Garnedd Ugain, often referred to 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 ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

that forms part of the Snowdon Massif. It is the second-highest peak in Wales, and lies just under one kilometre north of the summit of Snowdon itself. It is part of the ''Snowdon Horseshoe'' route, being linked to

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

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 Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

'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 or a mountain ridge is a geographical feature consisting of a chain of mountains or hills that form a continuous elevated crest for an extended distance. The sides of the ridge slope away from the narrow top on either side. The line ...

of the dish" in

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

) 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 In linguistics, lenition is a sound change that alters consonants, making them more sonorous. The word ''lenition'' itself means "softening" or "weakening" (from Latin 'weak'). Lenition can happen both synchronically (within a language at ...

). 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 or possibly after the 13th-century poet

Gwgon Brydydd Gwgon ap Meurig (died ) was a 9th-century king of Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywi (i.e., Seisyllwg) in southwest Wales. Gwgon was the son of the former king Meurig or Morydd ap Llywarch Llwyd and inherited the realm on the death of his father. G ...

.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 the British Isles {{Gwynedd-geo-stub