Welsh 15 Peak Challenge
Tackle the highest peaks in Wales - in a single weekend
Welsh 15 Peak Challenge
Tackle the highest peaks in Wales - in a single weekend
DURATION
3 nights
LOCATION
United Kingdom
ANNUAL LEAVE
1 day off work
SEASON
May—Sep
GROUP SIZE
Up to 12 people
MEETING POINT
Lodge Dinorwig, Caernarfon
ACCOMMODATION
Classic
Hostel
DIFFICULTY
Challenging
Previous hiking experience is needed - with fifteen peaks to get through in a single weekend, this one will test your endurance.
Hike and scramble through the Carneddau, Glyders and Snowdon ranges – home of the highest mountains in Wales
Ascend ridges, cross linked peaks in rapid succession and experience the stellar views and natural beauty of Snowdonia, the largest National Park in Wales
15 mountains. 4000m of gain. 1 incredible weekend
Day 1
Arrival at Lodge Dinorwig, Snowdonia
Arrive at the hostel in time for a pre-trip briefing and enjoy getting to know your fellow adventurers over dinner at 7pm. Then heads down for some sleep - it's an early start the next day.
Day 2
The Carneddau
Hiking
8-10hrs · 21km · 1623m up · 1368m down
Meet your guides and after a quick briefing get out onto the trail. Follow an old Roman road into the heart of the Carneddau Mountains, hike through a pass framed by twin Bronze Age monoliths and climb onto the ridgeline where the day’s goals will be lined up in front of you.
First stop - Foel Fras (942m), northernmost of the Welsh 3000s, followed by 3 more peaks in quick succession. Push to the top of Carnedd Llewelyn, the highest summit in the range (1064m) and then snag Pen Yr Ole Wen on the way down. Hike into the beautiful Ogwen Valley and then its back to the hostel for dinner. Seven peaks down, eight to go.
Day 3
The Glyders
Hiking
8-10hrs · 16km · 1587m up · 1487m down
Fuel up with a big breakfast and then hit the trail again – one that’s rockier and more rugged than yesterdays. Your first goal is Tryfan (917m), lowest of the Welsh 3000s, but also one of the most challenging thanks to the final scramble to the top. Descend via the picture-perfect Adam and Eve Rocks, then it’s a short, steep climb up Glyder Fach.
Cross a formation known as the 'Castle of the Wind' to attain Glyder Fawr (999m), the highest peak in the range, then descend back to Llanberis via a natural hanging garden of alpine flowers and the last two peaks of the day, before heading to the bar for a cold drink. Twelve down, just three more to go (including the big one).
Day 4
The Snowdon Massif
Hiking
6-8hrs · 13km · 1219m up · 981m down
Time to finish this thing off. Follow the snaking, rocky ridge to the summit of Crib Goch and then climb to Crib Ddysgl. One last ascent and you’re on top of Mount 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 Llanberis, the train station and home.
Included
Guides
Professional, experienced mountain guides
Accommodation
3 nights in a local lodge
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
Hostel · Mixed dorm
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 2 – Day 3
Hostel · Mixed dorm
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Day 4
Departure day
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
What is the food like?
Breakfasts at the Lodge are filling with generous portions of cereal, toast and cooked breakfast (meat, vegetarian or vegan) 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 on your passenger information form.
Evening meals are not included, but can be pre-ordered at Dinorwig Lodge or you can also take a trip into the village of Llanberis. Most people opt to eat as a group in the lodge and they cost around £10-£15 per person. Alcohol is not served at the lodge but you are welcome to bring your own.
What is the accommodation like?
Lodge Dinorwig
The accommodation is Lodge Dinorwig. The lodge is an old school set on the hillside above Llyn Padarn, with spectacular views overlooking Snowdon. The bunkroom consists of 14 solidly built beds, each with its own reading light and a curtain for a little added privacy. All bedding is provided, but please bring your own towel.
The Area
Logistics
Starts
Bangor Train Station, or Caernarfon in Wales
17:00 onwards on Day 1
Ends
Bangor Train Station, or Caernarfon in Wales
18:45 on Day 4
Transfers
If travelling by train: your host will pick you up from Bangor Train Station at 5.30pm for the 20-minute transfer to the hostel in Caernarfon. This transfer must be requested via your passenger information form no later than 7 days before arrival.
If travelling by car: drive directly to the hostel in Caernarfon where free parking is available. You can check in any time from 5.00pm.
At the end - you can be dropped back at the hostel or taken to Bangor train station for onward travel at 6:45pm.
