Snowdonia's Seven Summit Winter Challenge
Enjoy empty tracks and a lung-full of extra-fresh air as you tackle some of Wales highest peaks
Trip Ref #10264
Snowdonia's Seven Summit Winter Challenge
Enjoy empty tracks and a lung-full of extra-fresh air as you tackle some of Wales highest peaks
DURATION
3 nights
LOCATION
United Kingdom
ANNUAL LEAVE
2 days off work
SEASON
Dec—Mar
GROUP SIZE
Up to 12 people
MEETING POINT
Hotel in Caernarfon, Wales
ACCOMMODATION
Classic
Hotel
DIFFICULTY
Challenging
No previous experience is needed, but with three days of trekking seven summits in winter conditions, this one will test your endurance
Hike and scramble through Snowdonia National Park’s finest mountains including Snowdon, Glyders, and the Carneddau ranges
Ascend ridges, cross peaks in rapid succession and embrace the rugged beauty of Snowdonia, the largest National Park in Wales
7 peaks. 3000m of gain. 1 incredible winter challenge
Day 1
Arrive and get briefed for the big winter challenge
Arrive at your hotel in Caernarfon in the evening. At 19:00 you'll have a detailed pre-trip meeting, after which you are free to explore the town or chill in your hotel in preparation for the challenge ahead.
Day 2
The Carneddau Range - 3 Peaks
Hiking
6-7hrs · 15km · 1064m up · 980m down
Get out onto the trail and hike into the beautiful Ogwen Valley, follow an old Roman road into the heart of the Carneddau Mountains. First stop - Pen Yr Ole Wen - standing at 978m, followed by two more peaks in quick succession; Carnedd Dafydd, the third highest peak in Wales at 1044m and then onto the dome-shaped plateau to summit Carnedd Llewelyn, the highest summit in the range at 1064m. Descend back through the Ogwen Valley and then it's back to the hotel to warm up and have dinner. Three peaks down, four to go.
Day 3
The Glyders Range - 3 Peaks
Hiking
7-8hrs · 12km · 1587m up · 1487m down
Fuel up with a big breakfast and then hit the trail again – it's a rockier and more rugged track than yesterdays. Your first goal is the summit of Y Garn at 947m, the tenth highest peak in Wales. You'll tackle a short sharp descent before beginning another climb to the summit of Glyder Fawr at 1001m, the highest peak in the Glyderau range. Staying on the summit plateau the route traverses the Glyderau with some of the most iconic features in Snowdonia. Crossing a giant boulder field you’ll then reach your third and final summit for the day, Glyder Fach at 994m - the sixth highest in Wales - before returning to the Ogwen Valley. Six down, just one more to go.
Day 4
The Snowdon Massif - 1 Peak
Hiking
5-7hrs · 12km · 1219m up · 981m down
Time to finish this winter challenge off. One last ascent and you’re on top of Mt Snowdon (1085m), the highest of them all. Take some victory pics, enjoy a mountaintop lunch and then it’s all downhill. Depending on weather and time you’ll either complete the Snowdon Horseshoe or descend via the Pyg Track - either way, the scenery is spectacular. Head back to Caernarfon, the train station and home. Job done.
Included
Guides
Professional, experienced mountain guides
Accommodation
You'll stay at a historic hotel and spa in the World Heritage town of Caernarfon
Meals
All breakfasts and lunches
Not Included
Some meals as described
Travel insurance
Personal expenses
Travel to and from the start point
Visas where required
Day 1
Hotel · Twin share
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 2 – Day 3
Hotel · Twin share
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 4
Departure day
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
What is the food like?
Breakfasts at the hotel are filling with generous portions of cereal, toast and cooked breakfast with tea and coffee. Packed lunches include sandwiches, crisps, cake and chocolate. You'll need to bring your own snacks and drinks for the trail. All dietary requirements including vegetarian and vegan can be catered for, just make this request when booking.
Evening meals can either be at the hotel or any of the local pubs or restaurants in Caernarfon.
What is the accommodation like?
Snowdonia
You'll stay at a historic hotel and spa in the World Heritage town of Caernarfon. The hotel features comfortable and modern ensuite rooms. Exactly the kind of comfort you need before the challenge starts. You’ll stay at either the Celtic Royal Hotel or the Royal Victorian Hotel in Llanberis in twin-share rooms.
Upgrades
For solo travellers looking for their own space, an optional private room and tent can be booked for an extra charge, see Optional Extras for the price. Please request this at the time of booking (this is subject to availability).
