Going down Ranger's Path was scary brilliant

Rode down off Snowdon yesterday, as the mountains were bathed in glorious autumnal sunshine, and I couldn’t look at any of it because I was trying not to plummet onto sharp rocks with my face. Most technical descent I’ve ever tried – loved it. Even if we did miss the trail back to Llanberis and had to ride 12 miles on the road.

Doing this next Sat, weather permitting. What time did you ride it? Many walkers to avoid? Can’t get there early so I’m a bit worried about spending the whole ride avoiding walkers. Sounds like you had fun though.

timnwild – Member
Rode down off Snowdon yesterday, as the mountains were bathed in glorious autumnal sunshine, and I couldn’t look at any of it because I was trying not to plummet onto sharp rocks with my face. Most technical descent I’ve ever tried – loved it. Even if we did miss the trail back to Llanberis and had to ride 12 miles on the road.
POSTED 6 MINUTES AGO # REPORT-POST

😆

Pussywillow – are you laughing at him or with him?

A brief look at pussy’s history suggests laughing at 🙄

How many punctures did you get? I remember the ranger being a war of attrition on tyres and tubes

@andyflaw – I’ll be walking Snowden next weekend, couldn’t pursued my mate to ride it. In fairness he found the Peak District a bit full on so I can appreciate it.

What will you be riding ?

We didn’t set off until half-ten on Sunday morning, and the ascent was fine – walkers but not enough to block the rideable bits or make us feel like we were imposing. No punctures for me, thankfully.

A handful of walkers on the way down Ranger’s Path but again – no problem.

Biggest disappointment of the day? The two tools on DH rigs with full-face helmets trying to ride down the steps from the summit cafe through the thick crowd of kids, walkers and tourists. Less than two minutes walking would have got them free and clear but no – had to start from the very top and risk hurting people, not to mention the voluntary ban becoming official. Cheers lads.

shall we all laugh at pussywillow for the most retarded post of the day?

Piss-take : fail.

@jambalaya – I’ll be on a green zesty mate. Might be a bit full on for us lot too but we’re giving it a bash anyway. Most of us have only ridden trail centres so far but making the effort to try some proper rides. What’s the worst that can happen? 😕

binners – Member

How many punctures did you get? I remember the ranger being a war of attrition on tyres and tubes

Although some of us didn’t get any….

The memory of your running commentary on that ‘ride’ will never leave me 😉

It was a bit sweary, wasn’t it? 😀

@timnwild – that’s good to know, thanks. We will probably set off around 10:30 so hopefully shouldn’t be too bad for us either. I take it it’s easy to miss the turn off for Llanberris then. Is it well signposted?

There’s a group of us heading up this Saturday to do the Rangers followed by telegraph (?) track back to Llanberis.

I’ve only ever done the bridleway down to Llanberis, is it easy to spot where the Rangers track comes off this? I can’t recall having seen it (or a signpost for it) in the past.

no it isn’t – one weathered wooden post that I completely missed, and that those of our crew who did eventually find only did by re-checking GPS and going back 500 yards.

binners – Member

It was a bit sweary, wasn’t it?

Malcolm Tucker on a mountain.

It’s not THAT hard to spot the turn off for Telegraph Valley, if you know what you’re looking for! There’s no path as such, just a wee weathered post on the right after the path levels out at the bottom of the Rangers. Just keep an eye out!

I’m happy to say that Snowdon Rangers path is the most technical but still rideable trail I’ve ridden. The biggest drop in the Mordor section defeated me, but the rest I really enjoyed.

I guess when one is just a normal trail hacker, these sections that are too easy for the riding gods are good enough for us, no?

I did Rangers with a pal back in February. Great fun, great day out, loved it. Want to go back.

Rangers slayed me, was on my own with about 30 mins of light so walked a lot of it!

Best way to spot the bridleway is it’s after the small dip/steam crossing with a gate immediately after, don’t forget it’s the second post.

Those of you looking to come to Llanberis on Saturday (27.10.12), be warned that it is the Snowdonia Marathon, going from Nant Peris to Penypass, to Beddgelert, to Waunfawr and back to Llanberis over the mountain.

There will be road closures around the route during the day, and Llanberis itself will be heaving, and as for carparking – you’ll need to be early! Also be warned that the local authority parking enforcement officers have a nasty habit of coming to Llanberis on days like this, and enforce parking time limits most diligently!!!

Snowdon itself will be fine, just the area around it quite busy on Saturday.
Have a nice ride!!!

a group of us rode the ranger for the first time on Sunday, great trail, even better in stunning weather. look out for the turning up the grassy bank just after a gate to head back towards llanberis. a couple of locals warned us that the telegraph trail is also known as snakebite alley, they were right.
we had no probs with walkers, just slowed down when we approached any, most were actually encouraging

The next time I ride the ranger’s path it will definitely be in flats. Some parts of the trail are properly mental and if you lose momentum / have to stop then it is really difficult to get started and clip in.

