Snowdon Ranger Path and Youth Hostel

I spent a weekend in North Wales recently and had my first real taste of Youth Hostelling. Steve and I stayed at the Snowdon Ranger Youth Hostel, on the west side of Snowdon. We were in shared room that had 6 beds, but luckily we were the only one in it which was nice. There were other people staying at the hostel, but obviously the owners had put us all in separate rooms, which was good of them.

The rooms were clean and comfortable and the Hostel had a few useful facilties such as a bike store, a really good drying room and of course they offered food. Both the breakfasts and the evening meals were good with plenty of quality food, just the way we like it. The lounge was comfortable too with lots of local interest books and magazones to read and overall it was a good place to stay.

The location is perfect for wandering around Llyn Cwellyn  and the surrounding hills and for some easy walks to the Summit of Snowdon. We chose to take the Snowdon Ranger Path to the summit. I’d never walked up this path before and didn’t know much about it, but it proved to be a quick and easy walk to the summit. The path starts right niext to the hostel, zigzags its way up the first little hill and then levels off a bit before hitting the steeper climb to the Snowdon railway line that comes up from Llanberis. This section of the climb was a little steeper and harder going, but the path is well defined and fairly easy under foot. There were great views down to Llyn Cwellyn all the way up the climb and the views beyond the lake to the surrounding hills were pretty spectacular. We also had a view down the valley towards Llanberis at one point.

Once we crossed the railway line we joined up with the Llanberis path and all of a sudden there were people all around us! Another benefit of the Snowdon Ranger path was that it was quiet in comparison to the paths coming from Llanberis and Pen y Pass. It wasn’t far to the summit from here though. In fact is was such a shrt, quick walk that it almost felt like cheating and is certainly recommended for those who want an easy approach to the summit.

We descended along the Rhydd Ddu path, which again was well defined and fairly easy going. The very top part along the ridge had a few spots that induced a bit of vertigo in Steve, but I don’t think the strong winds (up to 70mph) were helping. other than that it was a nice easy path and once again not too busy.

Climbing Snowdon from the West may not be the conventional routes, but they are easy and well worth the effort. If you stay in the Youth Hostel then this is the obvious way to reach the summit.

Why no photos?? Because I’m useless and forgot to take any!

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Alan Cole

Alan is a Freelance Website Designer, Sports & Exercise Science Lab Technician and full time Dad & husband with far too many hobbies: Triathlete, Swimming, Cycling, Running, MTBing, Surfing, Windsurfing, SUPing, Gardening, Photography.... The list goes on.

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