Climbing Snowdon early pregnancy?

[MsBallen]

Has anyone got any experience climbing Snowdon in early pregnancy? Aibu to even consider it? Is there anything worth knowing? I would be getting the train there in the morning and when I finish.

I've climbed snowdon multiple times and for someonoe who is used to hill-walking and has that level of fitness it would be absolutely fine, but from what you've said I'd say no way! A round trip to the supermarket is very very different to mountain-walking and with the combination of HEDS & increased relaxin in your ligaments due to pregnancy all it could take is you stepping on a loose bit of ground to end up with a sprain/fracture or worse. Why even risk it? If you're absolutely desperate to do snowdon why not take the mountain train up? Or find somewhere else lovely to go instead? There must be tonnes of options.

Lol as someone who pre pandemic did a lot and I mean a lot of extreme sports, paragliding, skydiving, bungee jumping, jet skiing and solo sailing i don't think climbing a busy path on Snowdon is going to mean mountain rescue and death for me.

I had a shit time like many people during the pandemic with the added partner having a stroke and having to take on his children single handedly and him now having no job so I'm the sole earner on low wage, I'm sorry that my nearly three years of planning and saving isn't going to waste because people on MN think you need to be a professional mountaineer to do it.
As I said everyone I know has done it with much lower fitness and much less prepared and have been completely fine. No issues at all.

I think it was that you said you'd never walked more than 3 miles which people identified as a concern. I I think you might have clarified that now but MN threads will hold onto things.

Then just go ahead and do it and stop wasting peoples time on MN. What was the point in asking if you're going to ignore all the advice? And the extreme sports you mentioned are not going to tax you physically.

So do please just continue your plans to walk up Snowdon. Good luck. Enjoy.

Why did you ask if YABU to consider it then if you'd already decided?

I asked for people's experiences doing it pregnant. It suddenly descended into people who think they are gate keepers of mountain climbing.

If your on MN your wasting time anyway. It's a chat site it's not necessary to your daily life. If you feel this thread is a waste of time scroll on by instead of wasting your time typing.

I wouldn't, especially since you already have a connective tissue disorder. There is a risk of pelvic girdle pain or whatever they call it these days.

I did a lot of hill walking (on the moors and in the lake district) in early pregnancy and really regretted it when I developed this. I could hardly walk by the end of the pregnancy. I was pretty fit and did quite a bit of hill walking before.

My second pregnancy I took more care and could walk around enough to look after the toddler even by the end of the pregnancy.

I still get a bit of pain from it, years after the pregnancy. It really isn't worth the risk. Do something else and save the walking for when the little one is born and can go in a carrier or for when they are old enough to walk with you.

Your OP literally says "Aibu to even consider it?" and you posted in AIBU.
People have answered that.

Thank you this is exactly the sort of response I was after. Hope you are doing better nowadays that sounds painful.

Yep I asked specifically in regards to the pregnancy not in regards to going up in any other sense. Many of these responses are generally saying I shouldn't go because I'm not a hiker full stop.

My first response was in regard to the pregnancy directly. I think the bar at which you can take a risk for the first time in an activity like this is lower in pregnancy, especially in your case given the combination of HEDS & relaxin.

You dont have to be fit to climb snowdon . Trust me I know . I done the miners track twice. Take as many breaks as you need though. Take snacks and drinks

If you say so...

Why ask at all, if you know all the answers. The fact no-one you know wants to go with you and supports you in this venture should speak to you. Nothing anyone, with a shit-tonne more experience than you, has said here has apparently got through at all. Here's hoping you don't fall, need rescuing, or get caught out overnight.

Be aware that you can get hit by morning sickness and exhaustion after the "standard" time. I was fine until the point that all the books said morning sickness would pass and then suddenly was exhausted and vomiting!

I had a few days where I couldn't get out of bed and it was just before a holiday (started looking up if insurance would cover cancellation for morning sickness!). I made it but was sick the first couple of days and low on energy all week. I did several long walks that holiday but they were all in the flat and I had to take it slow/rest. One was possibly the most exhausting walk ever but I had no choice as we were walking out from where we had stayed to the coach. I skipped going on the walking the rest of the group did that involved uphill because I just wouldn't have had the energy.

