Snowdon route wind Beta
Compare terrain exposure across seven routes. A controlled study, not a live forecast.
Tried the beta? Tell us how you found it
Compare routes
| Route | Average mph | Exposed mph | Max mph |
|---|---|---|---|
| Llanberis Path | 23 | 30 | 31 |
| Pyg Track | 13 | 29 | 31 |
| Miners’ Track | 12 | 29 | 31 |
| Snowdon Ranger | 22 | 30 | 31 |
| Rhyd Ddu | 20 | 30 | 31 |
| Watkin Path | 15 | 30 | 31 |
| Snowdon Horseshoe | 19 | 30 | 31 |
Exposed is the wind exceeded along the windiest 5% of the sampled route. Max is the highest modelled point, not a gust. A low average can hide a short exposed ridge. Miners’ Track now follows the Miners ascent and the same way back, excluding the Pyg descent. Explore these routes on the map below.
Estimated wind load (kgf)
An illustrative horizontal wind force on a waterproofed walker with a large pack. This is not a prediction of losing balance or a safe wind limit.
| Route | Average kgf | Max kgf |
|---|---|---|
| Llanberis Path | 6.7 | 11.3 |
| Pyg Track | 3.2 | 11.3 |
| Miners’ Track | 2.4 | 11.2 |
| Snowdon Ranger | 6.4 | 11.2 |
| Rhyd Ddu | 5.1 | 11.2 |
| Watkin Path | 3.6 | 11.2 |
| Snowdon Horseshoe | 5.6 | 11.2 |
Assumes 0.85 m² frontal area, drag coefficient 1.15 and air density 1.2 kg/m³. Posture, pack, clothing and wind direction relative to the body change the load. One kgf is approximately 9.81 newtons.
Drag to rotate, right-drag to pan, or use two fingers on a phone. Click a route line or its floating label.
Compare the same routes with wind coming from another direction.
How to read this beta
These are approximate winds across a walker-equivalent layer from 0.2 to 2 m above ground. Each scenario uses the same steady background wind across the terrain. It does not include today's weather, changing winds, a forecast elevation profile or gusts.
Compare where exposure changes, rather than choosing a route by the lowest number. The Snowdon Horseshoe includes serious scrambling terrain. Route lines are for orientation, not navigation; check a current route guide, access and the live forecast.
Terrain, calculations and limitations
A 13 km by 13 km terrain box covers all seven supplied tracks with at least 1.5 km to the edge. The 4 m bare-earth grid is averaged from surveyed 1 m Welsh Government LiDAR. No missing cells are filled with a flat substitute.
The study uses WindLab's version 2 neutral linear terrain response, with its current near-ground shelter and surface-flow treatment. These additional shelter and direction treatments remain experimental. No Cairn Gorm station-specific adjustment is applied to Snowdon. This is not a resolved computational-fluid-dynamics simulation or an independently verified Snowdon route forecast.
Directions are relative to British National Grid north. Route samples are spaced at approximately 4 m and matched in the same projected grid as the terrain. Averages are weighted by distance across each supplied track, including return sections. Route lines are simplified to approximately 20 m sections for drawing. The coloured terrain is reduced in resolution for display only; the comparison table retains the original 4 m route samples. The 30 mph case scales the 40 mph result by 0.75; force is calculated at each sample before averaging because drag depends on wind speed squared.
Uniform short-grass roughness is used for comparison. Real rock, scree, heath, trees and snow change near-ground flow. Steep edges, turbulence and shelter immediately behind rocks are not reliably resolved. The interactive 3D mesh is reduced to 32.5 m spacing for browser performance. Wind and route calculations still use the original 4 m terrain. Four-metre terrain detail does not imply four-metre forecast accuracy.
Terrain: Welsh Government LiDAR, containing public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Route geometry: BRouter-derived tracks using OpenStreetMap data. Background to the drag calculation.
How did you find the wind map?
Tell us whether it helps you understand exposure on Snowdon, and what would make it clearer.
Snowdon Horseshoe · Wind from SW · 30 mph reference
This is feedback on the tool, not a report of measured winds.