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[Closed] Snowdon is dead 🙁

chevychase · 2021-04-25T16:19:21Z

I live locally and had some friends over to do our annual April pre-end of voluntary agreement sunny ride on Snowdon. Traditional route. Up Llanberis, down Rangers, across Bwlch Maesgwm and then down 'telegraph valley'. Complained a while back that the bottom end of rangers (from the turnoff to Telegraph Valley) had been ruined by the national park resurfacing in loose "motorway" material. I'm a very keen hillwalker as well as MTBer and I hate those surfaces, they feel like they may as well be tarmac - and I get into the mountains (and moved here) to get away from that sh1t in the first place. Anyway - they've done the bottom half of Llanberis in the same stuff. Makes for an easy ride to the halfway point but anyone who ever wanted to come down Llanberis - don't. Not only is it even more dull than it used to be - it's now more dangerous for everyone because you'll get higher speeds due to the lack of technicality and *you can't break* - you'll just carry on sliding as it's so loose. Came down Rangers. It was really loose (lack of footfall due to lockdowns I suspect) - so was more challenging than usual. Which was nice. Up to telegraph, across the top. Old surface. "Great" - or so I thought until I turned the first corner and there was the digger. The whole thing is gravelled. The water bars are buried. All the technical gone. Nearly shot off the side as I couldn't slow down safely like I've always been able to. Now there'll be people here who don't care - who'll say they never liked it or it wasn't enough challenge for them. But Snowdon has for many years been my favourite big mountain day out on a bike this side of Scotland. Now it's both dead to me on a bike AND as a walker. All I can say about Wales's biggest tourist attraction is this: Don't bother. It's not worth it.

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roadworrier

Posts: 1222

Full Member

What zippy said

Posted : 29/04/2021 12:21 pm

milfordvet

Posts: 0

Free Member

"You can hardly be surprised that it isn’t like the North Face of the Eiger."

Actually there's a mountain cafe up there too! Set back from the north face. Cog railway up that an all, then a 30 min walk accross to it for some hot soup! It's still just like that Clint Eastwood film as you go up in the mountain...priceless.

Posted : 30/04/2021 1:03 pm

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