The September 2025 issue of Country Walking magazine featured an article called ‘Britain’s Best Hills’, and in the 1000m+ category, Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) was chosen. This is part of what they wrote:
“If there’s one mountain in the entire world that can claim to be all things to all people, then Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) is the one. If you’re not keen on heights and like a well-formed path, there’s a track for you. If you’re after a bit of fun and adventure, this is also the place for you. If you’re a seasoned mountaineer and want to push the limits of your technical prowess and bravery, then once again, Yr Wyddfa has what you’re after.”
A couple of years prior to this, the magazine featured an impressive 16-page article on Yr Wyddfa, which they called “the perfect mountain”, for similar reasons to those expressed above. I could quote a great many lines from it, but a couple of pertinent ones spring to mind:
“There are many hills that are good at a few things, [but] few that are good at all of them. None has the consummate crowd-pleasing ability of Snowdon.”
“Some mountains have popular routes. Some offer peace and quiet. Amazingly, Snowdon is able to offer both in the same package – and it’s this infinite variety that helps to make it the perfect mountain.”
However, although there might be something for everyone – including even wheelchair access on the first two miles of the Miners’ Track – not everybody gets it right and makes the right choice; not everyone thinks that it’s the perfect mountain, and that’s because they forget that IT’S A MOUNTAIN!
Maybe Country Walking magazine is targetting its words at their readers, who will indeed be keen and regular walkers for the most part, but Yr Wyddfa’s visitors comprise others too, who might cause us to query the mountain’s “crowd-pleasing ability”.
We frequently encounter people at the summit who, having walked up the Llanberis Path, say things like “I thought that was meant to be the easy path!” But no, we would never call it ‘easy’; we would only describe it as the easiest, and there’s a difference. Why would it be easy? IT’S A MOUNTAIN! (Not that some people wouldn’t find it easy, but a lot of first-timers get the wrong idea.)
Every so often, at about two-year intervals, surveys are conducted on the mountain. The last one was held in 2024 and the results are very interesting, if predictable in places. The results are based on 1,366 face-to-face interviews at the foot of the paths (84%) and 225 online respondents (16%), the latter stating that they had been on the mountain during the survey period.
One question asked was “How can we improve your experience of Yr Wyddfa and its paths?” and overcrowding, especially at the summit, was the commonest frustration. The following comments were among those made:
“Less people!! Put a ticketing system in place or put a cap on how many people are allowed to go up.“
“It would seem like irresponsible tourism to promote heavier crowds on the summit by taking full train loads up at busy overcrowded times – it’s chaos.” (This one amuses me; how dare trains carry passengers to the top when they’ve been doing this since the century before last!)
“A limit on the number of mass participation/charity walks based on a permit system.”
“Better queueing system on top of the mountain.”
“Do something about the queues at the summit for a selfie.”
These frustrations are not new; when we’re at the summit we often hear people complaining that it’s too busy, and yet the people making these complaints are themselves part of the problem! (though they don’t see it that way, of course).
Away from the summit, others wanted to see more facilities, such as:
- more signage on the mountain
- more refreshment facilities
- improved safety measures (lighting, barriers, handrails)
- more shelters and resting areas (such as benches)
Lighting? Handrails? Really?! These people seem to have forgotten that IT’S A MOUNTAIN, as had those who wanted to see litter bins and water-filling stations on the paths. Most people will realise why these will never happen. And benches? There’s no shortage of resting places on the grass or on rocks.
Whilst the authorities are keen to reduce obvious hazards, there is clearly an inherent danger in walking to the top of a mountain; even the volunteer warden team are not permitted to patrol alone for that very reason. (Also, it must be remembered that virtually all of Yr Wyddfa is privately owned, and the landowners are quite particular – rightly so – about what they will and won’t permit on their land.)
To return to what we asked earlier, is the mountain all things to all people? In response to desired improvements, the vast majority actually answered along the lines of “It’s all good as it is / Keep it natural”, but one wonders whether some of the others, to whom Yr Wyddfa is clearly first and foremost an attraction and a mountain second, should perhaps have chosen to do something else that day.