Planning to go with girlfriend to Llanberis in February, by which time I might have learnt SRT, at least to a beginning sort of level.
So as well as visiting Dolbadarn and some beaches I wouldn't mind checking out some nearby copper mines. Having seen pictures of Snowden Brittania it looks like false floor world in there, Clogwyn Coch is a beautiful location, but unsure of what's underground, and the Llanberis copper mine near Nant Peris is there much there?

I would be very interested in a trip to some of these if people haven't explored them much already, would be interesting 😛 there's also that rumour that Snowden Brittania and Clogwyn Coch link underground, very vey unlikely but still fun to ponder on :p

Linden

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Hi

Status of these mines is as follows:-

Clogwyn Goch - Interesting on the surface but likely to be very cold and icy in February. It really is a summer trip. One level on cliff face can be entered and this gives access to a false floor and then a very wet pitch which gives access to a very wet level. 99.9% certain that it does not connect with Britannia. Watch out for walkers sliding off the ice bound railway at the top of the cliff, to their death, in case they land on you - I jest not.

Brittannia - Extensive but quite a lot of SRT needed to see it all and again bleak in February.

Llanberis Copper - Again interesting on the surface and with a fine open stope but SRT is severe with a vertical descent of 100 m in many pitches with lots of loose material. NOT an SRT beginners trip.

David Bick's the Old Copper Mines of Snowdonia provides the background.

Jon

Hey thankyou :)

How big is the pitch at Clogwyn Coch out of interest?

and Snowden Brittania, is there anything to be seen without running into false floors and SRT ground?

thanks for all the info

Linden

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Llanberis Copper - Again interesting on the surface and with a fine open stope but SRT is severe with a vertical descent of 100 m in many pitches with lots of loose material. NOT an SRT beginners trip.

Jon,

Are you referring to the SRT down from the open stope; or the SRT down the pitch(es) that are found at the end of the adit about 300' above the road?

There's at least one relatively new bolt at the end of the adit and what looks like a 25' pitch or thereabouts, but presumably this then heads further down.

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Vanoord,

Both descend approximately the same amount. From the end of the level 300' above the road it is possible to desend in numerous pitches, often beneath false floors, to get to road level. The second pitch is wet in wet weather.

The descent from the end of the open stope is very loose with no protection from material loosened by your colleagues. Treat with extreme caution.

There is no obvious connection between the two workings underground.

Cheers Jon.

It was a tad damp in there today, with water coming down from above the top of the first pitch - but hardly surprising given the weather this week.

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the open stope in Llanberis (probably Yew Tree), we bolted a route at one end which was probably clear of anything loose, apart from anything dislopded by the wet weather stream that comes in round a corner. This gave a good free hang, unlike routes we spotted hangers left on which seemed to be down the wall in the middle of the stope. Our aim on that trip was to descend from the end of a level you can swing off intio, part way down (about 20-30m from memory, need to check our survey). This involved a sloping descent which after a lot of gardening and a few bolts (& we didn't have a drill so all put in by hand) entered the roof of an impressive stope. A bit more gardening & bolting was required but we ran out of time & havn't returned, due to circumstances rather than any wish to do so. This was probably 6 (or perhaps quite a few more) years ago. No sign of previous post-mining exploration of that bit then. Has anyone been further? If anyone does, only request is please please please do a proper survey & let us see a copy (gradually getting together a survey of everything accessible). We also started some projects to extend exploration off the "tourist" SRT route in the SE section.
Incidently we initially had permission from the CEGB who seemed quite happy for access, but obviously the site has changed ownership quite a few times since, anyone aware of the current situation (there have been various issues re climbing access at Dinorwic).