Just back from trying to ride down Mt Snowdon. And all I can say is OWWW. Can’t say I rode all of it, probably more than 50% but less than 75%.
I didn’t have the braked Muni yet but a sunny easter weekend was too good to miss so I packed up my UDC Max Traction and drove up to Llanberis on Friday night.
On Saturday morning the weather was fantastic, sunny with a southerly blowing from behind the mountain and down the slope with just enough haze to cut the sunshine down to managable levels. I’d chosen Mt Snowdon as there is a railway to the summit but since I had all day and the queue was already huge I decided to trek up on foot. This gave me the advantage of being able to survey the route but also meant I had to take it easy so as not to put too much work into my legs before the descent.
It took about 4 hours to reach the top complete with all the usual remarks about missing wheels etc. I just smiled and gave them the standard response of “I had to leave it at the bottom as it’s got a puncture”. Somewhere before Halfway house I had to stop and with the help of an ozzy put out a couple of small fires caused by sparks from the passing train. Odd really all these tourists were just walking past as if there was nothing wrong with the hillside going up in flames. Further on I got chatting with a guy who confidently claimed to be the seventh highest ranked street louger in the UK (apparently there are only seven).
The very top of Snowdon is right on the edge of a cliff allmost as if the original summit was much higher but the rest has fallen away. The top is an outcrop of rocks which the Victorians built a stone viewing platform and a trig point on top off (they were also responsible for the railway to the summit - highest point in England and Wales and they stick a railway up it). There are steps leading to the top of the platform and I suppose on a calm day a sufficiently suicidally inclined trials rider could pedal grab the trig point and then bunny hop down off the platform. Always assuming you could get up there early enough to get onto the platform without any tourists being there and didn’t mind risking the 400m sheer cliff on two sides. Not being quite that daft (or skilled) I started at the base of the platform and managed to ride for a full 50 metres before I had the first of many offs. Didn’t even manage to get out of sight of the viewing platform - strangely there wasn’t even one snigger, they must have still been stunned by anyone even trying to ride the slope.
Oddly enough the highest half of the mountian was easier than the lower. That could have been partly because I was less knackered but also because the fist sized rocks that the park wardens have used to build the path up the mountain are more worn and broken up near the top.
From Summit to Blwlch Glas (600m) the path skirts the edge of the cliff. Although the path is wide, riding takes care and a lot of cooperation by the tourists. At Blwch Gals the path breaks away from the edge and gets wider. It’s at this point that the local mountain bikers usually start their descent. The route then curves gently round the back of Crib y Ddysgl for 900m with a drop of 120m before dog legging to the left to head straight down to Clogwyn station bridge a distance of 400m with a drop of 110m. The going on this section is steep and technical but relatively good. The mountain bikers have helped to throw the worst rocks to the side with thier passage and there are some fairly clean lines that a muni can use. With brakes to assist control this section could feasibly ridden in one line. As it was, between lactic build-up in my legs and tourists with startled bunny syndrome I had 4 or 5 offs.
The first 600m section below Clogwyn station bridge is still steep, dropping a further 120m but the path starts to change. The underlying rock starts to thrust up with edge on flint structures that promise to snap your legs if you land wrong. There were a few drops and rocky sections that I decided weren’t worth the risk and so walked round.
The next 1km to Halfway House drops 100m but compared to the earlier sections seemed flat by comparison. This section and the 2.5km section beyond are pretty much similar. Large fist sized rocks all over the path make finding a clean ridable route of any length very difficult. Combined with natural rock outcrops and long slate anti-erosion steps it was a judgement call as to which small sections were worth mounting up for and which I should just walk round. With time, patience, and a lot more skill and fittness than I presently have, this stretch could be ridden. Maybe not in one go, but it could be done in a number of sections. I lost count of the offs in this section but they ran the full gammut from the running off, through sliding to backside and all the way up to the superman full length dive (last one curtousy of a tourist with full on startled rabbit syndrome)
That then just left the tarmac section from Cader Ellyll back down to Llanberis. 800m of good tarmac dropping 110m this section cried out to be riden at the glide. Unfortunately with a Gazz tyre on the muni and my current inability to glide it had to resort to the traditional hard slog of back pedal braking - nothing technical just hard work.
So to sum up - what will I try to do differently next time?
- Start early so as to reach the summit at first light. The path is so obvious you’d have to really try hard to get lost on the way up. Getting there early means less tourists to cope with as they don’t start their way up until after 9am.
- Take a braked Muni. I had to stop a lot to give my legs a break. And near the end I was walking round a lot of sections that I was capable of riding but was just to tired to try.
Now then - own up - which other UK Muni riders have tried Snowdon? I know that there is at least one other who’s done it and I’d be surprised if there weren’t more. Spill the beans, has anyone managed the whole route yet?