The Area
Logistics
Starts
Hotel in Caernarfon, Wales
19:00 on Day 1
Ends
Bangor Train Station
18:45 on Day 4
Transfers
Your host will pick you up from the hotel in Caernarfon on Day 2. The exact one will be confirmed before the start of your trip as it varies depending on availability. If you’re travelling by train, the closest station is Bangor Train Station. From here it’s 20 minutes by taxi.
At the end - you can be dropped back at the hotel or taken to Bangor train station for 18:45.
Travel options
There are regular trains to Bangor from across the UK.
Enjoy 12.5% Off Outdoor Gear
In need of a few more items? All bookings receive a 12.5% discount to use at Cotswold Outdoor, Snow + Rock and Runner's Need.
What do I need to bring?
Dress the part and layer up – base layer, insulating layer and shell. A base layer wicks perspiration away from your skin (merino wool base layers are ideal), a mid-layer insulates you from the cold and a shell layer keeps the wind and moisture out.
Bag
Rucksack with liner (20 - 35L)
Clothes
- Thermal base layer
- Fleece jacket- not cotton
- Polyester, fleece or woollen trousers and tops (no jeans)
- Heavy-duty waterproof jacket and trousers e.g. ski or all-weather hiking clothing
- Hiking wool socks (2 pairs)
- Hat
- Thick waterproof ski gloves and warm liners/2 pairs of good gloves
- Scarf or neck gaiter/buff plus spares
- Sturdy, broken-in waterproof hiking boots with ankle support are essential. Walking shoes or trainers are not permitted.
Other
- Water bottles or bladder (2L capacity)
- Whistle
- Phone or camera in a waterproof bag
- Snacks/energy food
- Head torch
- Walking poles (optional but recommended)
- Personal toiletries and sanitary supplies
- Sun protection (hat, sunglasses and sunblock)
If there is a large amount of snow and ice, you may need crampons and an ice axe - your host will provide these and training will be given on how to use them.
Optional Private Room Upgrade
Payable Before Departure
Optional Private Room Upgrade
…
Pre/post trip accommodation - double/twin room
Payable Before Departure
Pre/post trip accommodation - double/twin room
… Per Night
Pre/post trip accommodation - single room
Payable Before Departure
Pre/post trip accommodation - single room
… Per Night
What an absolutely amazing trip! From the guides to the food and accommodation, everything turned out to be great! We didn’t manage to hike all the 7 summits due to the hostile weather conditions. However, our extremely professional and friendly local guides have proposed alternative amazing and challenging routes. Hiking here during the winter means the weather is unpredictable, but you have pretty much the whole National Park to yourself! A wonderful experience and highly recommend it to anyone seeking an adventure in North Wales!
I enjoyed it
Our guide made sure each day was the right level of challenging and interesting despite different fitness levels within the group and difficult weather conditions. Beautiful scenery, it really didn’t matter that storm Malik stopped us from summiting Snowdon, I now have an excuse to come back! Would definitely recommend this trip.
I would 100% recommend this adventure. Achieving every summit made it even better. It is a good challenge for yourself and to see what you’re made of never give up always strive to better yourself. What a adventure everybody in the group was awesome and the guides were absolutely awesome
Awesome Snowdonia
It was My first trip to Snowdonia. What a beautiful place , stunning views, and good people ! Before the the trip was really looking forward to experience snow conditions Whether turned up to be not so wintery and snow kind. However being exposed to days with rain and strong winds made the event challenging, a specially for someone dealing with such a condition in this kind of environment fist time . Three days of hike with distance of up to 10 miles a day. Group of awesome people and and stunning views of Snowdonia made this experience unforgettable and worth recommending to anyone who’s willing to punish their hiking boots a little bit . Hotel stay was good and provided us with dissent breakfast options and local restaurant for the evening had everything that was needed to refuel for next day.
And last but not least Our local mountain guides Jim and the Team made every effort for us to make this safe and full of entertaining knowledge hike.
Awesome Time !
Really great trip, Challenging conditions and instructors looked after the group well. Managed to get a few ML practice legs in with the TEAM also which was good. Accomdation was good and plenty to do in the town after the climbs. Would recommend
Excellent guides, with well chosen routes.
Great company. Well organised. Friendly, helpful guides. I had an adventurous mini break to Wales.
Fantastic winter walking experience!
I really enjoyed the trip. Our guide was really great!
