Carnedd Dafydd

About Carnedd Dafydd

Carnedd Dafydd is the fourth highest peak in Wales at 1,044 m by Ordnance Survey mapping, set on the main Carneddau ridge between Carnedd Llewelyn to the north-east and Pen yr Ole Wen to the south, along the Gwynedd–Conwy boundary. Mean annual temperature on the mountain is around 3–4 °C.

Like most tops in the southern Carneddau it has a flat, boulder-strewn plateau. The crags of Ysgolion Duon fall away immediately to the north and are well known among climbers. Ascents commonly go over Pen yr Ole Wen first and then along the ridge, though a direct line runs from Tal y Llyn Ogwen up the Afon Lloer to Ffynnon Lloer and then to the summit.

The name means Dafydd's cairn. It and neighbouring Carnedd Llewelyn commemorate Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, the last independent prince of Wales, and his younger brother Dafydd ap Gruffudd.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Carnedd Dafydd (CC BY-SA 4.0). Heights, prominence and grid references come from the Database of British & Irish Hills, not from Wikipedia.

Access rights here

General position for Wales — local byelaws, seasonal restrictions and closures can override it. Full details: access rights in Wales · check another location.

Daylight at this summit today

Sunrise

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Sunset

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Daylight

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Civil twilight ends

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Computed astronomically for 53.148, -4.001. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Finding the summit

The recorded summit point is cairn. That distinction matters on broad or flat tops, where the obvious cairn is not always the true high point.

Survey method

Abney level

Record revised

23-Oct-23

Drop measured from

SH682637 · 930 m

Survey notes are field observations recorded in the Database of British & Irish Hills (v18.3, CC BY 4.0) by the hill-surveying community.

Long-distance paths past this hill

2 waymarked long-distance routes run within 2.5 km of the summit — useful if you are linking this hill into a longer walk, or want a made path for the approach.

Route lines © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL); distance from the summit computed by OpenFell.

Which hill this one belongs to

Carnedd Dafydd is not counted as an independent hill in its own right. In prominence terms it belongs to Carnedd Llewelyn (1,064 m) — the nearest Marilyn you can reach from this summit without first dropping below its key col, 930 m.

Grouping is by prominence alone: a summit belongs to the nearest higher Marilyn it connects to without a deeper intervening col. Over a large massif that can gather hills no one would walk in a single day, and which few would describe as parts of the same mountain — it is a measure of independence, not a suggested route.

Nearest listed peaks