Last month, My Mum (Kath), Brother (Rich), Partner (Will), and dog (Padfoot) headed to Snowdonia (Eryri), in North Wales for a week of adventuring!

We based ourselves in a gorgeous Airbnb in Llanberis so that we were right in the heart of the mountains.

This route has been on my radar for a couple of years now — Crib Goch, the infamous knife-edge ridge, has always intrigued me. I knew one day I’d have to tackle it for myself.

Crib Goch, meaning “Red-Ridge” in Welsh, is 923 meters above sea level, was an EPIC adventure.

But before we go any further, a word of caution: Crib Goch is not your typical mountain walk. It’s a Grade One Scramble, which means it involves exposed, hands-on climbing and requires a good head for heights, solid footing, and prior experience. If you’re considering it, please do your research, assess your abilities honestly, and make sure you’re properly prepared.

The BMC defines a Grade One Scramble as follows; “All scrambling grades require a degree of rock climbing as both hands and feet are employed, but a classic grade 1 scramble is essentially an exposed walking route.” (Please only do this route if you are an experienced hill walker).

We were up not long after the crack of dawn, arriving at Pen-y-Pass for 6am, ready to tackle the long-awaited challenge.

We’d chosen the early start for a few reasons. Firstly, I wanted the ridge to be quiet, not just to soak in the experience, but also for safety. On previous scrambles, I’ve found myself feeling pressured when faster hikers tried to overtake, which led me to rush moves that deserved more caution. Knowing that this route is described as a ‘knife-edge’, I wanted to go at my own pace, with no one on my heels, so, no pun intended, I figured it was best to beat the ‘peak time’. We had also left Mum and Padfoot behind for this adventure, so we wanted to make sure we were off the mountains before lunch so we could spend the afternoon with them.

The approach to Crib Goch starts out along the familiar Pyg Track, before it forks off to the right and that’s the real adventurous fun begins.

From that point on, we left the path behind and scrambled up a steep, rocky face. There’s no set route here; you have to pick your own line and trust your judgment. That said, there are a few more worn sections that hint at the routes others have taken before. After a bit of hands-on climbing and steady progress upward, we reached the top of the scramble, and just like that, Crib Goch revealed itself.

I was surprised by just how exposed it felt once we reached the ridge. The knees were wobbling!!

Crib Goch is as narrow as they say. And, the uneven ground made it hard to find secure footing. I couldn’t place my feet with full confidence, so we decided to drop down just to the left of the ridge, traversing along the side instead, holding onto the top edge of the ridge for support.

As we continued along the trail, the ridge gradually widened, so feeling more at ease, we pulled out our phones to capture just how epic this ridge is. We also encountered some funky pinnacle sections.

The views were absolutely incredible— high cloud revealed the summit of Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) in the distance, along with the lakes Llyn Llydaw and Glaslyn below.

The views were incredible, I’m not sure that the photos fully do the ridge justice.

This was easily one of the most memorable adventures I’ve ever had, and I’m incredibly grateful we had the perfect conditions to take on the route. Remarkably, we had the ridge almost entirely to ourselves, only passing two people along the way and spotting a small group far ahead in the distance. I’ll definitely be back to do this scramble again … it’s an experience that’s hard to top.

After completing the ridge, we arrived at the trig at Garnedd Ugain.

The trail then joined the Llanberis track up to the summit of Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), which unsurprisingly disappeared into the cloud as we got there.

We took a well-earned break at the summit café, enjoying a quick coffee and a moment to rest before beginning our descent.

From there, we followed the Llanberis Path all the way back down into Llanberis village and to our Airbnb. We were tired, but buzzing from the morning adventure!

I’m so pleased that we managed to squeeze this Scramble into our trip. It was at the top of my wish list, so I’m feeling super lucky that this was how we wrapped up our time in Snowdonia (Eryri). It was the perfect finale to an unforgettable week of adventures.