5 Tips for Mountain Walking in Snowdonia

Last weekend it was the early May bank holiday in the UK, so a few friends decided to head up to Snowdonia National Park for a 2 days 1 night trip. The main aim of the trip was to hike up the Snowdon mountain itself. For those of you who are not familiar with Snowdonia, it is actually on of the highest mountain in Wales with 1,085m above sea level. Here are my 5 tips for mountain walking in Snowdon. 

1. Check time of visit. First and foremost, plan at what time of the year do you plan to come here. It is better to visit during between April to September; though I would suggest during the summer months. Also, ensure you have enough time to climb up and come back down before dark. The Llanberis path takes about 6 hours return trip. Plan your time!

2. Check the weather. Make sure you check the weather before you come here and ensure that the forecast only says sunny. Even if there's a chance of rain during the day; you will not see the beautiful view at the summit as it will be covered with fog. Besides that, it will be very cold at the summit as well as wet and slippery. When I went there, it was forecast to rain at 3pm; but the rain started at 12 noon and continued till 2-3pm. So it was very foggy, wet and cold on our way up. But the weather cleared on our way down.

It started to fog around 11.30am

It got worst as we went higher up the mountain with limited visibility

It was so cold and wet towards the top

15 minutes away from the summit

At the summit. It was so cold and wet that we only stayed here not more than 10 minutes before making our way down 

 3. Wear appropriate clothing. Take a rain coat if the weather forecast says it's going to rain and proper walking shoes although you can get away with running shoes during sunny weather. If you cannot stand the cold, bring a glove just in case it gets a bit cold at the summit.

Uneven path along the walk

4. Bring some snacks and drink. There are cafes in the middle and on top of the summit, but bring your own snacks and water to consume along the way and in case you get hungry and you have not reach the cafes. Besides that, the cafe at the summit might be close (as it was the case when I went there). 

5. Take the train. If you don't fancy walking up to the summit, you can get to the summit by taking the Snowdon Mountain Railway, But the operation of the train depends on weather, If the weather is bad, it won't go up all the way to the top. You can also take the train up and walk down or vice versa. The choice is yours.

You can the train from here if you don't fancy walking up and down for 6 hours

The Mountain Railway

 Disclaimer: This is solely based on my personal experience walking up the Llanberis path, which is categorize as hard walking path of 14.5km return trip.

Other photos:

Details of the walk at the entrance of Llanberis path

Signboard to Llanberis path

Beautiful view on our way up

The view on our way down as the weather cleared a bit