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So, Im thinking of riding up Mt Snowdon this evening, and I know the ban says no riding before 6. Does this include riding to the top? I think if i set of at 6, it will be dark by the time i finish, so just want to check what the deal is?
The ban kicks in at 5
...and includes all riding. 👍
We did Snowdon on the weekend - started at 6am - we were back off the hill by 9.25 and we had to stop for about 15-20 mins to let a marathon with 800 people come up telegraph valley (didn’t anticipate that!).
Without that I think we have done it in about 3 hours - starting at the car park in Llanberis and going up that path and coming down the Ranger.
The top was surprisingly busy with walkers when we got there about 8.50 but on the way up we didn’t hold anyone up / get held up by anyone.
The first bit of the climb is on a tarmac road which took about 15 mins ish I would say. So you could get going a bit early and hit the actual voluntary bike ban area bang on 6 and be at the top by 7.30-7.40 ish. I reckon you could then get down before it gets dark, but I’d take lights just in case.
Not sure if anyone would tell you off or not if you were on the actual mountain early - most people were just stunned we’d biked up / down it given they’d found it quite a tough hike in all their gear and with 2 walking poles each lol.
Few tuts right at the top for no apparent reason - we were outside the curfew and were really courteous to everyone we met. I stopped to let people past in narrow bits and did my best to enhance the reputation of mtb-ers.
Just checked times - it’s actually 10-5 you can’t cycle. So you can crack on an hour earlier - you should be off well before it’s dark!
If it's too dark to ride down already, and we're only 4 weeks beyond the solstice, it's a long ban through the year!
As above, you can ride from 5pm, and if you're going early, you have to be off the Rangers (ie at the junction with the push up to Telegraph Alley) by 10am.
If you're still pressed for time, and not too fussed about pedalling, you could push up the Llanberis path to arrive at the summit a bit earlier. Obviously you'll be pushing some bits you would normally ride, so it'll be a bit slower, but not all that much.
The voluntary restriction is for cycling, not bikes full stop.
Thanks, Ill set off at 5 then!
Have a good ride; such good memories of doing that on my hardtail a few years back. Would love to go back and have another go, will make sure it stays on my list of trips to do with the kids when they are slightly older.
Nobeerinthefridge - Luckily the ban is only 1st May - end Sep
It’s always busy. I went up one New Years Day at 5.00 A.M. and met walkers on the way down who thankfully cleared the path and cheered me on. Quietest run I ever got on it. Have fun better evening than I’ve got planned.
If it's voluntary, presumably you could just ignore it anyway?
More sort of guidance than an instruction?
If it’s voluntary, presumably you could just ignore it anyway?
More sort of guidance than an instruction?
Please don’t listen to this advice.
Wait til 5, and still be courteous, otherwise the risk of losing all access will increase.
Yeah **** the ban...
How about leaving some bananas up there as well that'll show them we can't be controlled
If it’s voluntary, presumably you could just ignore it anyway?
More sort of guidance than an instruction?
If you can't get up and down Snowdon between 5 and darkness you've got to be a pretty crap rider, tbh. No need to flout the ban if you're even vaguely competent.
If it’s voluntary, presumably you could just ignore it anyway?
No. And if you do you are a monumentally selfish cock.
If it’s voluntary, presumably you could just ignore it anyway?
More sort of guidance than an instruction?
Completely agree
And when it gets a full tco with gates every 100 yards we can then all jump with joy
do not ignore the ban.
End of discussion.
If people flout the voluntary restrictions, the likely result will be a total ban...
Don't break the agreement. IIRC it was proposed by 'us' in the face of an imminent total ban about 15-16 years ago(?) It would be doubly stupid to break the agreement at a busy time as you will also have a rubbish ride, stopping/slowing every 50m or so for walkers - whilst increasing the possibility of a total ban. If you want to bag a mountain in the day in the summer do Cadair Idris.
Oh and Phil likes a troll - the usual style is to wander into a thread, drop a quick one-liner and only reappear if the troll results in bit of a barney that goes on for a page or more. Best ignored.
likely result will be a total ban…
...which you can then also ignore.
Not that I would ride it anyway in daytime hours as it would be daft and no fun for anyone.
I prefer common sense to a ban though especially on a bridleway
My personal preference if for early morning rather than evening. Best part of the day. You can also start in the dark if your later into the summer as it doesn't matter for going up the mountain.
To be clear, I’m not advocating ignoring the agreement - it just seems like odd wording. Overtly negative towards riders.
A more positive wording - ‘Bikes welcome before 10 and after 5’ for example, may help move the dial on the negative perception of some of the walking community. It just feels a little subservient to me - maybe I just have a problem with being told what I can and can’t do by self appointed arbiters though 😉
If you happened to be considering descending via the Rhydd Ddu path, allow yourself a LOT more time than you would for the Ranger or Llanberis (unless you're extremely talented).
@dannyh - I think the restrictions came in a bit before that. I was living in the area up to 1999 and I'm fairly certain they were in place then. Then again, twenty years!
@oldtennishoes - a rewording would make sense but authorities like their "Don'ts".
The video above makes Rhyd Du look very technical and in a couple of places quite unrideable if there is high wind. The ranger is technical in places but totally rideable from what I saw last weekend. Plus the Llanberis Path was really busy but barely saw anyone coming up the Ranger.
I have pushed up and ridden the last third of Rhyd Du as a bit of extra after doing the Ranger. The bit I did was I think a bit more technical than the ranger and a bit less fun but still worth doing. There was more stopping and looking for lines and then pinging your way through gnar and feeling glad to be alive at the bottom (hence the slightly less fun bit).
