Garnedd Ugain, also known as Crib-y-Ddysgl, is a pyramidal

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

that forms part of the Snowdon Massif. It is the second-highest peak in Wales, (Although with a far greater

topographical prominence In topography, prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling ...

Carnedd Llywelyn is usually considered second highest). and lies just under one kilometre north of the summit of

Snowdon Snowdon (), or (), is a mountain in Snowdonia in North Wales. It has an elevation of above sea level, which makes it both the highest mountain in Wales and the highest in the British Isles south of the Scottish Highlands. Snowdon i ...

itself. It is part of the ''Snowdon Horseshoe'' route, being linked to

Crib Goch Crib Goch is a knife-edged arête in the Snowdonia National Park in Gwynedd, Wales. The name means "red ridge" in Welsh. The highest point on the arête is above sea level. All routes which tackle Crib Goch are considered mountaineering rou ...

via the col at Bwlch Coch, and to Snowdon summit via the col at Bwlch Glas. It is also linked to Cwm Glas to the northeast via a steep arete called Clogwyn y Person, which joins the main Crib y Ddysgl ridge about east of the summit.

Name

Both ''Garnedd Ugain'' and ''Crib-y-Ddysgl'' appear on the

Ordnance Survey The Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see Artillery, ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of ...

's maps of the area. The name Crib-y-Ddysgl refers to the east ridge whilst the summit is ''Garnedd'' or ''Carnedd Ugain''. Crib-y-Ddysgl (meaning "

ridge A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...

of the dish" in Welsh) is the name used by Alan Dawson for the peak's listing as a Hewitt. ''Carnedd Ugain'' in Welsh means "Cairn of the Twenty" (the form ''Garnedd'' is the result of soft mutation). This was possibly named after the Roman legion based in Caernarfon. The web pages of the Welsh Mountaineering Club suggest that the name could also be a corruption of "Carnedd Wgon", and so named after the prince Wgon sung of by

Dafydd ap Gwilym Dafydd ap Gwilym ( 1315/1320 – 1350/1370) is regarded as one of the leading Welsh poets and among the great poets of Europe in the Middle Ages. Dafydd’s poetry also offers a unique window into the transcultural movement of cultural pract ...

or possibly after the 13th-century poet Gwgon Brydydd.Se

. (NB "Gwgon" becomes "Wgon" under soft mutation.)

References

Hewitts of Wales Tourism in Gwynedd Mountains and hills of Snowdonia Nuttalls Furths Mountains and hills of Gwynedd Beddgelert Betws Garmon Llanberis One-thousanders of Wales {{Gwynedd-geo-stub