Snowdon - Yr Wyddfa

About Snowdon - Yr Wyddfa

Yr Wyddfa, in English Snowdon, is the highest mountain in Wales and the highest anywhere in the British Isles south of the Scottish Highlands, at roughly 1,085 m. It is a national nature reserve in its own right, designated for rare plants and animals, and lies within the Eryri national park.

The rock was produced by Ordovician volcanoes and then heavily reworked by glaciers, which carved the pyramidal summit and the arêtes of Crib Goch and Y Lliwedd. It heads a wider range taking in Garnedd Ugain, Yr Aran and Moel Eilio, and several lakes lie on its flanks, the biggest being Llyn Llydaw at about 440 m on the eastern side.

It has been called the busiest mountain in the United Kingdom; 543,541 walkers reached the top in 2022. Six main paths lead to the summit, the most used of them starting at Llanberis to the north.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Snowdon (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 53.068, -4.076. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Long-distance paths past this hill

One waymarked long-distance route runs 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.

The Snowdon - Yr Wyddfa group

3 other listed summits sit in the same prominence group, with Snowdon - Yr Wyddfa as the independent hill at its head.

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