Snowdon is a special place for myself and my family. I was raised by my grandparents and my grandad spent a lot of time in Snowdon as a young child and it was one of his favourite places. It was so special to him that he wished that his ashes were scattered there when he passed away.
He passed away some years ago and on Friday 5th July 2024 I took his ashes to the summit of Snowdon to place him at rest.
I was doing this with a family member who took the Snowdon train to the summit. So my starting point for the run was the railway station, not the traditional start of the Llanberis Path, which was a bit further up. This also acted as a bit of a 'race' against the train, which takes about an hour to get to the summit.
The route was challenging, but rewarding and it was a beautiful day for it. I was very lucky, because it had been terrible weather the day before and the day after.
I stopped a few times to take pictures of the incredible scenery. And there was great support on the way up from the hikers and walkers.
Because of the personal nature of my journey, I never intended this to be an FKT. I never had a specific goal and I hadn't looked up any Snowdon routes before. I assumed that there was already a FKT established by one of the very good mountain runners in the community.
But the day after completing it, I looked at the FKT website and realised there wasn't an FKT! Despite the very popular route for Llanberis Path. So that was a nice surprise to be able to honour my grandad with a new route established and an FKT!
My total elapsed time was 57 minutes and 58 seconds (So I beat the train).
But this is a time that can be easily beaten by someone much more accomplished in the mountains than me! I look forward to seeing others beat it in the future!