I’ve wanted to do this ever since I saw a pic in a mag. Yesterday we got that pic
[url=https://flic.kr/p/sifv2L]North Wales MTB – April 2015 {HPR}[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
It’s a bit of a slog to get up there. Two and a bit hours, lots of steep firetrack and a whole load of pushing and carrying
[url=https://flic.kr/p/skxnyT]North Wales MTB – April 2015 {HPR}[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/rox6Uf]North Wales MTB – April 2015 {HPR}[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/rox9E5]North Wales MTB – April 2015 {HPR}[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/sift3L]North Wales MTB – April 2015 {HPR}[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
The views aren’t bad tho
[url=https://flic.kr/p/s4662X]North Wales MTB – April 2015 {HPR}[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/sknjn9]North Wales MTB – April 2015[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/rokyrM]North Wales Weekend – MTB April 2015[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/sk6AH6]North Wales Weekend – MTB April 2015[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
And, of course coming down is fun. The first part is pretty sketchy – steep scree slopes with lots of moving rock. After that it’s loads of steps and then some lovely natural singletrack you’ve ridden/pushed up
Getting read to descend on the summit
[url=https://flic.kr/p/s3zgWJ]North Wales Weekend – MTB April 2015[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
Going down!
[url=https://flic.kr/p/s1PnMT]North Wales Weekend – MTB April 2015[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/rokJET]North Wales Weekend – MTB April 2015[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/rokLSi]North Wales Weekend – MTB April 2015[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/skxBRv]North Wales MTB – April 2015 {HPR}[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
[url=https://flic.kr/p/rokNHH]North Wales Weekend – MTB April 2015[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
New Bird Aeris was fantastic. We rode the Marin on Friday in the dust and the Beast on Saturday in the lashing rain, and it was brilliant in both places. Top of Cadair tho, that’s when you find out how good a modern full suspension bike is.
Definitely go back and do it again one day. It felt like a proper old school XC ride. And there’s nothing wrong with that!
@fathomer – we actually had a GPS from http://www.theedgecycleworks.com/mtbroutes/cadair-idris/ and a route guide from the current MBUK. There’s a couple of ways up, we took the one that looked a bit more rideable. They both end up at the bottom of the final (1 hour!) carry/push to the summit.
@munrobiker. Yeah, we were lucky, due to go up Saturday but woke up to low cloud and rain. It’s days like this when I REALLY like trail centres 🙂
[url=https://flic.kr/p/sk4RRg]North Wales Weekend – MTB April 2015[/url] by Alex Leigh, on Flickr
@chamboard – the scree slope looks quite intimidating when you’re carrying up it. It’s properly steep. But on the way down, it’s kind of pick a line and let the bike do its stuff. I’m sure some people could absolutely blast down it, but I’m not that brave. Was happy to make it down mostly in control and only occasionally sideways!
We had a similar day on Cadair over the Easter weekend.
Great ride down from the top with pretty much every surface you can dream up. The grassy section approx 2/3 of the way down was great over-steery fun until I nearly missed the last turn!
Have you ridden snowdon? How do you think the Ranger Path compares to Cadair?
@MT – blimey. Good effort for going up Saturday. I was thinking how grim, that would have been. Dead sheep still there, had nightmares about overcooking that last corner and ploughing into it!
@ST – yeah bottom section is surprisingly fun, I overtook my mate on the inside of the bend before and nearly took us both out. That last corner tightens up a bit doesn’t it 😉
Never ridden Snowden, must get round to it. From what the guys said who have ridden it, I think the Ranger Path is more technical in parts.
I was up there with MT on Saturday too. The only grim part of the ride was wiping off the sheep #### which we were covered in after the rapid descent. At least we got a bit of a buzz out of the bemused looks from the hikers!
Alex, I think you were going down as we were going up? 12 of us spread over the scree part of the hill. We bumped into the warden. (Literally!) Friendly chap, he was bemused by how many bikes were up there.
Nick- Cadair isn’t really full sus territory, you should be fine on whatever bike you’ve got. It’s not the easiest mountain in the world but it’s a really good one to ease yourself into it.
Looked like this up top when we first did it-
Then brightened up further down-
When I did it last year the same cloud was still in residence up top and the descent was phenomenally wet-
Mark – it’s up there in an earlier post! Or on my Strava if you need it.
MB is more hardcore than me. I wouldn’t fancy that top section on a hardtail! After that it’s fine but from the summit to the steps… very happy to have the FS.
@IJ – yeah sorry if we didn’t stop to say hello, I was concentrating quite hard at that point. Even tho it was quite busy near the top, no problems at all descending. Just be polite and sensible and everyone gets to share a great trail. Did you enjoy the descent
Did it a few years ago on my HT. I had beautiful day like you but a lot more walkers than you appear to have had. On my way down, to make it more interesting I used the drainage ditch at the side of the trail. This was great until I hit a drop and went over the handlebars. Got back on the proper trail after that!
Great photos.
A group of us rode Snowdon on Saturday – it was pretty grim on top! Rangers descent is awesome though, and the weather on Sunday at Antur made up for the grimness!
Great pictures. Was hoping to maybe do it when I was there in February but snow/cloud on the tops rather put me off. Very much hope to give it a go one day.
I was more than happy to be riding my 160mm skills compensator on Saturday…..
And if I’d been on a full-sus then maybe I’d not be limping around with a dead leg today. (Thigh, pointy rock, slow speed fall.)
Alex, yes, really enjoyed the descent, although the climb was pretty special with the huge view unravelling as you got higher. (In that way that mountains tend to…) I like the way that there were several distinct sections on the descent – slidey scree, nice singletrack, steep gravel doubletrack, grassy steep singletrack. (Did you use the old bridleway to the left of the gravel road on the way down?)
We didn’t actually physically bump into the warden – he wandered across to chat to us, twice. All the walkers we spoke to were lovely, and we even had a chat with a farmer at the bottom who claimed to own the mountain. Even he was friendly!
Yeah agreed on the view. Made the climb somehow more bearable! Tough on 1×10 (had 2×10 on my 29er) – mostly rideable until the obvious carry, but just an endless grind. Glad it was almost dry. We finished on the gravel road – didn’t know there was an alternative route. Have to go back now!
I was chatting to a bloke walking his dog/bear who’d been stationed there with the military the year before i was born. And I’m 47! He was still very lithe and fit and was less out of breath than me. Talked about buying himself a mountain bike 🙂
Hope the leg isn’t too bad. One of our group made a video: https://vimeo.com/126100349 – it’s quite long but shows how bumpy the top section is. I think I’m going to watch it again 🙂
I was the guy in that MBUK guide you got the route map from. It’s properly stunning. Loved the place. Weather was vicious when we went up though. We had to huddle in a multi-person bivvy bag to warm up before we headed down.
Oh right-o. Top route then. I thought it looked pretty cold in the article pics. It looks like we got really lucky in terms of weather and amount of people.