Pete's Eats - The well known walker's and climber's caff in Llanberis.

Weather Links

MWIS. Weather forecast for Snowdonia.

Met Office. 5 day mountain forecast.

Snowdonia Snowline - Daily record of the Carneddau Snowline.

Metcheck weather - Longer range forecasts.

Advertise your Snowdonia Business here! Email for info.

Accuweather

Snowdon Weather Station Project. Weather data and Webcams of Elidir Fawr and Moel Eilio.

Snowdon Sherpa Bus Timetables

Welsh Highland Railway.

Travelline Wales.

theTrainline - Timetables and online booking

The Welsh 3000s - website just about the 14 peaks.

The BMC - British Mountaineering Council.

The Mountain Bothy Association - yes, there are bothies in Eryri...

TAC - The Angry Corrie Scottish hillwalking fanzine, read it free.

Eryri - Snowdonia National Park.

Oggy Cam . Ogwen Mountain Rescue and a Ogwen Valley webcam.

BBC North West Wales.

Graham's Wales Photos. Loads of excellent pics on Eryri in here.

North Wales Photographs Beautiful photos of North Wales by Simon Kitchin.

Cambrian Mountains National Park A 'Should-Be' fourth welsh national park.

Snowdonia Society Charity which looks after the interests onf the National Park.

eryriway.org.uk Sister site to walkeryri, emphasising long distance trails.

Snowdon via Ranger Path.
Distance and Ascent 13.5km, 1000m ascent OS Map Required OS Explorer 17 Landranger 150 Time 5 hours. Difficulties Straightforward track all the way. Start Location Snowdon Ranger. End Location As start or Llanberis. Grading Hard Facilities Hostel, parking WC. More facilities in Llanberis. Public Transport Sherpa buses every few hours. Welsh Highland Railway stops here. GPS Files

It’s strange that i’ve walked this path up Yr Wyddfa more than any other, but never from the start. So an after work walk seemed the ideal opportunity to clear this up. Initially i was going to climb Moel Cynghorion only, but once i’d been damn well fleeced for the taxi fare (i’ll ask for a price next time!) i decided that i’d try and get my money’s worth.

The route starts to the side of the Youth Hostel, up  track and along the railway before crossing it. Follow this track uphill to a farmhouse, then take the signposted path right. Now the path zig-zags endlessly, or at least till the skyline is reached and you are rewarded with the view of Yr Wyddfa. It was at this point, i decided i was definately going for the top regardless of how much daylight i had remaining. The Llanberis path would be a doddle with a head torch anyway.

The path after the zig-zags crosses a reasonably flat area as you contour past Moel Cyghorion. The path is a little eroded in places and beware the drainage pipes crossing the path as i kept slipping on these. It’s easy going until you reach the col of Bwlch Cwm Brwynog and the climb starts in earnest along even more zig zags.

The path follows a blunt ridge that has Clogwyn Du’r Arddu to one side and a gentler slope that the path climbs. It is steep, but gets you up quickly. I was accompanied by a helicopter flying back and forth, transporting material to the new summit cafe, or Hafod Eryri as they call it.

The path eventually relents, and the railway and other paths come into view up ahead – you know you’re finally on the home stretch. Just as the railway is reached, i had to start jogging as the helicopter wanted to land there. That warmed me up a bit as it was cloudy on top and very cold, it wasn’t August up here. Despite that, there were loads of people up here, but i had the summit almost to myself.

There really isn't much to say about the descent. It would have been spectacular if the clouds weren't obscuring the sunset. So, by half way down, it was pretty dark and i needed a head torch for the final section. Great way to get used to walking in the dark.

General Links

Snowdonia attractions Several great reviews about some of Snowdonia's better known attractions. 

English-welsh dictionary Links and resources to help you translate that welsh word into English.

Walking shoes - Another site that I found that sells walking shoes online.

Merrell Walking Shoes from fitnessfootwear.com, decent little site i found for Merrell walking shoes.

Whalley Warm and Dry - paramo stockists, great service and range.

V-G Walking and Backpacking. Inspirational website detailing one to three (and more) day walks around the UK.

Trekking Britain. Route descriptions & experience as opposed to guide book.

OutdoorsMagic - Forum based website, lots of information on here.

Phil George - Mountain Leader Training in Llanberis.

Peak and Fell Walking - A photographic guide to walking in Britain's National Parks.

Wild Tramp.co.uk - New site on walking in the UK. Looks promising.

Tracklogs IMHO the best mapping for PC.

MemoryMap Still good, but route handling clumsier.

Viewranger mapping for smartphones.

Fugawi and Anquet are also popular.

Quo The new kid on the block.

Open Street Map - Open source mapping as featured on this site.

Multimap - Free online mapping.

Get a Map - Free online mapping from the OS

Access Land in Wales - online mapping from CCW.