Snowdon, Yesterday Morning

This was a last-minute jaunt out to do a classic ride that we’ve been meaning to tick off the list for ages, and it was well worth the effort. We set off up the Llanberis path at 6.30am after stupid early starts or overnight stays nearby. The route up was about 60% rideable, I reckon, and we managed it in 2h15 without killing ourselves. It was spectacular on the top, with broken clouds blowing over a summit coated in deep frost, looking down on an inversion on one side and clear hills on the other. We rode (mostly) down the Ranger path and in spite of two punctures in Telegraph valley we still got back down just after 10am and were home early for bonus brownie points.

The Ranger is a fearsome bit of track for mere mortals like me; I have now upgraded my attitude to those who can ride it all from ‘respect’ to ‘grovelling obeisance’. I’m happy to acknowledge that I’m not a brilliant technical rider, but I am quite happy battering down most stuff in the Peaks – this was the first time I’ve ever really thought “Hmm, maybe I should get some body armour…” Fantastic fun, though, in an awe-inspiring setting. It truly was one of those days that reminds you why you ride your bike.

Nice video. Cheered me right up after a 12 hour shift. Only 15 mins to go.

Beautiful.

That was brillaint! What time did you set off?

Nice vid thanks for sharing…

Oops just seen you started off at 6.30!

Absolutely fabulous. Really nicely shot – great light. Looks like a great climb and an even better descent. Thanks for letting us see this.

Thanks.

Its my absolute favourite UK ride. Really tough on the arms and legs coming down but looking to try it again soon as I’m much fitter now than i was at the end of Jan when I last did it.

P.s great vid btw. If you haven’t tried the llanberis descent then give that a go. A little less technical but much more flow and speed make it a massive amount of fun!

Great stuff. I did it Friday morning. Dead empty on the way up and only a few “are you nuts” on the way down. Brilliant start to what has been an ace weekend. A few pics:

Cheers all! Nice pics Saxabar. It must have been your High Roller tracks that I spotted on the way up. 😀

I think the early start was critical, apparently the weather turned nasty in the afternoon so we were really lucky; it also meant that the light was lovely at 9ish when we were coming down. And there were very few walkers coming up… 🙂

I can see how it could be a favourite ride, but I think I need to practice my smashing-over-massive-rocks skills before I can really make the most of it.

Out of interest, has anyone ridden down the Rhyd Ddu path? The ridge descent on that looked very appealing indeed from a distance.

Great video. Riding/walking up Snowdon in time to watch sunrise from the summit and then hammering down again has been on my to do list for a long while.

Great video & tune. On the to do list for sure! Well worth a bump! Thanks for posting 😀

Wow, looks great. Never really thought about doing it until I’ve just watched your vid, it’s now on my must ride list.

Though judging from your vid, may be a good idea waiting till I own a full sus!

I’m off there in the morning, looking forward to this 🙂

Whats the consensus on best (easiest/quickest) ascent and the best (fun + technical madness) descent?

Going to give this a go in the next couple of months I think…

Take it all the descents finish at Llanberis?

We did Snowdon in March, our weather left a bit to be desired but it was still awesome! I’m not really a fan of techy rocky stuff but really enjoyed it and rode the majority of it. Surprisingly all 3 of us made it down with no pinch flats. At work at the minute so can’t get onto YouTube so i’ll have a watch when i get home!

may be a good idea waiting till I own a full sus!

Nah, if you get chance you should go for it! The two guys I did it with were on a Soul and a 456 respectively and they had fun pretty much all the way down (bar punctures). I was on my Canyon FS, but there were only a few bits where it helped much. The really rough stuff is properly mental and requires balls of steel more than big travel – but it’s only maybe 5% of the downhill, if that. The rest of it would be great fun on almost anything.

Well thats good to hear, I ride a Soul so will have to try and convince the ridding buds!

Take it all the descents finish at Llanberis?

The Ranger goes down to the Snowdon Ranger station, but you can turn off to drop back down Telegraph valley to Llanberis which is what we did.

The Rhyd Ddu drops to the village of the same name, that’s on the opposite side of the mountain.

Whats the consensus on best (easiest/quickest) ascent and the best (fun + technical madness) descent?

The consensus seems to be Llanberis up and Ranger/Telegraph down as the best value-for-money-and-time, which is why we did this route. Going down straight to Llanberis looks like it would be excellent fun though, and all rideable by a lightweight mincer sensible person with a family to worry about (like me), unlike the Ranger…

Very nice little vid. Looks like you had cracking weather as well, if not abit bbrrrrrrrr.
Must have an attempt at this , but are we not into voluntry ban time now?

