History of Snowdon

The first recorded ascent of Yr Wyddfa was made by the Welsh botanist Thomas Johnson in 1639, who documented alpine plants on the mountain’s upper slopes. By the mid-18th century, tourists were regularly ascending on horseback guided by local men who had established themselves as mountain guides. One such guide — John Morton — operated a small inn at Llyn Cwellyn and adopted the self-appointed title ‘Snowdon Ranger’, giving the oldest formal ascent route its name.

The summit would have been visited long before Johnson’s documented ascent. The Welsh name Yr Wyddfa — meaning, in part, a burial cairn or tumulus — suggests ancient use of the summit as a significant place. The legend of the giant Rhita Gawr, said to be buried beneath the summit cairn after his defeat by King Arthur, reflects a deep pre-medieval mythology attached to this peak.

Copper has been extracted from the flanks of Snowdon since at least Roman times, and possibly earlier. The most significant operation was the Britannia Copper Mine, visible today as ruins alongside the Miners’ Track at the shore of Llyn Llydaw. The mine was worked intermittently by at least seven successive companies through the 19th century and into the 20th, until final closure in 1916.

The 1853 causeway across Llyn Llydaw — one of Snowdonia’s most photographed features and a landmark of the Miners’ Track — was constructed specifically to serve the mine, providing a more direct access route across the lake. During its construction, workers unearthed a prehistoric oak dugout canoe beneath the lake sediment, suggesting human activity in the area reaching back thousands of years.

The wider Snowdonia region was central to the global slate industry throughout the 19th century. The Dinorwig quarry near Llanberis — the world’s second-largest slate quarry at its peak — employed over 3,000 men, covered 700 acres, and shaped the entire community of Llanberis. It closed in 1969. The quarry buildings now house the National Slate Museum (free admission — verify) and the vast underground chambers contain the Dinorwig pumped-storage hydroelectric power station, visited via the Electric Mountain attraction.

In 2021, the Slate Landscape of Northwest Wales — encompassing Dinorwic, Penrhyn, and four other quarry communities — was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in recognition of its outstanding universal value to the global history of industry and working culture.

Construction of the Snowdon Mountain Railway began in December 1894, motivated by the growth of Victorian tourism and the commercial potential of summit access. Built at a cost of approximately £63,800 by a workforce of around 150 men, it used the Swiss Abt rack-and-pinion system — already proven in the Alps — to manage the mountain’s severe gradients.

The opening day on Easter Monday 1896 ended in catastrophe. Locomotive No. 1 L.A.D.A.S. lost the rack on its descent, derailed above the line, and was destroyed. One passenger who jumped from the carriage died; those who stayed were saved by the automatic brakes. The railway closed immediately for safety modifications, including the addition of a safety gripper rail, and reopened in June 1897 — this time without incident. The locomotive number 1 has never been reissued.

The railway has operated continuously since 1897. In 2020 it introduced two Clayton diesel-battery hybrid locomotives — the world’s first rack-and-pinion hybrids — reducing diesel consumption and particulate emissions dramatically. Steam services continue using original Swiss locomotives from the 1895–1923 era.

A succession of buildings have occupied the summit of Yr Wyddfa since the 19th century, initially small refreshment huts serving the growing numbers of Victorian tourists. The most prominent predecessor to the current building was a structure designed by Clough Williams-Ellis (architect of Portmeirion) in 1935, which over the following decades deteriorated badly and became notorious for its condition — Prince Charles famously called it ‘the highest slum in Wales’ during a 1998 visit.

Hafod Eryri — the current summit visitor centre — was designed by Ray Hole Architects with Arup engineering and opened on 12 June 2009 at a cost of £8.4 million. Constructed from Gwynedd granite, it is designed to withstand wind speeds of 150 mph and temperatures of −20°C. At 1,065 metres, it is the highest building in the UK. All water (9,000 litres per day in peak season) arrives by train; power comes from on-site generators. The Welsh National Poet Gwyn Thomas provided an inscription for the building: the summit, it reads, is the place where you are nearest to heaven.

The Watkin Path has the most distinguished political history of the six routes. In September 1892, Prime Minister William Gladstone — then 82 years old and in his fourth term of office — was invited by landowner Sir Edward Watkin to formally open the path that bears Watkin’s name. Gladstone addressed a crowd of approximately 2,500 people from a large slate boulder that became known as the Gladstone Rock, still visible on the route today. The speech concerned, among other things, Home Rule for Ireland and Wales. The Watkin Path thus became Britain’s first formally designated summit footpath.

The Snowdon Ranger Path is the oldest of the six routes, associated with John Morton’s 18th-century guiding practice from Llyn Cwellyn. The Llanberis Path developed as the principal tourist route in the 19th century, running alongside what would become the railway. The Pyg Track, Miners’ Track, Rhyd Ddu Path, and Watkin Path all developed in the 19th and early 20th centuries, formalised by walkers, miners, and eventually the National Park Authority.

The 1953 British Mount Everest expedition used Snowdon’s cliffs as training ground ahead of the first successful ascent of Everest. Edmund Hillary and other members of the team used the Pen-y-Gwryd Hotel at the foot of the Llanberis Pass as their Welsh base — a connection celebrated in the hotel’s Everest Room, which retains original signed expedition documents and equipment.

The Welsh name Yr Wyddfa first appears in documented form as ‘Weddua vaur’ in 1284. The element gwyddfa carries dual meaning: a ‘conspicuous height or promontory’ (from gwydd meaning sight or presence, and ma meaning place), and more specifically a ‘burial cairn or tumulus’ — the latter linked to the legend of the giant Rhita Gawr buried beneath the summit. The English name ‘Snowdon’ appears first in 1095 in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as ‘Snawdune’ — from Old English snāw (snow) and dūn (hill).

In November 2022, Eryri National Park Authority voted to formally adopt Yr Wyddfa and Eryri as the primary names for the mountain and the national park in all official communications. By late 2024, after a two-year transition period demonstrating strong public support, the change was confirmed as permanent and the park logo updated accordingly. The English names remain in statutory documents as legally required.