52/2013 Week 42

Pentax K-30 : ISO 100 : f11 : 1/90 sec : Focal Length 10mm

Pen yr Ole Wen is the seventh highest mountain in Snowdonia and in Wales. It is the most southerly of the Carneddau range.

For many years the mountain’s name was translated as “Head of the White Light”, the interpretation of which was a mystery. However in 2004 Professor Hywel Wyn Owen at the Place-Name Research Centre at Bangor University in Bangor, Gwynedd resolved the matter saying that Ole comes from Goleddf, which means slope or hillside, making the correct English translation: “Head of the White Slope”.

Pen yr Ole Wen is often climbed as part of a longer route on the Carneddau range. It is the same height as England’s highest peak, Scafell Pike.

The mountain’s average annual temperature hovers around 5 degrees celsius

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