Snowdon Sunrise Guided Ascent

Snowdon, or Yr Wydffa to give it its proper Welsh name, is Wales' highest mountain at 3560ft or 1085m.

 It's an iconic mountain, pyramidal in shape with many sharp ridges radiating from the summit below which sit huge "Cwm's"(or cirques/corries) carved by glaciers over many thousands of years. 

We start our ascent in Llanberis at the Snowdon Mountain Railway Station where you'll meet your mountain leader 15/20 minutes before setting off.  

Your leader will run through the details of the day including timings and weather conditions on the mountain.  

He'll do a quick kit check and then you'll set off up the Llanberis path, initially guided by your headtorches hopefully under a moonlit and star filled sky before the morning light starts to strengthen. 

The Llanberis path is generally considered to be the easiest path up Snowdon and for that reason it is an ideal path to ascend during the early hours  of the morning.

The path should not be underestimated however as it climbs 3150ft or 960m over 4.5 miles and is therefore a strenuous route. Historically tourists were carried to the summit via this route on Pony, now the Snowdon Mountain Railway performs the same function. 

If the weather gods are on our side, when we reach the summit, we'll be treated to far reaching views of Snowdonia, the English plans and the Welsh coast and maybe a cloud inversion similar to in the pictures above.

Rather than return via the Llanberis Path we prefer to descend the mountain via the Miners Path, it's a more interesting daylight descent!  

Over the course of 4.3 miles this path descends 2382ft or 726m to Pen-y-Pass where you will either collect your pre-parked car or Sherpa bus back to Llanberis.  

The Miners path will take you through some spectacular glacial scenery underneath the knife edged arete of Crib Goch  and the cliffs of Snowdon's Trinity Face and Y Lliwedd (part of the Snowdon Horseshoe). 

Once in the Cwm you will pass the shores of Glaslyn, Llyn Llydaw and Llyn Tayrn before a short walk to the end of the route. 

• All our guides are qualified mountain leaders and members of the Mountain Training Association.
• All our guides are Outdoor First Aid Incident Management trained and qualified.
• All our guides are DBS checked.
• Seven Hills Outdoors and its freelance guides carry professional liability insurance.
• Seven Hills Outdoors undertakes route risk assessments, route planning and plans for relevant contingencies.
• Seven Hills Outdoors undertakes a dynamic Hill & Mountain Risk assessment prior to and during the booking.
• Prior to your guided day you will receive detailed joining instructions with a kit list.
• Leaders will carry appropriate first aid and emergency equipment including: first aid kit, shelters. emergency means of communication.

We will provide you with a detailed equipment list when you sign up for this event but you will need to bring the following:

- Personal equipment including waterproof jacket and trousers, hat and gloves, warm layers (you may be sat waiting for the sunrise and it will be much colder on the summit than in Llanberis), torch and spare batteries, food and water. 

- Usual personal insurance for cancellation, theft / damage to equipment, accident, evacuation and so on.

- Some money for the return trip by Sherpa bus to Llanberis (these presently run every 30 mins - see timetables in the link below).

www.sherparwyddfa.wales/times.shtml