Queueing dispute rumbles on top of Snowdon as officials have ‘no plans to intervene’

Snowdon authorities have no plan to tackle an ongoing dispute of long lines forming at the top of Wales’s highest mountain.

Social media clips have shown long lines of hikers at the top of Yr Wyddfa, believed to have increased as recent hot weather drew in visitors to the national park.

There is no official queue system in place to summit Snowdon, however, during busy periods hikers will line up while waiting to take photos at the top.

A spokesman for the Eryri National Park Authority said its policy remained one of “self-policing” at the summit.

He said: “There are three quarters of a million people summitting annually, so queues are likely to be expected in peak times.”

He added there were no plans for new measures to be implemented this year but that the matter would be discussed at an end of visitor season meeting in the early autumn.

At 1,085 metres above sea level, the peak is a popular destination for hikers and the national park, also known as Snowdonia, attracts nearly four million people a year.

The park has issued reminders this summer urging its visitors to leave trails clean and not to disturb wildlife.

Earlier this year a pair of friends on a charity hike were booed and physically restrained by fellow walkers while ascending Snowdon, after they passed queues to get to the top.

Jamie Richardson and Richard Thiedeman were jeered on Sunday (24 May) as they headed to the summit to complete a challenge to climb the Three Peaks in 24 hours, to raise money for a friend with motor neurone disease.

“I wanted to just go up and touch the summit and get myself down,” Richardson told the BBC. “I was getting booed and then there was a gentleman who was at the top, who had just had his photo taken and he physically tried to stop me.”

Among the thousands of visitors to the mountain this summer was the Princess of Wales.

Kate took on the gruelling Three Peaks challenge in June, climbing the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales – Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon – within 24 hours.

She took on the challenge to raise money for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and “explore life beyond diagnosis”.

princess being met by the Prince of Wales and her children Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, parents Carole and Michael Middleton and brother James Middleton.

Kensington Palace said it believed the expedition was a royal first, with Kate being the first member of the royal family to complete the Three Peaks Challenge.