Fifty people from South Leeds headed to North Wales on Saturday (25 July 2015) to climb Snowdon, Yr Wyddfa in Welsh – the highest mountain in England and Wales.
The community hike was organised by Ed Carlisle, Mark Hodgkinson and Ben Hutchinson from the Salvation Army South Leeds Initiative and was supported by the Hunslet Rugby Foundation and Aspiring Communities.
The group ranged in age from 3 to 60 and included Harry The Hawk who offered everyone encouragement. It certainly worked as everyone made it to the summit and back.
Setting off from the village of Rhyd-Ddu (pronounced Rid-Thee), the group climbed the 3,500 mountain, splitting up to walk at a comfortable pace. The ascent up the mountain began in bright sunshine, with great views towards the summit and also the North Wales coastline.
On approaching the summit, however, the cloud descended, allowing only a view of the walker ahead. Ed had promised temperatures feeling like -1 at the summit and he didn’t disappoint. The summit was packed with walkers who had used one of the six or seven routes up Snowdon.
In a scene reminiscent of the Tortoise and the Hare fable, the slower walkers enjoyed great views from the summit as the clouds had cleared when they got there.
The descent was made by the Snowdon Ranger path, which proved as demanding on the aching legs as the walk up had been on the lungs. However, the whole party was accounted for at base camp, much to Ed’s relief, and we all got back to Beeston and Hunslet in one piece. How many pieces we were in on Sunday morning has not been recorded.
Ed, Ben and Mark thanked Peter Todd, the Hunslet Hawks General Manager, for providing and driving the Hawks minibus and Peter is looking forward to welcoming several new fans from the trip at future Hawks games.
Ed is now planning another hike in September, the destination is rumoured to be Ben Nevis in Scotland, the highest mountain in the British Isles.
