I've foolishly agreed to have a crack at riding Snowdon in late April, at the ripe old age of forty-four and just before the 1st May prohibition on bikes.
I'm looking for route recommendations and reassurance that I'll be fine on a mid-travel carbon full suss bike.
Also, perhaps most importantly is Pete's Eats still going strong?
The first couple of times I rode Snowdon was in April. I've been going there for years with outdoor pursuits groups, mainly in summer, usually in murky conditions on the summit. However in April we had pristine conditions with stunning views from the top. First day we did Railway path/Snowdon Ranger/Telegraph valley and had such fun we rode Rhyd Dhu the next day. Ridden it since at different times but never in such weather
We tried to do it a few years ago in mid April and had to abandon the trip because the hostel we were going to be staying at was under a couple of metres of snow. I guess that could vary massively year by year though.
We walked up and down about 6 weeks ago and would recommend not riding the miners/Pyg path, you'd end up carrying the bike most of the way (or I would, maybe a reflection of my skills) as it's very steep in places and was very busy with walkers.
If you are planning on riding over a weekend I'd recommend an early start (I think we started around 4am) so that we were on the summit by 6 ish, and could enjoy the descent with fewer people. On a weekday it's less busy, but I would still go up pretty early.
Easiest route up is Llanberis path, I think it took us something like 1.5 - 2 hours.
Descent wise, Llanberis path is fairly straightforward but still good fun. My preferred descent is Rangers followed by Telegraph Valley. This is a step up in technicality (there's a couple of steps I didn't clean) but is great fun.
Thanks all, I know that it's a case of pot luck with Snowdon's weather.
😆 the'ripe old age of 44'..my friend you would be classed as a kiddie in our riding group ..
This sounds like a really fun thing to do..
We usually take this route:
Park at Ranger Station car park
Up Rangers to summit
Down Rhyd Dhu
back on road to Ranger Station
Up Telegraph then Llanberis to top of Rangers
Down Rangers
and yes, 44 would make you but a youngster.
OP, not foolish at all. I think pretty much any bike will work, as long as you just take it easy and walk when needed. I rode there a few years ago, on my hardtail. Would have loved to have had rear suspension, but have just got a hardtail again and sold my full susser so looks like a repeat visit will be without suspension again.
Link to previous thread: [url= http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/snowdon-essential-gear ]Asking about Snowdon a while ago[/url]
I loved it and can not wait until I get the opportunity to do it again. Ended up doing it in February, but unfortunately had no good views from top. Definitely recommend going as early as possible.
Start at Snowdon ranger, up and over to telegraph Valley, eat at Llanberis, up Llanberis path, all the way back down ranger to the car, dinner at cwellyn arms.
Same again next day but down rhydd ddu 🙂
Oh yeah. It was great on my Solaris before it got nicked. Even better on the Nomad 🙂
What's Rhyd Dhu like?
I set off with the intention of riding it earlier in the year.
It was really poor visibility when I got to the top and remember looking at the first few yards I could see in the mist and thinking "Not in this weather and not on my own"...then went down the Rangers where I knew what I was up against.
Do I need to go back and try again?
That first bit looked exposed and unridable
Ecky Thumps routes sounds interesting - what the conditions like right now?
what the conditions like right now?
Under several feet of snow.
@ndthornton - walked Rhyd Ddu a few times and there's some stuff that looks like great fun but some of it is unrideable (at least by the likes of me).
I guess if you don't mind a bit of hike a bike...
Also, perhaps most importantly is Pete's Eats still going strong?
Most certainly is. Only three things certain in this life.....
Death
Taxes
Stonking good breakfast at Pete's Eats.
What's Rhyd Dhu like?
It's quite mixed. A bit of everything. Not better or worse than Rangers, just different to it.
Top section has a few short bits that will have you off and carrying over a small obstacle or two. Some might ride it all but I can't and wouldn't risk trying as there are major consequences in the form of the drop to the left.
Lower stuff is a all ridable, some loose rocky stuff, some flagged, some (not much)boggy, some track.
We did it in March, picked a weekend and stuck to it as we booked a hotel in Bedgelert, unfortunately just our blooking luck, a week before hand there was a heavy dumping of snow. Each day we were glued to the weather updates and Snowdon webcam to see how accessible it was, 3 days before we went up there was an avalanche! We took the bikes as planned but thought it was too bad we’d just walk it (kitted ourselves out in grampons …the full works) Anyway once we got there we thought just though **** it, if you can walk it you can hike a bike it!
Thankfully it had melted most of the way up, well up to the ridge, it was thigh high in places though and thick of fog so the view were…well none existent! . We went up the Llanberis path (that was always the plan to go up that way) however we also had to come back down that way, would have been too dangerous coming down Rangers in the snow and thick fog. We parked in the Snowdon Railway carpark, we walked down to Pete’s Eats after we’d returned, had a full English (which was still served in the afternoon) never has a full English tasted so dam good!
But it was an epic weekend never the less, we really enjoyed it, so I’d thoroughly recommend it!