I can climb any mountain....

.....well, maybe I won't be attempting Everest any time soon, but I have certainly conquered Snowdon. Last Sunday fifty of us faced the elements and battled through rain and strong winds (very strong winds!) to raise money for the North Staffs Special Adventure Playground (I won't start raving again about what a fantastic charity it is). Despite having spent the majority of my childhood holidaying in North Wales and spending three years at university in Bangor, I had never climbed Snowdon before so was really loooking forward to it. I love walking and can go for miles on the flat, but I have never been very good on hills (and Snowdon is definitely a very big hill!) so found the steeper stretches a challenge, especially when also trying to contend with gusts of wind which were determined to set you off balance. One thing I had been really hoping for was that we would be able to see from the summit, but from all the years of driving past Snowdon and it more often than not being covered in cloud, I knew we would be exceedingly lucky to be afforded these views; and starting our ascent on Sunday, with thick cloud coverage from about half way up, I resigned myself to the fact that we weren't going to see very much at all. When we reached the summit, which was bitingly cold and, as expected, completely hidden in the cloud, our first port of call had to be the loos! The summit cafe is a stunning building from the outside (I can't really comment on the inside as it was so packed you could hardly move); I find it amazing how they managed to build it at the top of the highest mountain in Wales, especially considering the extreme weather conditions they would have faced.
I can't pretend that, although I had a great sense of achievement from having successfuly climbed Snowdon, I wasn't just a little disappointed that we couldn't see anything from the summit, so imagine my excitement (I was a bit like a child at Christmas) when we emerged from the cafe half an hour later to find that the cloud had lifted and we could see for miles. It was breathtaking. It wasn't the clearest of views, it was still very hazy, but after seeing nothing but cloud for the previous couple of hours I was elated! I still can't believe how lucky we were as an hour later when we were on our way down the cloud started to come back over again. We certainly experienced the full wrath of Snowdon and just how changeable the conditions can be.
I had a fantastic day, I would love to do it again (maybe without the rain!); I just hope now that we have raised a good amount of money for our charity.

A few photos from the day are below, you can view the rest here.

The team ready for the off

Clouds on the way up

I made it! The summit once the cloud had cleared.

Views from the summit- the photos really do not do justice to how stunningly beautiful it was.

Looking back at the summit on our descent

The Highland Railway train- my mum and Auntie took the easy route!