Cadair Idris

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Cadair Idris
Penygadair from the Pony Path in November
Elevation	893 m (2,930 ft)
Location	Gwynedd, Wales
Range	Snowdonia
Prominence	608 m
Topo map	OS Landranger 124, Explorer OL23
Easiest route	hike
OS grid reference	SH711130
Listing	Marilyn, Hewitt, Nuttall
Translation	Chair of Idris (Welsh)
Pronunciation	[ˌkadair'ɪdrɪs]

Coordinates: 52°42′2.47″N, 3°54′27.68″W

Cadair Idris or Cader Idris is a mountain in Snowdonia, north Wales. It lies at the southern end of Snowdonia National Park and reaches 893 m at its summit, named Penygadair (Welsh for "top of the chair"). It is one of the most popular mountains in Wales ^[1]. It is composed largely of Ordovician igneous rocks, with classic glacial erosion features such as cwms, moraines, striated rocks and roches moutonnées.

A number of named paths lead to the summit, such as the Pony Path, or the Fox's Path, the latter leading directly up the northern face of the mountain — a three-mile-long cliff and scree face. In recent years, the Fox's Path has degraded sufficiently to make it a dangerous descent for any other than experienced hikers and scramblers. To the north lie Dolgellau and the Mawddach estuary, while to the south is the glaciated Tal-y-llyn Lake. Two miles further west is the eastern end of the Talyllyn Railway, a narrow gauge preserved railway.

Much of the area around Cadair Idris was designated a National Nature Reserve in 1957, and is home to arctic-alpine plants such as purple saxifrage and dwarf willow ^[2].

1 Name
2 Myths and legends
3 External links
4 Notes & references

[edit] Name

Cadair Idris means "the chair of Idris" in Welsh, a reference to a giant in Welsh mythology and the resemblance of one of the mountain's cwms, Cwm Cau, to an enormous armchair. The spelling Cader Idris is often found in both Welsh and English, as reflected in the name of the local secondary school, Ysgol y Gader (never Ysgol y Gadair). This spelling is presumably due to the common pronunciation in everday speech of the Welsh word cadair as [kader] (rather than [kadair]). However, Cadair Idris is the form used on modern maps and many people regard Cader as incorrect.

[edit] Myths and legends

Tal-y-llyn Lake, looking north-east up the Bwlch Llyn Bach pass; the slopes of Cadair Idris are on the left

Cadair Idris is imbued with numerous legends; some nearby lakes are supposed to be bottomless, and anyone who sleeps on its slopes will supposedly awaken either a madman or a poet.

As mentioned above, the mountain's name refers to the giant Idris of Welsh mythology. The name is sometimes translated as Arthur's Seat, presumably with reference to King Arthur (and to the hill of the same name in Edinburgh), an idea popularised by Susan Cooper in her book The Grey King, part of The Dark is Rising series. There is no good reason for such a translation, however, and the connection of Idris with Arthur is highly dubious.

The crater-like shape of Cwm Cau has given rise to the occasional mistaken claim that Cadair Idris is a recently extinct volcano. This was debunked as long ago as 1872, when Charles Kingsley commented in his book Town Geology ^[3]:

“

I have been told, for instance, that that wonderful little blue Glas Llyn^[4], under the highest cliff of Snowdon, is the old crater of the mountain; and I have heard people insist that a similar lake, of almost equal grandeur, in the south side of Cader Idris, is a crater likewise. But the fact is not so.

”

In Welsh mythology, Cadair Idris is also said to be the hunting ground of Gwyn ap Nudd and his Cŵn Annwn. The howling of these huge dogs foretold death to anyone who heard them, the pack sweeping up that person's soul and herding it into the underworld.