Walking the 15 Welsh 3000fters

A. Hi David

You can do all 15 Welsh 3000ers in three circular walks (i.e. walks that start and finish in the same place) - although it is more commonly tackled as a 3 day linear hike.

The 7 peaks over 3000ft in the Carneddau can be completed in a single day using parts of walks - see cw129 The Welsh 3000's (Carneddau) from Glan Dena, Llyn Ogwen gw183 Bera Bach, Foel Grach and Drum (Carneddau) from Bont Newydd and gw165 Carnedd Dafydd from Ogwen Cottage, Llyn Ogwen

Follow walk cw129 The Welsh 3000's (Carneddau) from Glan Dena, Llyn Ogwen to capture Pen yr Ole Wen, Carnedd Dafydd, Carnedd Llewelyn and Yr Elen. From Yr Elen you'll have to retrace your steps back to Carnedd Llewelyn before going N to reach Foel Grach. From here follow the instructions in route gw183 Bera Bach, Foel Grach and Drum (Carneddau) from Bont Newydd to bag Carnedd Uchaf and Foel Fras before returning to Carnedd Llewelyn and heading S to follow walk gw165 Carnedd Dafydd from Ogwen Cottage, Llyn Ogwen back to Llyn Ogwen.

This walk is long and pretty testing at 26km (16.5 miles) with 1671m (5481ft) of ascent - 11.5 hours grade 9 - and does involve quite a lot of retracing your steps over the same ground.

An alternative might be to tackle these peaks in two separate day hikes - ie walk gw183 Bera Bach, Foel Grach and Drum (Carneddau) from Bont Newydd from Bont Newydd to the North and either cw129 The Welsh 3000's (Carneddau) from Glan Dena, Llyn Ogwen from Llyn Ogwen or the fabulous gw122 The Cwm Llafar Horseshoe (with a diversion to capture Pen yr Ole Wen) from Bethesda.

For the 5 peaks over 3000ft in the Glyderau - use walk gw102 The Welsh 3000's (Glyderau) from Llanberis

The final three 3000fters in the Snowdon area - Crib Goch, Snowdon - Yr Wyddfa and Crib y Ddysgl can be completed using either walk gw136 The Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa) Horseshoe from Pen y Pass or gw198 The Welsh 3000's (Snowdon Area) from Pen y Pass and is relatively straight forward (if anyone can consider walking Crib Goch to be relatively straight forward!).

Hope this helps - and let us know how you get on.

Mike (Editor)

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