Thanx for the write-up Ed, I’ve been sitting here all morning hoping to hear how it went.
well i had to disappear coz was getting to late for getting bk and then to luton.
But i can’t walk this morning, but next time, and there will be a next time 
i’m gonna be sure to have the right gear 
Thats 2 years and twice up Snowdon, you would have thought i’d have learned by now! Excellent ride, cool people, very cold at the top and nice at the bottem (thats mountains for ya).
The best bit had to be the ride from the top blasting down the railtrack covered in deep snow head long into a blizzard. Must have made a strange site for any walkers going up at the time!
Uploaded pics here (resized by 50% to same on upload time). For some reason the pics are in the reverse order!
If anyone would like a full size pic just ask.
It was indeed a superb ride. The weather was much better than forecast, with the blizzard only affecting the top, and actually clearing up by the time we were on the way back down. The bit along the cliff edge after the railway bridge was pretty scarey on the way up in the blizzard but coming back down was much better - I don’t think we lost anybody.
Thanks for putting those pics up Edd. Phil and Rich took loads between them, so there should be a few more posted soon.
The ride we (Phil, Joe M, Liam [DomesticatedApe] and I) did on Saturday was also excellent. It was a newish trail near Betws-y-coed, near the Marin trail (Phil will know the details) and had some of the best singletrack I’ve ever ridden - and superb scenery. Pretty knackered by the end though.
Rob
It was good wasn’t it.
I got to Betws-y-Coed friday night, and bivvied out in the woods near the Marin trail. This was a bit cold, and all the weather in Wales fell on me, even under cover, I had hail, wind, rain, snow and sleet. It was jolly cold too, and so humid that my lighter wouldn’t even light. It wasn’t the comfiest nights sleep I’ve ever had!
So I got up pretty early and rode the Marin trail which was 25km of flowing singletrack and fire road ascents, with amazing views over Snowdonia. Then off into Betws for a healthy brunch of cake, strawberry jam tart, a fried egg sandwich and some jam and toast.
Then I bumbled around Betws a bit and saw the river and the rapids and stuff, and lots of rain and hail, and went to a pub for a bit, until Phil, Liam and Rob turned up. We drove up to Penmachno, in order to ride a trail there. This was more fantastic singletrack, another 21km I believe, and was really really very good, lots of big climbs for the first five or so miles, then the last half was loads of slightly descending fast stuff along the edge of a big hill. The wooded sections were amazingly atmospheric, as it was really humid and mist was drifting through the trees. There were loads of really cool sections, stream crossings, surprisingly high and off camber bridges over rivers, tight turns on the edge of cliffs, steep rocky switchbacks, all combined with amazing views over the mountains and a really remote feel. As everyone else was fresh, we rode pretty fast, leading to a few comedy incidents, including Rob doing an involuntary splits on the side of the trail and Liam jumping off the trail down a very steep shale slope. By the end, I was pretty much ready to go to sleep, despite the liquid sugar I’d been drinking all through the riding.
By the time we’d finished there and packed up, it was 8.30, so we headed into Llanberis to hostels and b+bs, and tidied ourselves up before heading out in search of food, which we just managed to get just before the last food place closed, phew. Then to the pub, for a couple of drinks, and to bed pretty early, like 11ish.
Next day, up Snowdon, lovely weather till near the top, when suddenly hail and snow started, so hard you couldn’t really see. This section was snow covered, and pretty scary walking up in skate shoes, next to a massive cliff edge, on snow and ice. At the summit, the wind was so strong it almost blew us off, so we headed down quickly. Unlike some (maybe more sensible) people, in our group we stuck to the proper path, rather than the railway line. It was fantastic riding, with some comedy dismounts into snowdrifts, and loads of bits where we were riding over rocky slopes that were actually much easier in the snow. The last section of snow was a fantastic buzz, the path is relatively narrow, next to a cliff, and off camber towards the cliff, oh and covered in slightly icy snow. I had a real woooah moment half way down, when my wheel hit a rock and turned 90 degrees towards the cliff, but fortunately managed to keep it in control, as losing it down the cliff would have been seriously unhealthy. Then suddenly into the sunshine, and down the rest of the track, which was super rocky and super fun.
