Kim Crossman, organizer of the Climb Mount Snowdon Event 2011, has shared some of the stories she and the rest of the climbers experienced during their weekend on the damp mountain.
“On Saturday morning, August 27 20111,we woke to relentless drizzly rain. Ordinarily, we would have seen weather like that and said ‘we’ll walk tomorrow instead’; but in fact, the conditions were perfect. Sticking to our plans to walk Mount Snowden, regardless of the circumstances, allowed us to recognize that people with intellectual disability and mental illness don’t get to choose when they will, and when they will not face the challenges they encounter from one day to another. And so, we accepted the weather we’d been dealt and set off with that empowering context in mind!
We reached the summit of Mount Snowden after approximately two and half hours and rewarded ourselves with delicious hot chocolate and steaming hot pies, and then head back down the slopes to the campsite. We stayed at the beautiful Lynn Gwynant campsite at the foot of the mountain, in Grade II listed, national heritage barns. The sun made a welcome appearance just as we reached the bottom and dried us off before we head to the pub for a much-deserved pint, followed by a celebratory BBQ and live music in the barn.
Special thanks go to Jimmy, Paul and Donna for bringing the band to the mountain to play for us all – it was magic to be in a barn with tired muscles, great company and awesome music!
The Climb Mount Snowdon Event was a fabulous weekend. I have been smiling to myself all week from all the banter and shared memories! In the end, 12 people climbed to the summit of Mount Snowdon. Two people climbed to the top twice and one person climbed up once-and-a-half! The best part is that all of us together managed to raise £5000!!”