Iv also had a look at the path from the top on another occasion. Looked like a super exposed ridge push/carry to start which given visibility of a few yards I didn't like the look of. Not to say I wouldn't do it in good weather though.
Leave it to the walkers.
Last time I did it was the last weekend in April, and it was rammed with folk, while most were fine, I did get a couple of comments about the ban (some folk seemed to think it was all year round) and Rangers was so full of people coming up, that I didn't get more than a couple of mins riding in between having to stop and pull off the track to let them past.
There are quieter and more enjoyable hills nearby that make for a better riding experience. Snowdon is like an outdoors mall.
nickc - Subscriber
Leave it to the walkers.Last time I did it was the last weekend in April, and it was rammed with folk, while most were fine, I did get a couple of comments about the ban (some folk seemed to think it was all year round) and Rangers was so full of people coming up, that I didn’t get more than a couple of mins riding in between having to stop and pull off the track to let them past.
There are quieter and more enjoyable hills nearby that make for a better riding experience. Snowdon is like an outdoors mall.
We did it the last weekend of April as well. It was heaving on the Summit, probably a que of 50-60 people to get to the summit. The descent down Rangers was fine though, a few walkers that saw us coming, step aside and cheered us on!
Few tuts right at the top for no apparent reason
I dare say the vast majority of people on Snowdon have no idea about any voluntary agreement for MTBs or that some of the paths are bridleways. They would tut at mountain bikers anywhere.
I think the wording is more for walkers so they have less to moan about if they encounter a bike outside the ban hours / months, and can feel happy there's a "rule". Though the times & dates could be more prominent.
The volutary ban was set up with the help of NWBA or the North Wales Mountain Bike Association around the early 90s. Adrian Walls was instramental in setting it up.
This was mainly due to people from large cities who had never been up a mountain or had any respect for walkers riding flat out down the mountain.
Please stick to the agreed times, mid week evenings are the best, reach the top 30mins before dusk.
I prefer common sense to a ban though especially on a bridleway
I think we all prefer common sense. Trouble is, many folk don't have it and so that wording, and it is really only wording, is easier for those not blessed with common sense to understand.
Whatever you think about the agreement, it has worked reasonably well.
It's interesting that it's still a one-off - and personally I'd hope it stays that way.
Snowdon is a honeypot for noobs whether on 2 feet or 2 wheels. In high season I personally find it a horror show of Gortex. It does serve a marvelous purpose to keep them all in one neat spot - like a voluntary kettling. If it takes a few rules to keep them all playing nicely together and happy in their ignorance then so be it.
Interesting place stw. You can get banned for calling someone a **** but you can’t seem to get banned for advocating **** like behaviour. An STW ban for advising on a public forum the selfish disregard of a voluntary ban negotiated by our mountain biking forebears for the benefit of all would seem pretty reasonable to me.
There are soo many walkers on Snowdon, it isn’t enjoyable on a bike when its busy anyway. It isn’t really an enjoyable hike when its busy either!
Interesting place stw. You can get banned for calling someone a * but you can’t seem to get banned for advocating * like behaviour. An STW ban for advising on a public forum the selfish disregard of a voluntary ban negotiated by our mountain biking forebears
Perhaps its fee speech? Do you want to ban that too?
Interesting place stw. You can get banned for calling someone a * but you can’t seem to get banned for advocating * like behaviour. An STW ban for advising on a public forum the selfish disregard of a voluntary ban negotiated by our mountain biking forebears for the benefit of all would seem pretty reasonable to me.
Who's doing that?
What on earth makes you think we have free speech?
Both on STW and in the real world we can't abuse people for race, religion, gender, sexuality etc etc and that's a very good thing.
Back on topic abusing the voluntary agreement is just silly. And if you look at the photos of the summit queues from Easter it's not hard to see why the agreement is there.
convert Subscriber
You are you tool
I’m really not.
I think its just the term "Ban" that's getting a couple of people wound up. more accurately it's a "voluntary arrangement" or "mutual agreement". That's just semantics, its actually quite a grown up solution, if you get hung up on the terminology you've missed the point I think.
Either way it works for the majority. you can choose to ignore it with an "I'm alright Jack" attitude, but you'll have a crap time on a busy shared use path and pretty much all user groups will judge you harshly. or you can just comply with the agreement that works for most people.
why would you want to ride a mountain at those times. Even though we have full access here no one in their right mind would try and ride Ben Lomond at those times.
I considered myself a climber (rock and mountain) for thirty years and there are lots of crags with restrictions due to nesting birds. Inland it's usually Peregrine Falcons and Ravens, coastal crags it's a whole range of birds. There's a slight difference to the Snowdon Agreement in that there's legislation about disturbing nests behind the restrictions and you can be liable for big fines.
In North Wales the main restriction is on the South Stack cliffs at Gogarth near Holyhead with no climbing until the first of August (IIRC). But then why would you want to climb past hundreds of puking fulmars chicks? (if you get fulmar vomit on your clothing then basically it goes straight in the bin!)
As an aside, I wrote one of the climbing guides to the area and happened to have conversations with Iolo Williams (he from Springwatch) about which crags should and shouldn't have restrictions. It wasn't "Oh, we'll ban climbing on ..." but "There's no need for that restriction any more but there's X starting to nest on ..." so it was a fluid situation.
As @cookeaa says, why try and ride on Snowdon when the paths are teeming with walkers? It's the highest mountain in the UK south of the border and a honey pot. It's not even that pleasant walking it at the weekend and when I lived there I'd only head up mid-week or on an evening.