Hi there,
Planning to do Snowdon in early 2012, up the Llanberis Path and down the Rangers. I know quite a few of you have done it, so wanted some feedback on whether it was worth the effort? Or are there better (UK based) challenges/routes out there?

Thoughts?
Cheers
Simon

Loved it. The up was about 80% rideable which was better than last time. Rangers down was mental! Watch out for the telegraph path though. Miss that and It’s a long hack back to the car.

We made it up Llanberis to where (i think) the path crosses the railway, had difficulty standing due to the wind and couldn’t see much due to the fog so turned around. Be prepared and make sensible decisions.

Awesome and well worth the effort.

Planning on doing it again in April, will probably keep schedule loose and pick the best looking day weather-wise out of my week.

Stay at The Heights hotel in Llanberis, run by climbers for climbers.

Has the Heights changed hands recently? It used to be a complete hole. Be nice if someone had turned the place around.

It’s worth doing for the experience and there is some great riding in it. There are better rides and trails out there but it’s definitely worth doing.

Its a fun half day, and one of those ones that you can say you’ve ‘done’.

Most of the Llanberis is rideable, up to the bottom of the stone pitched section where it and most of the ridgeline too, and rangers is all rideable if you’re good enough. – I bailed the slab in the Mordor Section that you see in all the videos, but managed everything else and I’m a pretty average trail rider.

Weather is a factor, it was pretty grey and cloudy when we went – there were no views from the top and whilst resting for the descent the temperature dropped in a heartbeat.

What spoiled it for me was the volume of people. There must have been circa 200 people on the summit with at least double that in a virtual conga right along the upper part of the ridegeline.

I’d strongly recommend not doing it at the weekend or bank holidays. Rangers was virtually empty though.

+1 for doing it on a quiet day.
Done it three times on the bike. Just be respectful of the weather and you’ll be fine.

There are better routes but it is Snowdon.

I went yesterday for the second time. Went as the ban ended in the summer and had a rare clear sunny day. Did the same route you are planning and while the climb was pretty straight forward I did find the descent pretty hard work. Didn’t flow enough for my liking and the constant techy drop offs took their toll. Wrists, hands and feet did ache lol.

Did llanberis up and down yesterday and the descent was right up my street. Exhausting but I loved every bit of it. Wouldn’t fancy rangers descent unless the rocks were nice and dry.

For reference it was dry at the bottom and 10deg c and drenching wet in the fog and 2 deg with a nasty wind chill at the top so make sure you are well prepared. I’d recommend a spare set of gloves for the descent as my water proofs were wet through by the top and if I hadn’t had a spare set it would have been a painfully cold descent.

Also take a few inner tubes, pinch flats have been unavoidable for me

Yep it’s got to be done.

Up is easy once past the last bit of tarmac, then the down is pretty wild and I’ve yet to clear it. The grassy climb after the rangers and before the final track decent can be a bit of a slog. The final run down is a scream, bunny hop heaven.

Walked it, never ridden it. As above though. 15c & dry, sunny intervals on the way up. Was little over zero up to, & the wind/rain were horendous. Plenty of idiots in flip-flops & shorts shivering behind the cafe up there though. 🙄

If anyone has actually ever ridden the Pyg or Miners trails…full respect to your gnar-ness-nous.

Planning to head back up late Spring, to do the Horseshoe route.

best. trail. ever.

Well worth doing.

I did Llanberis up and the Rhyd Ddu path down in October. It was blowing a gail and the Rhyd Ddu was really hard work with very little momentum gained because you need to keep stopping to get over obstacles (man left boulders from former mining).

Went back 2 weeks later and Llanberis up, Llanberis down to the top of the tarmac road, then back up via Llanberis and down the Rangers and over Maesgwyn and back.

Double climb, well worth doing and you get both a fast descent down Llanberis and a techy descent down the Rangers. You need a good day to do this, loads and loads of fluids (a got horrendous cramp half way down the Rangers)and an early start. Took me just under 5hrs and the weather was very kind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZgoxhilGoY
june 2010 ranger track descent on my 224 with a few mates, pity the sun was so low but we didn’t set off from the top until 9pm

Thanks all, So thats made up me mind, Snowdon it is! Great vid Creaser, not sure I’ll be that quick, some good riding there….

Simon

Creaser – massive respect. Cannot believe how fast you hit every bit of that descent!!

I would be so disappointed if such a great vid was spoilt by that low lying sun. Must have been tricky picking your lines but by the look of things you just plowed through and over everything in your path at great speed. Amazing riding there well done.
Love to do Snowdon one day.

It’s on my to-do list for this year as well. I’d got in my head that I wouldn’t need my Downhill bike for it but after watching your vid creaser I clearly would be stupid to do it on anything else.

I loved it when I did it last summer with an early start. Missed the telegraph turning though and ended up slogging it back. There is a fair amount of carrying up, but the descent is at least 90% rideable for an average trail rider.

Did a solo effort up and down the Llanberis path one summer lovely evening with only a few folks about.

As scienceofficer says, the pitched staircase to the railway arch is the only truly unrideable climb, though I also pushed the steepest gravel section after that due to being feeble 😆

The summit in the evening sunshine with all the long shadows was great. Spent about an hour sat up there looking at the view and chatting to someone. The ride down was brake melting fast – I dragged too much on the loose gravel section out of fear The staircase was rough on the hands but easy. After that the rest was nice and flowy.

