UKH

Wondering if someone can give me some advice here.... would be really grateful. 

Myself and one other person are hoping to attempt the 3000s at the end of June. We have no support car and are doing this trip just the two of us. 

The final mountain where we hope to end.. using the standard route found on the Welsh 3000s website is Foel Fras and from here we are a bit stumped as where to stay for that evening and how to get there... We will not have a vehicle at the end and are hoping to drive and pitch a tent somewhere as near to the end as possible so when we finally finish we can sleep... however its looking like the nearest campsites are a 2 mile walk from Foel Fras and so our options here are to either walk the final 2 miles, leave bikes at the end to cycle or hitch hike our way to a campsite which we have been informed could be difficult because of the lack of roads in this part of North Wales. 

Can anyone offer any advice on the best options for us here? 

Determined to make this work and find a way.... especially as the other person joining me is visiting from New Zealand and it would be a huge shame if we couldn't complete the mission.

Thanks in advance. 

Lizzie 

I'm not sure what you mean by 'campsite'. Most people without transport would probably just bivvy or wildcamp somewhere like Llyn anafon (just over 1km from Foel fras; accessible by mountain bike). 

If you're looking for a managed site (toilets, showers etc) it is going to be a lot further than a 2 mile walk from Foel fras! (It's about 3 miles from the summit to the nearest road). 

A better option might be to leave the car at the end the day before and use public transport /taxi to Llanberis/Nant peris and stay there (or on Snowdon summit) the night before the attempt. 

There's a bothy at Dulyn, that might serve? https://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/bothies/wales/dulyn/

Edit: saves carrying a tent at any rate!

Hi Lizzie, Myself and a mate did exactly the same thing last year.

We dropped off some re-supplies including bivvy bag, stove etc in the trees just off the A5, on the ascent to Pen Yr Ole Wen. We then drove to the Vaynol arms (Pub down the road from Pen Y Pass). We spoke to the landlord and he agreed to allow us to leave our vehicle in their carpark for a few days. If he'd said no we'd have left it opposite in the campsite.

Friday night we had a beer each and some food then got a taxi from the Vaynol to Pen Y Pass carrying a different bivvy bag and stove. Walked up the miner's path and bivvied on the top of Snowdon.

Started the walk at 05:30, dropped off our 1st night bivvy stuff on the way past the Vaynol after descending from the 1st 3 peaks. We then carried lightweight sacks until we came down from Tryfan. Walked up the A5, grabbed our bivvy stuff and shoved that into our rucksacks then continued up the Carneddau. (Heavy sack again but you're nearly there)

On the 3rd to last peak Foel Grach there is an emergency bivvy shelter. You're not supposed to plan to use it but we found it very handy in that we dumped our bags in it, topped out on the last two peaks then walked back to the shelter and accidently slept there the night.

Next morning we had to walk back to the A5 and got a bus back to the Vaynol.

Very successful 15 peaks mission

Me and a friend did it a couple of years ago but went North to South (which was great, and means you get to do north ridge of Tryfan, Bristly Ridge, and Crib Goch in the right direction, and finish on the highest mountain in England and Wales....). We drove up and parked in the village near the north end (I forget the name), walked in and wild-camped in a field. 

Public transport from P-Y-P back to the town wasn't too bad, from memory. 

Being needlessly pedantic here

Snowden is not the highest mountain in England and Wales, it's totally in Wales.

It is however the highest mountain in England or Wales.

I do of course realise that "England and Wales" is a shorthand for "the total area covered by England and Wales"

On a more helpful note, was the village Llanferfechan (spelling?) pretty much on the A55? 

Whilst we're being pedantic, it's spelt Snowdon...

Always amusing when a pedant makes an arse of themselves when they get the detail wrong in their pedantry.

There's a loop you can do to avoid a car drop. Its not that much of a bigger day.

You do the usual loop to start

Pen y Pass, Grib Goch, Carnedd U Gain, Snowdon, Elidir, Y Garn, down the north ridge, up Pen Yr Ole Wen, do all the Carneddau and back track skirting summits and descend the slopes to Glendana, up North ridge of tryfan, along to Glyder Fawr and then down to Pen Y Pass.

When I did it solo last summer I parked in the layby at the head of llyn ogwen. Cycled round and left my bike at pen-y-pas. Can then resupply when passing the car having come down tryfan. After Foel Fras, rather than heading out to the north, just reverse the route over carnedd Llewellyn to the top of the back ladders, then you can contour down the hillside to the afan lloer and down the path to the car. It's only a few km further to do this compared to the walk to the road at Aber, and much less faff. You can then drive round to pen-y-pas and collect your bike.

It would be easy to use the campsite at gwern gof uchaf this way.

I definitely wouldn't have fancied that walk back to PYP ! It was painful enough the next morning back to Ogwen visitor centre!

I remember looking at sprightly people about to walk up Tryfan and just couldn't comprehend how anyone wanted to do that. I didn't ever want to walk uphill ever again!

Of course 2 days later I desperately wanted to be back in the mountains

Camp Nant Peris, drive the afternoon before trip to the Aber side carpark, leave car and cycle back to campsite.

Good knowledge. That would also work well starting in Ogwen and up Tryfan first. At the end of the day dropping off Carnedd Llewelyn's east ridge (I have starting at Helyg in mind). Get all the techy stuff done first. I wonder how far that loop is...

I did it NS a few years ago, so not what you are doing, but I would second the suggestions involving a bike. Wr left my bike at PyP then parked at Aber top car park. We drove there, but in previous attempts had done it by bus. Camped at Lyn Anafon then, at the end, I cycled back to Aber (so much quicker than by bus), picked up our camping stuff, drove back to PyP.

Hey! Thanks for this... so this could be a route option for us. Thanks for your help! How much bigger is this route? 

Thanks this could be an option for us! We had discussed driving the car to the end point and possibly then finding a lift back to the start.... Thanks for your help 

You could walk down to Gerlan (Bethesda) 3.5 miles and stay in the Caban Cysgu bunkhouse. Shower, bed, then catch the 08:20 or 14:10 bus back to your car at Pen y Pass.

You've been hoisted with your own petard there, Michael. 

:-D

I can't remember where I started from, I presume Nant Peris as that was where the house was but I'm not certain. I certainly went up Elidir and down the North Ridge but this was 10 years ago.

I Made it 34.5 miles with 4500m ascent according to a report I put on the FRA forum.

You add a lot on to the Carneddau section as you backtrack from Foel Fras.

The standard route is 22 miles (peak to peak) and more than 2700m ascent. Plus the climb up Snowdon, so possibly another 900-700m of ascent depending where you go from. And about 8 more miles including the ascent and descent.

Oops

Always happy to provide such amusement