Antur Stiniog
This old slate mine in the heart of Snowdonia offers some of the toughest, rockiest trails in the business
Blaenau Ffestiniog is an atmospheric place. Looking out from the top of the trails at the Antur Stiniog (‘Adventure Ffestiniog’) centre, across the post-industrial landscape, you see the small town nestled in the valley. From its outskirts, slopes of grey slate scree rise up to meet the matching-coloured sky. Clouds scud across the heavens, mist swirls around the remnants of old mine workings and, in the distance, the peaks of Snowdonia stand guard.
“Go!” A shout from somewhere down the trail snaps us out of out musings. Snapper Andy Lloyd has seen a break in the clouds and it’s time to drop in. We give the nod to downhill racers James Hughes and Emyr Davies, and they hit the pedals, sending it into a steep outcrop of slate and deftly threading their way between the rocks. The rest of us follow suit, diving into a left-hand corner that marks the start of the ‘Black Powder’ trail. It’s a mixture of surfaced singletrack and bermed corners, interspersed with some pretty savage rock gardens. Emyr and James are locals, so we hope that they know where they’re going and try to stay tight on their wheels. Even so, the blind crests make for some last-minute decisionmaking and a couple of moments waiting for a tyre to go flat, as we bash our wheels through what’s definitely not the racer’s line. Triple trouble We slow up at a steep, craggy outcrop where James shows us an intimidating triple-gap line that he’s been eyeing up. The distance is nothing to be sniffed at but it’s the run-in that looks like the crux. You have to stay in control across several ridges of jagged slate and then compose yourself for the big pull up. All eyes turn to Alex [Bond], the only man on a downhill bike. He shrugs. “Yeah, I’ll give it a go.”
Alex disappears up the trail, out of view, only to reappear seconds later, going at mach 10, his Orange 324 skipping over the ground. The bike compresses hard on the lip, he yanks up on the bar, floats over the
rocks and lands perfectly on the downslope. “Just one more,” shouts Andy, and ever the professional, Alex obliges with a repeat performance. We’re just congratulating him when his rear tyre goes bang. Luckily, Andy got ‘the shot’.
Not one to be outdone, Emyr is keen to show us just exactly how fast and ragged it’s possible to get on a hardtail. He’s hammering through the rocks way faster than most guys can ride a full-sus, boosting off drops and rollers way past the landings, and hipping the bike sideways into the banks at the side of the trail. It takes all we’ve got to hang onto him and it’s a relief when we finally make it to the bottom, with both us and his bike still in one piece. In the pines There aren’t too many trees at Antur Stiniog and it’s only the very last sections of the trails that dip into the pines. On one of the final corners, we spy a hipped wallride that’s crying out to be jibbed. Alex, with air in his tyres once more, is back at it, throwing down pancake-flat downturned tabletops. James and Emyr reckon that if they get the timing right, they can go over/under into the corner. One of them will hit the jump and take the outside line, while the fella behind drifts round the inside and overtakes. They’ll have to be riding as tight as a gnat’s chuff to make it work, but the boys are convinced it’ll work.
After a few run-ins and last-minute skids, they push up to have a go. Andy is poised, finger on shutter, and the boys are ready. James hits the take-off first and boosts upwards, tipping the bike sideways, as Emyr comes in hot behind him and drops a foot to slide round the turn. “F**kin’‘ell!” shouts James as he touches down, “That was close!” The grin on Andy’s face says enough – they’ve nailed it, and we decide to leave it there.
Thicker clouds are rolling in now and it’s starting to drizzle. After stuffing cereal bars in our faces, it’s time to grab the downhill rigs and head back up for the double-black-graded ‘Y Du’ trail. This track has hosted rounds of the British Downhill Series (BDS) and it’s full of rock drops and chutes, linked with switchback turns. The wet conditions definitely add a bit of spice to the descent. You’ve got to be confident in your line
choice across the slabs, and brake in just the right spots to avoid washing out. It’s a right laugh, though, staying loose and feeling the bike skitter beneath you as the wheels drift and bite again in the shaley turns. Face-off One of Antur Stiniog’s signature features is a steep face near the bottom of the track. You come upon it out of a turn and are faced with two options – brakecheck and roll down it, or gap the lot. Emyr tells us that, at a previous BDS race, Josh Bryceland came in at full gas, pre-hopped, tipped the bike over and pretty much scrubbed over the lip. He says it was one of the most impressive things he’s seen on a bike, and when you see it in the flesh, it’s nuts! Of course, Emyr chooses the second option, and after that we’ve no choice but to follow.
By now the weather really has taken a turn for the worse and we decide to call it a day. We say goodbye to the others and point the van inland, over the head of the valley. As soon as we descend the other side, the clouds we’ve been smothered by all day give way to sunshine. This is the second time we’ve been here and that this has been the case. It seems that Blaenau Ffestiniog has its own weather system, and although it might not be the sunniest of climates, it almost feels like it adds to the gritty nature of the Antur Stiniog trails.