Have fun!

Is brake fade an issue? From the clips I’ve seen it looks like you’d be on the brakes most of the way down.

I’ve done it twice, solo I was just under an hour an a half up & 35 minutes down, in a group we stopped for picture taking numerous times – 2 hours up & an hour down including a stop for sarnies.
Brake fade not a problem for any of us but very easy to puncture on the rain channels on the lower part of the decent.
GPS shows 71% of the 4.9 mile climb ridden, 99% down ridden.
Don’t under estimate the weather or the number of walkers, even on a Monday in October, there were hundreds of them on the Llanberis but only six on the Rangers!

Shinythings climbing in good weather.

Not so good weather (I wouldn’t fancy it in bad weather)

Great video…!!!

the heights is amazing now… we went to play in the glyders for my birthday and stopped there for food. it used to be a bit drab but now its clean and very friendly. food and service was great. wouldnt hesitate in eating there again!!!
im also looking to do snowdon this year as i have missed previous trips!!

Creaser, amazing skill and speed there, anyone who has been there and done the Ranger Path would have to agree…. Great to watch regardless of the low sun mate….

“Is brake fade an issue?”

It was for me. Llanberis path is a fast descent ~20-25 minutes. I drag braked too much descending the steep gravel section and well before I reached the arch the brakes were pumped and not doing much. So I had to stop for a few minutes for them to cool, and for my fingers to recover before tackling the staircase.

Rangers path is possibly my favourite descent in the UK. Planning to get back up there in spring.

I rode the ranger’s many years back on a hardtail with v brakes – watching creaser’s vid I’d not have known it was the same trail.. good riding there!

I’d like to do it again before long, been there on foot way too many times compared to the bike and need to balance that out. It’s a nice area for a summer bivi and a descent at first light would be good.

Funnily enough a friend of mine was on about us going there later this month. Have looked at some vids online and it looks good so think its a plan. Marin is quite nearby isn’t it? I have never been there, what’s that like compared to Coed-Y-Brenin? Will pop to one of those afterwards methinks.

Marin trail is the worst dedicated trail I’ve ridden. Doesn’t compare to brenin. Penmachno on the other hand is superb and only a few miles from the marin and bets y coed so I’d definitely give that a go!

I’d throughly recommend it.

We did it mid week in April a couple of years ago and it was great – Deffo will do it again.

Snow at the top, minimal walkers and sunshine made for a great day out. Took a couple of hours to ride/push up (stopped for food near the top) and about an hour down Rangers / Telegraph valley back to llanberis.

Rangers is largely rideable with just 2 sections that we had to session a couple of times to clear.

Thanks Winrya. Have had a look and it does look quite nice and is nearer. Will see if we can give that a go.

Ceaser – you are incredibly brave – total respect to you!! 😀

I took a trip up in late November and was lucky with some amazing weather. Rode it twice in the day, the last time to get the sunset at the top, which was the highlight of my year on the bike

The Llenberis track at night is what lights are designed for – and no hikers to worry about!

The Rangers is mental, but brilliant!!

I would recommend a Very early start or a late start, as negotiating hikers at warp speed whilst trying to be polite can be a pain

Would recommend the Don Perris guest house – run by a sound biker called Simon who is a wealth of knowledge

Snowdon Sunset by boltonjon, on Flickr

Here’s an ‘experience’

[video]http://vimeo.com/13904646[/video]

Nice one Pook – demonstrates the epic effort which goes into climbing Snowdon

Hats of to the boy on the rigid forks – my hero!! 🙂

Back in the day – 1991/92.
We used to wait for a full moon + good weather then chuck the fully rigid bikes in the car + drive over from Manchester – arrive at 10pm park at Pen-y-pass. Ride along the Miners Path then carry up onto the Pyg track to the summit. Bivvy in the old cafe doorway – then in the morning shoot down into Llanberis for breakfast at Pete’s Eats. Which was followed by a slow ride back up Pen-y-pass to collect the car.

1st post on this illustrious forum… Hi folks!
Planning a long week doing the Snowdonia thang early April, and it’d be rude not to give Snowdon a bash (weather permitting, of course…). Just wondering what’d be the preferred tool, a 140mm FS (a heavy’ish Kona Dawg) or a long-forked Whyte HT? I suspect the Former but the HT is my back-up bike. Cheers.

The main bit of the ride is the descent, as the climb is rather hard – you’ll only ride 70% of it of you’re very fit / lucky / have amazing conditions.

Its one of the best ‘big / proper’ MTB routes out there, however to do a complete descent of the Rangers does put you into the category of accomplished / ballsy DHers but don’t let that put you off, most of it is rideable, there’s just a few sections that are quite tricky and the situation just compounds this.

Despite being a rather large mountain, if you keep on time, it should only take a few hours to go up Llanberis, down Rangers / telegraph valley.

Don’t underestimate conditions on top, it is very high up there and weather can change all over the mountain very quickly.

my experience of Snowdon is that the top is always 20 minutes away and the cafe couldn’t give a toss if one of your group is struggling with hypothermia