Visit Lake District

Eryri (Snowdonia) Winter Climbing Temperature Monitoring

This project aims to bring live winter ground conditions from three locations across Eryri. Air temperatures and turf temperatures are available from Twll Ddu (Devil’s Kitchen) in Cwm Idwal, Cwm Cneifion and Clogwyn Y Garnedd on Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon). All of these areas are situated within protected areas of which rare Arctic Alpine plants are found. Climbing on turf that is not fully frozen or in marginal conditions when there is only a thin cover of snow and ice can damage these rare plants, which in turn could lead to formal restrictions on climbing activities.

More information can be found in the North Wales White Guide and in these BMC articles.

The following graphs give four temperature readings – the current air temp and the temp of the turf at 5cm, 15cm and 30cm depths.

Climbers will need to use their judgment on how to interpret the data, keeping in mind the basic principles of safe and sustainable winter climbing.

Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon)

To verify the temperatures and compare the data to the actual climbing conditions please take the time to complete the feedback form here after visiting the cliffs.

This is a pilot partnership project between National Resources Wales and the BMC.