UKC

Can anyone answer a question about parking in Ogwen valley at the moment as we’ve obviously not been able to travel there for some time from England.

I’ve seen pictures of cones all the way up the valley but are the lay-bys/parking areas between Ogwen Cottage and Tryfan still open or have they been closed as well? I know the one just North of the Ogwen Cottage is out of bounds (got a ticket there last autumn!) but not sure about the others.

Thanks in advance.

In reply to 1philjones1:

Lay-bys and small car parks between Ogwen Cottage and Capel Curig were all open last week and over the Easter weekend. 

The one North of Ogwen Cottage is still coned off, but the lay-bys further down the road (where you would park for Sheep Pen) were open. 

In reply to 1philjones1:

The National Park have been working on a new system which will be launched next week with a new online booking system. The good news is that all parking in Ogwen will be prioritised for Climbers, unfortunately due to the limited parking available a system has been introduced where priority is given to trad climbers and spaces will be allocated based on their hardest onsite grade. I've been reliably informed that anyone climbing below E4 has no chance and they've also decided that Bouldering isn't 'real climbing' so Boulderers along with Hill Walkers and Tourists have no chance of parking in Ogwen this year.

In reply to Sl@te Head:

Crikey. Can you post more info on this? As an aspring HVD leader, does this mean my chances are zero? It does seem to penalise people like me. To whom do I complain?

In reply to Sl@te Head:

Also banned will be people who insist on (mis) spelling 'on sight' as 'onsite'.

In reply to Sl@te Head:

Presumably speed climbers, as the purest of all, will be prioritised? After all, trad isn't even in the olympics.

In reply to Greenbanks:

Surely it should be an uninspiring HVD leader 

In reply to Longsufferingropeholder:

Not yet, speed climbing isn't included.  The National Parks haven't pulled their finger out and bolted the correct IFSC speed climbing route onto the side of the Milestone Buttress like they said they would. They're still hiding behind some Covid excuse for the delay.

In reply to Mike Nolan:

Thanks, wonder why you got a dislike??? Hopefully because they don’t like like the lay-by being coned off!

In reply to Sherlock:

But have they logged their onsight onsite?

I'll get my coat.

In reply to Sherlock:

I thought onsite referred to doing the climb at the crag on real rock, as opposed to at home in your imagination, which is where all my hardest grades have been achieved.

In reply to Andy Clarke:

Come on, remember the last 12 months? When you climb with partner via zoom, one climber is remote and the other onsite. Be sure not to be on mute or they won't hear you calling for slack/take

In reply to Mike Nolan:

Just a warning to everyone - we parked here after the double yellows were painted, but before it was coned off and got a ticket. We were well off the road, but it turns out your can't park either side of double yellows. Who knew!

In reply to Andy Clarke:

Think that's second sight.

In reply to Wide_Mouth_Frog:

As a general rule double yellows (or any other parking or waiting restrictions) extend their effect to the building line or other pronounced physical boundary.  So you can get a ticket for parking on your own land if you haven't got an obvious boundary feature.

OTOH marking double yellows on the layby was silly - it's not exactly a useful drop-off point, you'd drop off in the Ogwen Cottage car park if you wanted to.

In reply to Neil Williams:

Double yellow restrictions extend to the highway boundary (which is almost always a bit wider than the carriageway (e.g. up to the stone walls)-  trying to think of an example to give where that isn't the case and a public highway is on private land  but can't... anyway so it's not about a visible boundary. The laybay on that section of A5 are within highway boundary and will be covered  the double yellow

In reply to 1philjones1:

No idea on the dislike, maybe the parking has changed since I was there on Monday. I'm back in Snowdonia tomorrow afternoon, will report back here if things have changed. 

In reply to CantClimbTom:

Fair enough, I stand corrected, I'm sure I read of a ticket being issued for parking outside a shop which was on their land but not obviously delimited from the pavement.  Perhaps it was later appealed.

I don't entirely get why you wouldn't want people parking in that layby, it doesn't really serve any other purpose, so I'm not sure why they don't just scrub them out.

In reply to Sherlock:

I'm also banned from parking in Ogwen for being a Sport Climber; too much time spent red pointing has made me forget how to on sight and even how to spell it

In reply to neilh:

I suspect that at the present time I’d most likely be a perspiring HVD leader

In reply to Neil Williams:

The argument is that there is room for vehicles to park off the carriageway, but depending on what vehicles park there, and how close to the wall, it blocks pedestrian passage and forces people to walk / push prams/wheelchairs etc out into the A5. 

In reply to Sherlock:

All my ascents are onsite as I find I have to be there the get them done!

In reply to Ron Rees Davies:

Ah, yes, true (just looked at it on Google Streetview).  A good start would be a white line demarcating the "pavement", and in due course extend the actual pavement across it.  It is wide enough for a wheelchair-width pavement and still being suitable for parking of cars (but not larger vehicles).

In reply to Neil Williams:

Neil, yes it’s plenty wide enough

In reply to Sl@te Head:

You got it right - it

In reply to Longsufferingropeholder:

Au contraire, I think you'll find that Trad Climbing is planned for the Paris Olympics as part of a new Biathlon option, twinned with Equestrian Dressage or Synchronized Swimming..

In reply to Sherlock:

1philjones1 was correct in the use of 'onsite', you can't climb 'offsite' so clearly you can only climb you hardest grade onsite.