A few years ago I heard tales of a Baboon hidden deep the Beddgelert forest. Yesterday we went in search of the Baboon. The approach involves utilizing mechanical assistance to cover the required distance. After a long and sweaty ascent up through the forest, we arrived at the described location.
Later that evening while pondering our Baboon failure I seeked technological assistance; the eye in the sky, Google Earth. With the aerial vantage point came the realization that we had been close, very close but given current conditions gorilla jungle tactics would now need to be employed to reach the Baboon.
Possible Baboon Sighting?
24hrs later, armed with the magic numbers (53.009843,-4.146127) we once again made the long approach up through the forest. Only to find the forest was denser than we though, stripping down to the bare essentials (losing the pad) we dropped down to our hands and knees and forged into the spiky jungle. Wriggling on my belly through a particularly dense section I nearly bumped into a large lump of rock, raising my head I gazed up at...The Baboon!
The passing of time has not been kind to the poor Baboon. 13 years later it's now a shadow of its previous well-defined towering mass, but nonetheless still standing strong.
2003: Bryn Jones on the first ascent of The Baboon, 2009: Simon Panton repeat ascent, 2016: Amy and Glyn getting lost
