Experienced mountain leader Gemma Smith has shared her candid opinion on whether climbers and hikers should queue at the summit of Yr Wyddfa, also known as Mount Snowdon. Since the coronavirus pandemic and the surge in popularity of social media platforms like Instagram and TikTok, interest in British beauty spots has increased dramatically.
As visitors reach the peak hoping to capture the perfect selfie to commemorate their journey, queuing has become increasingly common, particularly during fine weather or busy periods on the North Wales mountain. The debate gained attention when Lincolnshire hospitality manager Richard Thiedeman hiked to the summit on May 24, only to be booed by those in line after he failed to observe the unwritten rule of waiting his turn to touch the summit marker and pose for a photograph.
What many of those who booed him may not have realized is that he was undertaking the three peaks challenge, where participants attempt to scale the highest mountains in Scotland, England, and Wales within a strict 24-hour timeframe, to raise money for a friend's funeral.
Expert Opinion on Queuing
While many people may have seen footage of climbers queuing to reach the top of Mount Everest in Nepal and assume it is standard practice, experienced mountain leader Gemma Smith insists this is far from the truth. She offered her frank opinion on whether people should form queues to reach the summit of Yr Wyddfa, following the incident involving Richard.
She said: "This might be controversial but as a mountain leader I do not think you should be queuing to get to the summit of a mountain unless it is for safety reasons. I've been a mountain leader for about 10 years now and guiding people on Snowdon is a big part of my job. I've been climbing Snowdon and in that range for decades, from being quite a small child."
"The queue for the summit of Snowdon has only really started since about the latter Covid years, when more and more people were coming. It has come about because people want their perfect summit selfie. So people are getting really irate if other people are in the background of it, but unlike mountains like Everest, where queuing is for safety reasons because you're following a fixed line, on Snowdon that queue is purely there because people want to take a photo. That's it."
Historical Context and Practicality
Smith emphasized that for hundreds of years, people have climbed that mountain without needing to queue. She stated: "This might sound controversial, but you do not need to stand in that queue to touch the summit cairn on Snowdon. Now some of you might be upset by that, but there is absolutely no reason for that queue to need to be there in the first place."
She explained that the summit cairn area is large enough for people to come and go, take photos, and has been used for decades before the practice of queuing for summit photos began. "If you're one of those people complaining about others skipping a queue to touch the top of a mountain, I really would encourage you to think twice about why you're standing in that queue to begin with and if there is even a need for a queue there altogether," she concluded.
