Wednesday, August 10
    Trending
    • How to Organize a Golf Tournament in 7 Steps
    • Everything You Need to Know Before Visiting Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica
    • Norwegian Cruise Line shares fall as revenue, outlook lag pre-pandemic levels
    • They came for a beach holiday. Now they’re trapped in China’s latest Covid lockdown
    • 10 underrated beach holidays to rival Greece – for a fraction of the price
    • North Korea is destroying sites at the Mount Kumgang resort area
    • Nearly half of Singaporeans want to travel to one place – and it’s not Malaysia
    • The 20 Mediterranean islands you must visit in your lifetime
    Travel Advice
    • Features
    • News
    • Travel
    • Destinations
    • Lifestyle
    • Food & Drink
    • Advice
    • Videos
    Travel Advice
    Home»Advice»With a mountain to climb after Covid, this old-school Snowdonia hotel is still drawing on its Everest links
    Advice

    With a mountain to climb after Covid, this old-school Snowdonia hotel is still drawing on its Everest links

    December 22, 2020No Comments4 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    With a mountain to climb after Covid, this old-school Snowdonia hotel is still drawing on its Everest links
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Something is missing in the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel – George. That’s the name of a shrunken head from Peru, which I remember seeing in the Smoke Room a decade ago. It’s just as well it’s gone – such a grisly trophy had surely outlived its shock value – but it’s also a surprise. To quote the Talking Heads song, the PyG is a heaven “where nothing/ nothing ever happens”. Yet something has happened and someone’s head has disappeared. 

    This creeper-smothered hotel fits snug as a plug in the socket of Snowdonia. The head was brought here by George Band, and he was brought here by an endeavour that crowned the new Elizabethan age. He was part of the expedition on which Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay completed the first successful ascent of Mount Everest, on May 29 1953. In the preceding months the climbers had based themselves at the PyG and trained in the mountains. Four days after Hillary and Tenzing stood higher than anyone had before, the coronation of the Queen took place in Westminster Abbey and Britain felt on top of the world. Some might say it’s been downhill ever since. 

    The hotel is arrested in that moment. It isn’t just the memorabilia from Everest (rope, crampons, goggles; a nugget of summit rock; the mountaineers’ signatures scrawled on the ceiling, alongside those of a mix of former guests that includes philosopher Bertrand Russell, singer Petula Clark and pipe-smoking Python Graham Chapman). The guest experience is also belayed to the postwar years. There are no TVs, telephones or room keys. Breakfast and dinner are at set times and guests are summoned by the crash of a gong.

    When the gong sounds I drain my pint of Mad Dog, mask up and move through to the dining room. Before tucking into a hearty three courses my task is to complete the order for tomorrow’s breakfast. I hesitate over “Eggs” before plumping for boiled. The last time I was here I ordered a boiled egg and it arrived wearing a knitted yellow cosy in the form of a chicken. Will it be this time? Next morning I feel nervous as I await my egg. I needn’t have worried. Borne aloft on its tray by the waitress, it arrives magnificently attired like a potentate on his palanquin. The yolk is perfect. All is right with the world. 

    After breakfast I collar co-owner Rupert Pullee, who explains the absence of the head: “The insurers said it was so valuable it needed museum-standard security, lasers and suchlike.” It has been retired to a safe somewhere. 

    B6X410

    The hotel is well-located for Snowdonia adventures

    The PyG has been in Rupert’s family since the 1940s and he runs it with his brother Nick. He remembers the Everest reunions – how Tenzing hoisted him on his shoulders. “When my mother died we had an opportunity to sell but we couldn’t do it. We couldn’t drive past and see it fitted out with big screens. We see ourselves as guardians.” Now he has to steer it through the storm of restrictions imposed by the pandemic: “At the moment we’re just breaking even but we’re extremely lucky. People come to stay just to keep us afloat.” During my stay there are two other groups of guests, both regulars. One chap first came here in 1958.  

    Hill walking is in the PyG’s DNA. It makes sense of everything – the open fire in the lounge, the snugness of the wood-panelled smoke room, the soak in the Georgian bathtub and the filling dinners. You can’t stay and not hike. I spend the day walking the Watkin Path, which ascends to the summit of Snowdon. Striding ahead of me are two ghosts. One is Prime Minister William Gladstone who in 1892, at the age of 83, walked up the path to a rock where he addressed a crowd on the subject of justice for Wales. The second is the comic actor Kenneth Williams. In 1968 the Watkin Path stood in, somewhat improbably, for the Khyber Pass during the location filming of Carry On Up the Khyber in which Williams played the Khasi of Kalabar. 

    Back in the PyG, barman Paddy breathes life into the log fire and news comes through that the Welsh government is about to intensify restrictions by imposing a “firebreak”. The PyG will have to hang up its walking boots – until March, reckons Rupert. He looks fearful. “The hotel is about the people. Not just the ones who come to stay now but the ones who came in the past. We care for the place and it cares for us.” 

    Check with the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel (01286 870211, pyg.co.uk) for current arrangements. 

    This article was originally published by Telegraph.co.uk. Read the original article here.
    Cryptocurrency wallet
    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Previous ArticleJapan Airlines Review: How Is The Food?
    Next Article An acquired taste? McDonald’s China offers burger featuring Spam and crushed Oreos

    Related Posts

    Everything You Need to Know Before Visiting Manuel Antonio National Park in Costa Rica

    August 10, 2022

    10 underrated beach holidays to rival Greece – for a fraction of the price

    August 9, 2022

    The 20 Mediterranean islands you must visit in your lifetime

    August 9, 2022
    Signup for our Newsletter
    Advert
    Categories
    • Advice
    • Destinations
    • Features
    • Food & Drink
    • Lifestyle
    • News
    • Travel
    • Videos
    Signup for our Newsletter
    Advert
    Useful Links
    • Contact us
    • About us
    • DMCA / Copyrights Disclaimer
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Cookie Policy (US)
    • Cookie Policy (EU)
    ARCHIVES
    © 2022 Designed and Powered by JL Digital webbyrå.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

    Manage Cookie Consent
    To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
    Functional Always active
    The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
    Preferences
    The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
    Statistics
    The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
    Marketing
    The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
    Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
    View preferences
    {title} {title} {title}