Outdoor Mountain Adventures in North Wales
Mountaineering, Coasteering, and More with Snowdonia Adventures
Sep 8, 2009
Owner-directors Mark Handford and Shân Rees Robertsformed Snowdonia Adventures in 2000. Handford is a qualified Summer and Winter Mountain Leader, allowing him to guide year-round in the UK. He also holds SPA qualifications to take groups rock climbing.
Handford is also a member of the Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue, and is qualified in intermediate casualty care, which is a high level emergency medical qualification. Roberts is a trained Summer Mountain Leader.
“We both want to share our love of the great outdoors with those who want to enjoy it as well,” Handford says. “There is nothing more rewarding than being on top of a mountain and seeing the joy on someone’s face as the cloud clears to reveal the valley beneath them, and distant hills and mountains all around them.”
Enjoy a Wide Variety of Climbing Activities
Snowdonia Adventures offers a wide array of courses and activities all year round. For example, vacationers can enjoy guided walking (or hiking) tours to enjoy the beautiful Snowdonia Mountain scenery.
The company also offers classes for beginner to advanced rock climbers. This activity involves climbing up the sheer face or crag of a mountain, using ropes and other specialist safety equipment (supplied). All courses and activities are tailored to the specific needs of their clients to ensure the best possible learning experience, Handford says.
For example, beginners may want to try out a daytrip that begins on a local climbing wall, with warm ups for muscles and fingers. Then they learn climbing movement skills on low-level “bouldering walls,” where ropes are not required. After getting “a feel for movement on large and small climbing holds,” they try out a kit with climbing harness and helmet. Building confidence on longer, easier climbs, they progress by afternoon to a local crag, and spend the rest of the day climbing on real rock.
“The best experiences are always the ones where you see your client confidently using the skills you have taught them, or when you have helped them to 'climb that mountain' and see them in tears of joy,” he adds.
Try a Unique Experience in Mountain Climbing
The company also offers scrambling, an activity somewhere between walking and rock climbing. For this, climbers will need to use their hands to help them climb. Routes are graded on the basis of difficulty of terrain in normal weather conditions, from easier terrain at level one, all the way to level four where use of climbing equipment becomes essential. Poor weather or winter conditions can increase the difficulty of route by one grade or more.
Coasteering and Gorge Scrambling (climbing a rock-filled mountain stream) are the only two water-based activities the company provides. Other courses are mountain-based, such as map and compass navigation from novice to advanced levels, and novice courses for GPS use in the mountains.
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