As for the turn off its pretty simple, as the ranger’s flattens out you pass through a gate and about 10 yards in front of you is a wooden sign pointing to llanberis. It’s not really a path as such but a sloppy mess. Oh and telegraph valley is awesome

I got cheered on by a group of walkers last time I came down Rangers. Felt very strange.

Just watch out for the drains on the track in telegraph valley, but the view was worth it 🙂

[/url] Untitled[/url] by bushmills77[/url], on Flickr[/img]

“telegraph trail is also known as snakebite alley”
I thought I’d staved off the worst of my botched takeoffs on the slates, then got to the last rock cobbled bit (around a LH corner?) with a few too many drainage bars in quick succession for my tired arms/legs. cue puncture

I remember Binners walking and swearing. Certainly no punctures. And a dangly rear mech, but that was mind.

As above, the turn for Telegraph Valley is not long after the gate. There is a footpath leading up from near the gate and not far round the corner is your grassy climb.

We had four punctures on the Rangers and one on Telegraph, all the same heavy handed **** 🙂 this man wrecked a Giant Reign in 12 months and snapped a chainstay on a two week old Kona Coilair (not all on that ride, although he did snap the linkage on the Reign at the top of Hellvylen and still beat us all down..).

We went on Apr 1st in stunning sunshine and found nothing but friendly walkers but we are courteous 🙂

We did this on 1st October this year and I was anticipating day full of snakebites, not a single puncture between the 3 of us. We stayed at the Ranger YHA so started and finished there, this has the benefit of maximising the singletrack and finishing on fun down bit.

There are two tracks to the top of the Telegraph one at SH5729 5528 which is the bridleway and one at SH5747 5533 which is marked as a footpath. Both have marker posts.

Your best bet is not to start at Llanberis, but start at Reanger Station. Go up the zig zags and look out for the left turn to go down Telegraph Valley. Its easier to spot if your ascending. Then descend to llaberis and climb you to the summit then go down Ranger. This has the benefit of not having to worry about missing the telegraph turn on the way down, but you also get to ride the EXCELLENT zig zags right down to Ranger Station. You miss these if you park in Llanberis.

Great day out and plus 1 for flats.

Wat Lowey said^^^ also if you enjoy Snowdon go do Ben lomond its like snowdon on seroids absolutely brilliant g

Did rangers yesterday. Brilliant day out. Lots of pushing on the way up Llanberris. Thought it would be more rideable. Great views and what a descent! So glad it was dry.. Would have struggled in the wet.

So for the uninitiated; do you go up and come down both on the same route?

Not me but a crash in our group on the section between the rocky hairpins and the turn for Telegraph Valley.

And I agree about the turn for Telegraph Valley not being too difficult – it’s right next to a gate you have to stop at. If you check a map it’s pretty obvious. Perhaps people should realise that it’s yer actual mountain NOT a trail centre? 😛

One of my favourites, took about an hour and 40 minutes to get up but we didn’t hang about so probably aloow 2 – 2 1/2 for the up… top is walways busy which I hate so just top out and move on… Ranger Path is basically pretty ok with 3 sections of prolonged rock drops. Momentum is key to clearing them but bare in mind you are on a mountain which is effected by very rapid changes in weather so not a place to get stuck…. and they are very tough sections that are beyond 90% of people I have ridden with… enjoy but sensible, they will still be there to test your metal against next year etc.

As mentioned Telegraph is on the right by the post… a truely horrible push up but the down is an out and out speed blat with big leaps off the drains…. tubeless rules here.

Enjoy

Mbnut – pretty much what I found yesterday.
Took us about 2 hours 30 up with plenty of messing about. Only saw about 3 walkers down rangers which was good, i thought for a sunny sat afternoon.
A bit of confidence and momentum go a long way on the main descent but it’s so much fun if you have a bit of bottle. No problems spotting the sign to telegraph either.

Interesting reading the updates. We walked up Saturday morning, a stunning day if a little bitter on the top. Definitely on my riding to do list.

@andyflaw as a walker you wouldnt pick Rangers as there are much more interesting alternatives or Llanberis/train if you don’t want something challenging. Hence relatively quiet which is handy for the bikers.

@andyflaw as a walker you wouldnt pick Rangers as there are much more interesting alternatives or Llanberis/train if you don’t want something challenging. Hence relatively quiet which is handy for the bikers.

On the morning we rode Snowdon in April there were dozens of walkers on the Rangers path and all clustered on the most technical section. No problems and no conflict – in fact too many people just wanted a chat! – but just surprised at how busy it was.