heading to both of these next weekend and have never been before. was wondering what to expect in terms of XC. what're they like?
cheers

Only ridden DH at Foel (on my All Mountain bike). It's pretty steep and I would imagine some of it will be slick. Should still be worth a trip though.

Cwmcarn XC trail is lovely – about 8.5 miles long, so I did 3 loops last time I went.

The first 4 miles is mostly going up the valley, some nice single track, and technical rooty bits, but nothing too hard.

The from the top it's a some nice open switchbacks for the first half mile, then some up and downy singletrack bits for the next 1.5 miles or so. The trail stops at a road, and then follows the contours around a hill – again some very nice fast swoopy singletrack through the woods. Final bit after a little uphill is some fun, fast descending on a quite rocky/loose surface – with the final descent to the car park very fast.

Will leave a big 😀 on your face.

There is no xc at Foel. Dh trails only, 4 main trails with various little options, very muddy and steep. Great fun on a big bike but don't expect it to be easy! You'll need to be a confident rider on steep, rutted, rooty stuff to enjoy it.

cwm carn sounds good! Foel gasnach is a trip we're making with some downhillers, we're off to do some xc on 'local' routes whilst they hit the dh courses. killer rooty steepness sounds far too 'core' for my liking ;-)not sure what these local routes are exactly tho but will see!