‘Self-policing’ Snowdon: Hikers left to fight it out in summit queue chaos

A national park authority has no plans to intervene in a dispute over hikers queueing at the top of Wales’s highest mountain.

Videos on social media have sparked debate over people refusing to wait in line to reach the trig point at the top of Yr Wyddfa, also known as Snowdon.

The queues are believed to have been exacerbated as recent hot weather has drawn visitors to the national park this summer.

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.

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”.

At the finish, she was welcomed by the Prince of Wales, their children – Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis – as well as her parents, Carole and Michael Middleton, and her brother, James Middleton.