Start of may is ban time

are we not into voluntry ban time now?

Nope, it doesn’t kick in until May 1st. Having said that, we got down at 10.15-ish, and the ban is between 10am and 5pm. And it doesn’t cover the Telegraph valley BW, so we would have been well clear of the restricted area even if we’d done it after the ban started, punctures included. We didn’t kill ourselves rushing to get round, so it’s definitely possible to do the ride even when the ban is active if you get up early enough. 🙂

absolutely fantastic video, loved it. Beautiful weather too

Up the Llanberis path is definately the fastest route to the summit unless you own a Vitara.

And it is a wonderful descent too. The times I’ve done it the walkers have been great company/ well impressed. It’s a hill, we all like being in the hills etc.

But woe betide anyone who finishes after 10:00Am according to one rather beligerant guy last year.

We went up the Llanberis path and down Rangers/Telegraph. The last bit of that Telegraph bridleway is awesome, so fast but you just need to make sure you hop over the water bars! I actually enjoyed the climb up to the top, rode most of it. I found the hardest bit was the steep road bit at the start.

I did it on my fs and felt like I benefited on the rockier bits (going up as well as down) but my mates did it on hardtails fine, admittedly a lot slower but they’re fairly new to riding so more rider than bike I think.

Fantastic, put that on the todo list. Thanks for sharing

The last bit of that Telegraph bridleway is awesome, so fast but you just need to make sure you hop over the water bars!

Yeah, that’s where we had our punctures. You need to watch out for the sheep too, they’re suicidally daft.

You’re not wrong about that bit of tarmac at the start, it’s not exactly a gentle warm up. The bit just before and after the Cloggy railway bridge is very steep too, and we were saving ourselves for the down. That’s my excuse anyway. 😉

Cool vid. Nice one.

The bit just before and after the Cloggy railway bridge is very steep too

Has anyone here actually ridden those two sections? Definitely beyond my stamina levels!

Nice video! 😀

Excellent video – one of my fave riding spots ! Doing it this week too!

Puts the trail centres to shame !

paul

Has anyone here actually ridden those two sections?

I’d be amazed if anyone has, I think you’d need the lungs and legs of Andy Schleck and the skills of a Danny MacAskill. It makes Jacob’s Ladder in Edale look like an escalator ride…

Inspiring stuff, I’m there on the 28th, can’t wait! 🙂

Has anyone here actually ridden those two sections? Definitely beyond my stamina levels!

Nope! I gave them a go but I found the bit before the bridge was too “steppy” and after got far too steep!

Great little vid that. Was up there yesterday, coming down at about 4.30 was nice and quiet on Rangers… done it quite a few times but yesterday (at about 2m40ish on your vid) my rear mech caught something and snapped off, gears into the wheel/frame and bike launching me over the bars and onto my face. Bust thumb and nose and a rib judging by my breathing today, had to do the rest chainless which was a right pain.

Up until that point it were a cracking day with not a cloud in the sky. Great ride, will be back in October.

planned to do it a couple of weeks ago, but that made up fuel strike meant my riding mates couldnt make it 🙁

i am very envious!!!!!!

This was the weather we had. Not bad on the way up but as soon as we got to the steps approaching the summit we were in clouds/fog and I lost feeling in my hands and feet! I was just amazed we got a whole week in Wales without any rain 😆

done it quite a few times but yesterday (at about 2m40ish on your vid) my rear mech caught something and snapped off, gears into the wheel/frame and bike launching me over the bars and onto my face. Bust thumb and nose and a rib judging by my breathing today, had to do the rest chainless which was a right pain.

Ouch! This is why you can see us carrying our bikes down the worst bit in the vid. I’d have been in proper trouble at home if we’d come home all beaten up. I actually walloped my mech hard at one point and it’s got some nice scars on it now, but it carried on shifting faultlessly, quite impressed with that.

Doing it chainless would be difficult – even though it’s steep I found I needed to pedal quite a bit to keep momentum up over all the loose stuff and big rocks. I hope your injuries mend quickly.

Aye, never had to try and ride chainless before, having no resistance to balance against was interesting.

To be fair i reckon thats one of the roughest I’ve seen it this weekend, with the snow and frost everything seemed very loose and conditions seemed a lot more tricky than usual.