Yr Elen

About Yr Elen

Yr Elen is the ninth-highest mountain in Snowdonia and sits on a short spur running north-north-west from the main north-east to south-west spine of the Carneddau, a little over a kilometre from Carnedd Llewelyn. The average annual temperature at the summit is around 4 °C.

Most people reach it from that main ridge, given the short distance from Carnedd Llywelyn. An alternative starts at Gerlan near Bethesda and follows the Afon Llafar before climbing the slopes of the peak, though this involves wet valley ground and several awkward river crossings; in drier spells the Afon Caseg can be crossed and the front edge of the peak taken instead. Clear weather brings views north-west towards Bangor and Anglesey.

Background written from facts in the Wikipedia article on Yr Elen (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 53.167, -3.985. Plan your finish with the daylight safety planner.

Finding the summit

The recorded summit point is rock outcrop. 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

SH676647 · 908 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.

Which hill this one belongs to

Yr Elen 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, 908 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