Travel options
There are regular trains to Bangor from across the UK. If arriving by air - we recommend flying to London, Bristol or Cardiff airports, and then getting the train from one of these hubs.
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?
Bag
Rucksack (20 - 35L)
Clothes
- Fleece jacket
- Waterproof top and bottoms
- Warm hat and thin gloves
- Hiking socks (2 pairs)
- Thermal top and bottoms (wool or synthetic, not cotton)
- Lightweight, breathable hiking trousers (synthetic, not denim or cotton)
- Sturdy, broken-in 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 waterproof bag
- Snacks/energy food
- Head torch
- Walking poles (optional but recommended)
- Personal toiletries and sanitary supplies
- Sun protection (hat, sunglasses and sunblock)
- Towel
No optional extras are available for this trip.
Due to the weather conditions the hike was harder than expected but Tom, Jim and Larry made sure we did the right hikes and took great detours along the way. All while keeping an amazing spirit! Sonnie's lodge and amazing cooking after each day was what the entire group was looking forward to.
The guides were excellent, they helped us power through the challenging weather conditions and recommended us to not do certain peaks when the winds were too strong. Be sure to carry proper waterproofs as the rain and wind can be quite strong. The lodge was really nice and the hosts provided us with some excellent food for lunch and dinner!
What a brilliant adventure! Looking down from the scramble up Crib Goch to stunning views on either side was something special. Great to hike with some lovely, like-minded people, and Much Better Adventures looked after the details to make it feel like a stress-free holiday too. On the last day, even as a small group, we had different aspirations - they made it possible for us all to achieve them by bringing in an extra guide - the kind of thing that, alongside the quality of the food and the accommodation, made it feel worth the price.
Fantastic trip, challenging, well planned and managed by hosts, guides, lodge etc
challenging, memorable and invigorating trip!
This is a challenging three days of hill walking where you will be rewarded with beautiful rugged landscapes. It teetered between hiking and mountaineering for me with some grade 1 scrambles. I am not at all sure footed at height so I opted out of Crib Goch and based on the conditions I was very glad I did. I would highly recommend this trip for those used to regular hill walking (there is around 3000m of height gain over the three days) It’s been fantastic to explore Snowdonia and the other worldly landscapes of Tryfan and Glyderau
Fab trip - great hosts, brilliant guides, wonderful Welsh scenery - all round fun!!
Lovely people, a hostel with really nice touches, delicious food, and tasty coffee (NB dinners not included in price), guides very friendly but reluctant to give much local knowledge. Good fun, VERY challenging hikes - overall quite pricey with some room for improvement. Be prepared for all weather!
A very well organised trip , enthusiastic guides . The Lodge Dornwig is excellent . The whole trip was a very enjoyable experience
Everything - accommodation, guides, food, organisation - was simply the best!
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 42kg 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.
You should have some previous hiking experience and ideally be used to walking back to back long days. A good level of fitness will see you through the days - some days may be as long as 9 hours on your feet, so make sure you are ready. There is a significant elevation increase and decrease every day so if you know you have problems with your knees, please pack walking poles.
Most of the approaches and descents will be on good trails, but once you’re on the ridges the terrain gets rocky and there’s not always an established path. Footing is often loose and unsteady and there are some sections of scrambling, however, everything should be doable for the average fit hiker. The biggest challenge will be the elevation gain and long days.
You will leave the Lodge at 08:00 each day, and return between 17:00-18:00.
Sure can! Over 70% of our travellers travel solo, it’s a great way to meet like-minded people.
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.
It is not possible to book pre or post-trip accommodation at Lodge Dinorwig as they will only be accepting private group bookings of 8+. If you would like an extra night in the area your host will be happy to help you - just message them via your booking.
Daytime temperatures in Snowdonia average from 11 – 14 °C in the spring and 16 – 18 °C in the summer. It’s sunny and clear about half the days each month.
Yes any extra bags can be left in the hostel or in the vehicle during the day.
Our recommended travel insurance provider is Campbell Irvine.
Travel insurance is compulsory for all of our adventures and you are required to provide your policy information before departing.
Your insurance should include adequate protection for overseas medical treatment, evacuation/repatriation, your baggage and equipment and the specific activities involved on your adventure. We also strongly recommend it includes cancellation and curtailment insurance, should you be unable to join your trip for specific reasons such as illness.
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.
Pay In Installments
You can choose to pay for this trip in as many installments as you like, with no interest or fees.
Full Financial Protection
Your money is safe. Every booking is fully financially protected.
