Climb Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)

What it's like

Yr Wyddfa, the Welsh name for Snowdon, is the highest mountain in Eryri National Park at 1,085 metres (3,560 feet). More than 600,000 people climb it every year, so on a summer day you will rarely be alone on the way up.

Busy does not mean easy. The National Park Authority rates every main path as hard and strenuous, and most people take four to seven hours there and back. The top is colder, wetter and windier than the car park, the weather can turn within minutes, and the way down is often harder on the legs than the way up.

The six main paths

The Llanberis Path is the longest and the Pyg Track the shortest. The Miners' Track starts at Pen y Pass and passes three lakes, Llyn Teyrn, Llyn Llydaw and Glaslyn, before a steep, loose second half with some scrambling; it climbs 723 metres (2,372 feet). The park suggests building up on an easier walk before you try the mountain.

What to wear and carry

• Walking boots with thick soles and high sides. The park is plain that trainers are not suitable.
• Waterproof and warm layers, because the summit is far colder than the start.
• A map and compass, and the skill to use them. Signs at path junctions are not enough to navigate by.
• Food, drink, a small first aid kit and a torch.
• A fully charged phone, kept for emergencies.

Getting there

Every path has a car park at its foot, but Llanberis, Pen y Pass, Nant Peris and Pont Bethania fill early in spring and summer. The Sherpa'r Wyddfa bus runs between the paths, which also lets you go up one path and down another.

In winter

Snow can cover the summit through the winter and turns slippery when packed down. Reaching the top in winter conditions needs crampons, an ice axe and the skills to use them, and the park publishes a daily ground conditions report in that season. For a first climb, plan for late spring to early autumn.