Then off to Pete’s Eats in Llanberis where I had a giant omelette, and home. What a good weekend.
Joe
What a lovely day! Big thanks to Carl for organising it.
Highlights: Riding in the snow up at the top and taking big over the top bails without fear of hurting yourself.
Bacon butty drom Pete’s Eats.
Meeting some funky new people.
The scenery.
It was really cold on the top…I mean really cold! My camelbak tube froze up and the hydraulic fluid in some people’s brakes did too.
Pretty stiff today as you might expect but still on a bit of a high from it. Probably the best Muni ride I’ve been on. Certainly the most challenging.
Any idea how much money was raised?
About £2000 I think Carl said.
If anyone wants to host thier pics on my website for free, feel free to ask - I’m gonna set up a photo gallery system, it’s be good to get some content
hey!
hows everyones legs this mornin? mine feel like they could snap off! Big thanks to carl for organising such a brilliant ride! There was lots of talk about making the snowdon ride an annual thing! Anyone else up for that? Iv looked at some of the pictures and they look great! Does anyone know who the guy with the videocam was an what he is going to do with the footage? One of my pictures caught kit catching some air, i didn’t notice when i took it! see you at BUC?
ride on!
Edd
It was a very cool weekend!
The ride on the Penmachno trail was by far the hardest and best ride I’ve ever done, and then the Snowdon ride was just as good if not better!
I was worried the weather might spoil the weekend, but in the end the best bits of riding were when it was hailing and snowing!
I’ve posted my pics in the gallery here, for some reason my computer won’t let me view everyone elses at the moment.
I had two great rides and met some cool people, what a great way to way to spend a weekend!
That was an awesome weekend. The highlights for me…
-
The Penmachno trail is great! It only opened late last year but it’s straight up there with the best of the Welsh man-made trails. Loads of really nice singletrack and a fantastic feeling of being out in the wilderness.
-
Returning home uninjured! Last time I was utterly battered; the mountain definitely won that round. This time all I came back with was a minor scratch below my knee. This conclusively proves that the human face is not a preferred braking method.
-
The weather as we came down from the summit of Snowdon was spectacular, probably the most amazing weather conditions I have seen. At the top the weather was very harsh, with strong winds driving the hail hard, but on the way down when the cloud parted just enough to see the colourful landscape below it was incredible. It was like a window into another world, winter on one side and summer on the other.
I think that’s the most photos I have ever taken on a single weekend; I took over 190 in total! The better ones are available for public perusal in my bit of the gallery.
Phil
I don’t mean to be picky…scratch that, I mean to be picky.
Is it possible to add some names to some of the pics?
It would be nice to be able to put some faces to names we’ve seen post in this thread.
Ask and ye shall get accused of wanting the moon on a stick.
I’ve gone through putting descriptions on most of mine, although it is the same four or five who appear in pretty much all of them.
Today I shall be mostly sitting still, as my legs ache…
Phil
You da man.
Only it’s not coming up. It still shows the pics with inspirational titles like DC0083942
Edit: Oh, wait. You have to click on the thumbnail to see the description.
As you were.
Ye of little faith. I did try changing the titles but it reorders the photos which is evil. Of course it was only after I’d been through the whole lot that I discovered the “summary” bit which does put the caption on the main page. Bah.
Phil
Hey everyone, thanks for an awesome weekend! I don’t have much to add to what’s been already said, it really was as good as it sounds.
Now that the rigormortis in my legs has subsided and I’ve managed to make it to a computer, I do have a couple of observations:
Shorts are NOT a good idea for going up Snowdon in a hailstorm with -15 windchill.
Like Edd said, we should make this an annual thing. If we all helped out it would be easy to organise and we could raise tons of money for charity every year.
And thanks to Carl for orgainising it all!
Matt
Yours has subsided? I can still barely walk!
How are your legs now? They looked pretty red in the pictures!
Yeah, we could make a ton of money for the charity because we would have all year to collect sponsers.
If it does happen again, im thinking of training my girlfriend to Muni, Has there been any female unicyclists to do snowdon?
Rock on!
Edd
Nice pics Phil 
Makes it look like it was really cold… oh actually perhaps it was quite nippy 
Rob