As a pp asked, are you set on the summit? Would you be happy to turn back part way if you get tired/plan to only go part way? If you have saved for this and are set on the summit it might feel a waste of money and effort if you don't make it.

I did Snowdon a long time ago when I was ok fitness but not great. I made it to the top but the downhill triggered issues with my ITB and knees and I have never recovered (can't walk hills anymore without knees seizing up) so I would be concerned about the walk home if you have ligament issues (especially as they can be worse in pregnancy)

Thank you that's very helpful to know that morning sickness can start much later! And no i absolutely would be fine to turn back before the summit if needed my heart's not set on definitely getting to the top I'm more about the scenery and seeing some lovely sights :). And good point re knees. I use sports tape to help my joints and supports so I need to pack them.

OP, the issue is, when pregnant you can suddenly feel exhausted and weak and there's no warning when that will happen. You say you can just "turn back", but if you start to feel rough at the top of the summit it's a bloody long way down and you will be very slow getting down due to feeling ill.

As I said in my previous post on this thread, this is what happened to me on Scafell pike, and because the weather had also suddenly turned nasty (at high altitudes you can get sudden rain even if it's a fine day at the bottom of the mountain) it was very, very scary for both me and my DH.

It was the kind of walk I could do standing on my head pre-pregnancy and I felt fine, just like normal, for the first hour or two of the walk, but when I started to get unwell I was very high up and pretty much screwed, as there was no option but to continue walking when feeling ill/weak.

The descent down was me crying the whole way in fear/exhaustion, walking at a snail's pace, and my poor DH trying to keep me walking.

Before I had this experience, I, like you, would have scoffed at anyone telling me that I couldn't do such a straightforward hike while pregnant.

suddenly feel exhausted and weak and there's no warning can happen (has happened) to plenty of us when not PG. <shrug>

If you’ve never walked more than 3 miles then you should not be climbing alone. Full stop, pregnancy irrelevant.

@lljkk not really sure what your point is? It would be a pretty random event for a fit, healthy, non pregnant woman to feel ill out of nowhere. In fact, it has only happened to me once or twice in my pre-pregnancy life, when trying to exercise on an extremely hot day. Based on that risk, going up Snowdon or an even bigger mountain doesn't require a second thought (beyond appropriate food and clothing).

When pregnant though, I would frequently suddenly feel ill completely out of the blue, so I am trying to convey to OP that self-assessing her ability to do this based on her pre-pregnancy capacity for exercise will not work. Even if she hasn't felt randomly I'll yet, it's much more likely to happen when pregnant, and the additional stress on the body of being at a high altitude can bring on symptoms that don't occur when not on a mountain!

While other people may take ill for all sorts of reasons when hiking, there are probably few who choose to set out in the knowledge that they have a condition which made them far more likely that they might suddenly feel weak.

You do bungee jumping with HEDS? What does your optician say about that?

I think before you try climbing Snowdon you need to practice that distance carrying your kit on terrain where an injury won't need a rescue.

It's an incredibly idiotic thing to do at your experience level. Do you realize mountain rescue is staffed by volunteers and people's lack of responsibility causes their resources to be stretched?

The mountain is not going anywhere, build your fitness and do it next year.

Amazingly every mountain guide re Snowdonia have said you only need a reasonable level of fitness and zero need to train which sums up many of my friends who have done it with zero issues and who are not even moderately fit.

Thankfully a friend has reached out and asked to come with me beginning of September so I have plenty of time to do more laps of the concrete jungle.

My eyes are fine. My Dr is only worried about aneurysms due to a previous clot, which is more reason to live my life as I could drop dead any second.

None of the activities that you've done are as physically demanding as climbing a mountain. You don't need to have climbed a mountain before to climb Snowdon, that is true. However, your level of endurance fitness may be lower than you think.

At the very least you should take some of the PPs advice and go on a longer walk that includes some hills/inclines.

Being adventurous does not equate to being fit. I would still climb Snowdon next year if I were you. You'll have a much better chance of reaching the top and more time to convince a friend to do it with you.

If you go ahead, then I wish you good luck and weather...