there. One day I hiked up Mount Snowdon. It was my first mountain.
It was super windy and misty, and the ridge I was supposed to follow to the top looked like I’d have to straddle it. Once I was on the ridge, it wasn’t quite that sharp. There was a narrow trail and I didn’t blow off.
The mist came and went and came again, and the top was in clouds all day. It was also freezing up there, and getting the top was so incredible, I cried. Because, as I climbed the last bit on all fours to the top, I saw ice feathers that looked like they grew out of the rock. The mist, touching the even colder rock, froze as it was blowing away, and that gave the ice that effect.
It was one of the most amazing hikes ever.
Click on the first picture to see all of them larger. Some are double. Sorry about that. I can’t figure out how to delete one from a gallery once it’s in there.
Resident Alien -- Being Dutch in America 
We’ve been there twice, but probably in June, one year we did halfway up the mountain and then I was pooped, and the next time we went all the way to the top and it was misty as, and cold too, but we didn’t see any of those snow feathers. Funny thing was we had our sturdy walking shoes on and we met some Japanese tourists who were walking around on flipflops! I think they cheated and took the little train to the top 😉
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Yeah, I try to forget that train. I felt so proud I hiked up my first mountain, and at the very top, women ere walking around in high heels.
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I love his blog, it takes me down memory lane 🙂 The UK has always been my favorite vacation country, together with Greece, when still living in Amsterdam. Mount Snowdon gives you some great views when it is clear. Unfortunately the 3 times I did climb it, the sky was terribly overcast and I didn’t get to enjoy the great view. Well, I climbed it twice and did take the train one time LOL Thank you for the pictures. I got to see the great view anyway!
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I never regretted not having the view. Having those awesome ice formations was unforgettable. I’ve always loved the British landscapes in the mist and clouds. My favorite memories are not of bright, sunny days, but of clouds roiling over a ridge and down into a valley. So dramatic!
If you like going down memory lane as far as Britain is concerned, you might want to check out the blog Sat Nav and Cider as well. She takes gorgeous pictures of lots of places I’ve been.
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When I was staying in Wales one year it was more south of Mt. Snowdon, in a little place called Dolgellau (also in Snowdonia). We were staying at this amazing place that looked like a sheepfarm from the 17th century with little buildings scattered all over the place that they rented out to tourists. One evening the boss of the place was going to walk up some mountain and he asked if we wanted to come. What an adventure! We were to meet up some place and we came all unprepared LOL They had backpacks with chocolate bars and everything because you need your sugar intake. We had nothing but a bottle of water. He told us that once a year they have this competition where the youth of the village go running up the mountain, run along the ridge to the other side, come down and back to the village. Can’t remember what the winner would receive but it would be glorious, no doubt. We made it to the base of the mountain and a little up, watched the sun go down, and then we had to race back down. I had NO idea darkness would set in so fast once that sun was gone….
It was fun though, walking in between the sheep (did you know they have more sheep than people in Wales? 5:1 ratio), jumping over little creeks or rather wading through them in my case because I didn’t see them in the dark 😉
Thank you for posting this, it gave me a bunch of memories I haven’t thought of for a long time 🙂
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That must have been Mount Snowdon. It had three trails going up on one side. The mountian has two ridges like a horseshoe. One trail along each ridge and one up the middle. On the other side there’s a train. Yes, the Brits are crazy like that. I remember hiking up a mountain with my friend, both wearing hiking boots and a full backapack, and being passed up by guys running! Just the thought of it makes me sprain my ankle!
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