[Closed] Which mountain to climb (daughters goal this year)

Aran Fawddwy is very good - but more of a long walk than a climb and better in dry conditions,

Cadair Idris from Minffordd is the classic - a walk of many changes - with the hidden valley and lake halfway up.

Great Gable (from honister if shorter is better). Some of the best views in the Lakes.

Moel Siabod.

You don't need route-finding skills, you just start at the road and follow the ridge up to the summit and down the other side

Snowdon via the PYG track from Pen Y Pass isn't particularly big. The South Ridge is excellent, I've often done it as a descent after the Watkin path. Both of these are reasonably quiet too which is more than can be said of the summit - a hateful place, especially on a Bank Holiday.

I agree Moel Siabod is a fine hill especially by the east ridge which is scrambly, but in a fun, no exposure, no danger sort of way. The views from the top would certainly please a photographer.

Moel Hebog? A very old guide book I had once (cost me 3 shillings) described it as a "thankless grind". I did it. Once. It was.

OK here's an outlier which I wouldn't put on a walking forum - wouldn't want it getting too popular. Elidir Fawr. See http://www.walkingbritain.co.uk/walks/walks/walk_b/1453/

It's an absolute cracker which I've done a couple of times in full on winter conditions. Fabulous views down to Ogwen and across the Llanberis pass if the weather is good. I would only recommend it to a beginner in good dry weather though.

This would be my choice as there's always something to look at and its not just a big lump, walking past the lake with the ruined church and the tree growing inside and then up through the slate mines and the rewarding views down the valley. Not a technical climb but something different round every corner. It's where I take people who want to walk up a mountain who would get bored on the bigger slogs.

Interesting we went up over Foel Rudd. I'll have to try your route

I think this is the classic Moel Siabod route
[img] ?imgmax=800[/img]

This thread is making me want to dust off my walking boots.

They are very dusty.

Cadair Idris from Minffordd is the classic - a walk of many changes - with the hidden valley and lake halfway up.

^^^^+10. My favourite as a kid. Such a great variety of views, sounds, smells, sensations and challenges. Is that flat marshy campsite still at Minffordd?

This thread is hilarious, besides a couple of posts questioning the wisdom of climbing major peaks in April next to nobody has bothered finding out the age and fitness of the daughter involved.

No wonder so many people come to grief.

My advice - forget the mountains just now and start building up to it with some hillwalking. Starting with a mountain is the equivalent of sending a novice up the Nevis gondola and telling them to get on with it when they get to the trailhead. Once she has a bit of stamina and knows what to expect then she'll be fine and you get to climb some mountains in the summer when you're [i]less[/i] likely to find snow, cloud cover, pissing rain or any of the other fun things that roll in within minutes. By building up to it she's more likely to enjoy herself rather than hating every minute of it once it starts getting remotely strenuous.

I think you could assume that her dad will be the best judge of dughters level of fitness etc.

Yes. But with no information forthcoming how can anyone give suitable advice? That's my point.

Living on the s.coast and the op's daughter not being the outdoors'y type Pen-y-fan is the obvious choice.
It's a nice moderatly challenging walk with glorious scenery. It's also the highest peak in the South of Britain.

@FunkyDuck - Snowden is the higest mountain in Wales. Scafell Pike is the highest moubtain in England

OP As above Pen Y Fan and perhaps a walk along beach at Rhossili and back via the ridge path above the beach. Very scenic

I'd worry that your daughter would feel short-changed by the Brecons or Black Mountains tbh

I dunno.. The view from Pen y Fan is pretty spectacular, and if you've never climbed a mountain it'll impress.

If Scafell Pike is the highest in England at 3210 feet which nearby mountain/fell is 1234 feet? Lakes riders should know this as a classic route goes close nearby!?!

Pen Y Fan, view is lovely and if you look down the steep side thats impressive enough, don't fall/get blown off though people have died ! Will try and post up some photos if I can get my flickr account to work

and if you've never climbed a mountain it'll impress.

You might have trouble convincing her that it's actually a mountain though. Although it easily meets the classification it just looks like a big hill, even more so when you're walking it, it's just an exercise in endurance there's very little to excite you about Pen Y Fan.

I'd still stick with North Wales even if you decide that Tryfan isn't suitable. There are so many other great peaks in the area, often with multiple routes of varying difficulty. Snowdonia just feels more like an adventure, it looks spectacular, has a massive number of potential routes so allows for weather/fatigue induced change of plan. I think it's the place most likely to capture the imagination of anyone with a new found interest in the outdoors.

