Over the past week the weather conditions at the summit have been unpleasant with the top of the mountain rarely emerging out of the cloud and frequent heavy rain showers. However, digging out the footings for the service wing is nearly completed. The remaining foundation units stored at Clogwyn will then be moved up to their final resting place.


The steel framework as it stands.

Down in the Llanberis yard, the stonemason Robyn Hughes, has been finishing a test panel of the exterior stone cladding that will be used to face the new visitor centre. The Welsh quarried granite panel has a twist in it and with all the different angles has clearly required a high degree of skill to build.


The granite cladding test panel.

Robyn has been working with stone for 50 years since leaving school at the age of fifteen. He recounted that his father had told him that Robyn's great-grandfather, Moses Williams, who lived in Nant Peris, was a striking figure being 6 foot 6 inches tall and worked as a Snowdon guide. Perhaps the steep section of the Llanberis Path below Clogwyn Station, known as Allt Moses, is named after him? Incidentally, for anyone interested in the history of the mountain guides on Snowdon, a new edition of 'The Botanists and Mountain Guides of Snowdonia' by local author Dewi Jones has just been re-issued by Llygad Gwalch at £9.95 (www.gwales.com)


Stonemason, Robyn Hughes, putting the finishing touches to the test panel.