We've crunched the numbers to work out the total carbon footprint of this trip, and plant enough trees to suck 2x as much back out the atmosphere.
What's the number?
It works out on average at 115kg of CO2 emissions per person, including all local transport, accommodation, food, activities, guides, staff and office operations.
The only thing it doesn’t include right now is flights and travel to the destination. We do make an overall estimate across all our customers separately, but as we don’t book flights, have customers from all corners of the world, and no way of reliably knowing their travel plans, we simply can’t include an individual number in the figure on display here. We’ve got a goal for 2023 to fix that, so that when you book, there is a way to measure and mitigate the carbon emitted by your flight too.
But what does the number mean?
Yep, hard to picture eh? To give you an idea:
- Driving 1000miles/1609km would be approx. 281kg of CO2 in an average car (or 140.5kg per person if there was 2 of you in it).
- A return economy class flight London - New York would be approx. 1,619kg (1.66 tonnes) per person.
- 10 trees in a temperate forest are estimated to remove approx. 250kg of CO2 from the air in a period of 5-10 years.
What are we doing about it?
Our trips are relatively low-carbon by design, and we're working with all our hosts to develop long term carbon reduction plans. For every person booked with us since 2016 we’re planting enough trees to suck at least 2x more carbon out the atmosphere than is emitted by their trips. All native trees, as part of amazing projects that are re-foresting degraded land, tackling the biodiversity crisis and supporting local communities at the same time. We go further than that too, also funding re-wilding projects worldwide to help protect important keystone species from extinction. See the reforestation and re-wilding schemes we support. See our carbon action plan.
Want to know more?
Amazingly, no international travel company has ever publicly published their carbon measurements before, as far as we know. We believe that must change, quickly. So we’re openly sharing the method we used in the hope that other companies will be able to more easily follow suit and build on what we've done so far. You'll find it all here.
No previous winter trekking experience is needed, but you will need a good level of fitness and the ability to hike in mountain terrain for up to 9 hours per day in winter conditions.
While the winter conditions can add extra challenges in the mountains, most of the approaches and descents will be on muddy or snow covered trails, but once you’re on the ridges the terrain gets rocky and there’s not always an established path. Footing is often loose, slippery and unsteady and there are some sections of scrambling, however, everything should be doable for the average hiker. The biggest challenge will be the weather, elevation gain and long days.
Sure can! Over 50% of our travellers travel solo, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.
The weather in the Welsh mountains can change rapidly, especially in winter, so it is essential that you are prepared for all conditions including rain, wind and snow. Daytime temperatures in Snowdonia average from 6 – 9 °C in the winter but factor in wind chill and it can feel much colder. You should read the kit list carefully and pack everything listed.
Yes, any extra bags can be left in the hotel or in the vehicle during the day.
This challenge is run with experienced and friendly mountain leaders. While en-route you can learn about map reading and how to navigate with a compass, as well as local history, flora and fauna. They'll also keep you safe with their first aid training and VHF radio backup.
Our recommended travel insurance provider is Campbell Irvine.
Travel insurance is compulsory on all of our adventures. Your insurance should include adequate protection for overseas medical treatment, evacuation/repatriation, your baggage and equipment and the specific activities involved on your adventure.
Your insurance policy should also include specific Covid-19 cover, including cancellation and curtailment cover if you, your travel companion or a close relative are diagnosed with Covid-19.
We fully endorse Campbell Irvine as their insurance offers all of the above, so get in touch with them or call on 020 7938 1734 to get your insurance sorted. We suggest that you book travel insurance as soon as you book your adventure, just to cover you for any last minute life changes. We know you’re an active lot and injuries do happen!
We automatically convert prices from the local currency that a host receives to your chosen currency. We update our exchange rates on a daily basis so this does mean that prices displayed on the site are subject to currency fluctuations, which is why you may see them change over time.
If you wish to change the currency you pay in, head to the bottom of the page.
All of our group adventures are specially designed for adults to enjoy (18+) as we want these adventures to bring together outdoorsy people who are truly like-minded. Children can be accommodated on some private departures.
You're in good company. Our adventures are typically made up of a mix of solo travellers and small groups of two or three friends who simply love adventure, pushing themselves and meeting awesome like-minded people. See here for more info about our lovely bunch of Much Better Adventurers.
Want to book a private trip? Just tap ‘Private Group’ in the dates and prices tab.
Your trip is led by carefully curated local hosts and expert guides. See here for more info about the guides we work with.
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