Interesting we went up over Foel Rudd. I'll have to try your route

later today ill get the car park to start from and rough route outline

If pick s random weekend in May and go do cat bells. If it's clear you get wonderful views and it's easy yet rewarding. Around any public holiday the lakes is as likely to be as busy as Wales in my experience. You can wal there from Keswick. Go up the end and down the eastern flank and get the derwent launch back to Keswick.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrauntoohil

Highest peak in Ireland, easy reach of kerry airport

If you want an easy walk up on a simple path, then Skiddaw easily meets the requirements. Can drive about half way up as well. As it stands out from any thing else the views can be stunning.

Cadair Idris has everything you require, looks and feels like a proper mountain, spectacular views, challenging but not too committing, never as busy as the Lakes or main parts of Snowdonia. Coniston Old Man would come a close second. Forget Ben Nevis for now, the tourist route is little more than a soul less slog up a zig zag scree path for the main part and could easily demotivate a newcomer.

the Moelwyn route. There are probably loads online that take you on past the summit but you need a pick-up at the other end.

Dropped pin
near 18 Cwmorthin Rd, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd LL41
[url=Dropped pin near 18 Cwmorthin Rd, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd LL41 http://goo.gl/maps/M1Eqi ]http://goo.gl/maps/M1Eqi[/url]

Carpark is the end of this road for the Moelwyn Mawr walk. Park there and follow the track with the lake on your right and the ruined church on your left, the path takes a sharp left up through the slate then follow your nose up through the abandoned slate works and head up the disused inclines. On the map you can see 2 huge mine holes, walk past them and you hit the ridge line where you turn right up to the summit. You can carry on down the other side but I usually turn back and go down to the plateau where the slate works are and follow the disused trackway to the head of Croesor valley to admire the view (if the weather is good).
It's an easy route to follow as you can't really go to far off as its a well trodden path, if you look at a map my rubbish instructions will make sense.

Edit: found this really good blog post that tells you lots about the walk up through the slate mines.
[url= http://robinsonmaps.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/mighty-rhosydd-on-slopes-of-moelwyn.html ]http://robinsonmaps.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/mighty-rhosydd-on-slopes-of-moelwyn.html[/url]

And this pic of the view down the valley

[img] [/img]

there's very little to excite you about Pen Y Fan

The view.. Plus it's still a thing. Depends on the daughter's age.

[s]Snowden[/s] [b]Snowdon[/b] is the highest mountain in [b]England and[/b] Wales. Scafell Pike is the highest mountain in England

FTFY

This is a map of Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue incidents from a couple of years ago. Tryfan is bottom right, near the yellow road:

[IMG] [/IMG]

I've taken keen novices up there both via Bwlch Tryfan and the North Ridge. These popular routes are (IMHO) by far the easiest on the mountain. Many seeming benign paths down from the ridge end suddenly at the top of steep, often slippery rock. I would bet that the majority of incidents on the map above are due to that reason - walkers who have got lost and crag-bound. IMHO it's not somewhere to venture unless you are *sure* of the route (or are with somebody who is), however it is a fantastic place.

walkers who have got lost and crag-bound

"...On the one hand we had a young walker in [b]jeans, plimsolls and a leather jacket[/b] rapidly succumbing to hypothermia, on the other a responsibility not to put team members' lives in such serious danger. There was a real possibility that we might have been forced to leave him there on the mountain.

^That in itself beggars belief.

"I'm certain that if we hadn't found him when we did we would have been recovering his body the next morning."

I really don't doubt it. It would have been a tough night for the best equipped. The weather last night, even at sea level, was foul.

Hats off to the MRT - they definitely saved a life there.

Hopefully gave him a good kicking for their bother...

Haystacks and then up to Great Gable and then down the blacksail is a cracking walk. And you can camp in Buttermere which is just lovely. Also in the lakes, Sunday Crag, gives you a cracking view across the valley to Helvellyn.

Cader Idris is a stonker though, I love that mountain, also if she has read any of the dark is rising books its kinda cool. In south wales i think the brecons take a lot of beating for nice straight forward walks with soaring views. I'd say maybe head west to Llyn fan fach as thats just pretty and a pretty straight forward walk.

Dammit, typing this from a desk in a baking hot flat sandy perth is making me homesick.

How about a baby (only-just-a) mountain like Kinder Scout in the dark Peak District?

Not too far a trek, accessible, still a bit of a challenge and has a nice flat plateau top to have your sandwiches on. Possibly even walk across the top to kinder falls or whatever it's called!

If you want the mountain bug to catch hold, then it's got to feel like a mountain, with some exposure and drama.
As a kid, of the stuff that my parents dragged me up, the memorable ones usually had a wild feeling about them.
Stuff like:
Helvellyn via Striding & Swirral Edges
Snowdon Horseshoe via Cryb Goch
Blencathra via Sharp Edge