Exploring the Dragon’s Back Race: Day 1 Recce with Wild Ginger Running

Claire Maxted from Wild Ginger Running puts the Helvellyn PRO Carbon Z-Poles V2 to the test.

Trail running YouTuber Claire Maxted from Wild Ginger Running recces Day 1 of the legendary Dragon’s Back Race route in North Wales. Covering over 50km and 3,800m of ascent across the Carneddau, Glyderau and Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), she puts the Harrier Helvellyn PRO Carbon Z-Poles V2 to the test on some of the UK’s toughest mountain terrain. 

“Never use anything new on race day,” so the saying goes, but here I was at Conwy Castle, on the north coast of Wales, in the early morning sunlight, about to test out my new pair of Harrier Helvellyn PRO Carbon Z-Poles V2 on a 50km recce of the Dragon’s Back Race - Day One. 

Having used the previous Helvellyn PRO incarnations on plenty of ultras, I wasn’t worried about how the V2s would stand up to a bashing over the rocky trails of Eryri (Snowdonia), with over a total of 3,800m of brutal mountain climbing. I was more concerned about how to pronounce the intro to my film in Welsh, having been inspired by endurance athlete and TV presenter Lowri Morgan’s seamless Welsh and English while presenting the Dragon’s Back Race 2024. Ah well, it’s always good to start a film with a nice blooper.

After murdering the Welsh language a couple of times, I set off from sunny Conwy into the lush, green mountainside above the coast, with sweeping views of the sea and Llandudno beyond. The poles were out as soon as the terrain steepened, propelling me uphill and helping me balance over the rockier and rougher ground as I made my way south, climbing higher into the wide, grassy and sheep-dotted slopes of the Carneddau. 

The first thing I noticed about the V2s were that they were noticeably lighter than the previous version of fixed-length Z-poles of the same name. At 138g per pole, this only equates to around a 40g weight saving for each, but it made a significant and welcome improvement. When I wasn’t filming or map-faffing, the stepping-stoned paths and rocky flanks of the higher Carneddau passed in an out-of-breath blur.

Equally easy was the way the poles folded out and away again - a simple click button to secure them in place. And with the dedicated pole bungees on the rear of the Harrier Kinder 10L running pack, I found it very easy to stow the poles behind me without stopping when I needed to down-climb the smooth, yellow rocks from Pen yr Ole Wen, down to the glassy blue of Llyn Ogwen.

The same went for retrieving the poles. I slid them easily out of the bungees as I trotted along the A5 to start the never-ending, steep, stone staircase up Tryfan, through high, curling ferns and bilberry bushes. Here, the poles performed ever-admirably, but my wheels started to fall off.

I was eight hours into my day, getting tired, and stumbling about the path. The poles helped me with my balance until the scrambling started and once more, I quickly stashed them away. At 5:30pm atop Tryfan, looking across at the looming, shattered, grey-rock Glyderau ahead, I made the sad but sensible decision to skirt them using the path to the east, to the Pen y Gwryd Hotel bus stop.

The following day, having overnighted in the London Mountaineering Club’s Hut in Nant Peris, my legs really didn’t fancy a hike up the Pyg Track from Pen y Pass and a scramble over Crib Goch to the top of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), followed by an ascent of Y Lliwedd for afters. Here, the poles came into their own for giving me that extra boost to slug along the rock-stepped path, easing the hip and knee joints back into their stride. 

Last time I scrambled over Crib Goch it must have been 20 years ago on a Trail magazine feature, and back then it felt so much quicker and easier! But I probably hadn’t hiked 38k the day before so I let myself off. At least the poles weren’t weighing me down at all with their combined total weight of 276g, I couldn’t feel them at all on the back of my pack. I expected them to bounce around in their position below the main compartment, but I didn’t feel a thing.

Reaching the summit of Yr Wyddfa I cheated slightly, jumping the queue of hikers and squeezing through to tap the trig point, before tap tap tapping my poles down the large, flat boulders, past the cafe and down the Watkin Path. This path is particularly loose with vertical-looking, grey scree at the top, so the poles were handy for slowing and balancing my way down.

I must have been descending like a total pro because a couple on their way up asked me if I recommended poles as they were thinking of buying some. So of course, I gave them a quick demo of the V2s and recommended the Harrier range before nimbly bimbling down the rest of the steep section - you’re welcome!

The final summit, Y Lliwedd is a triple-summited, scrambling delight, with a mix of pole-appropriate and hands-on-rock path. It’s a wonderful mountain to climb because it’s almost as high as Yr Wyddfa, but sees about 0.1% of the human traffic, and litter too. You might even get a view of this higher, more famous neighbour (if you’re lucky), and the spiky, dragon’s-back silhouette of Crib Goch, circling high above olive-green slopes and the sapphire pools of Glaslyn and Llyn Llydaw. 

You want poles out for a quick skip down to the ridge, where on the Dragon’s Back Race you’d carry on into Nant Gwynant for your first night camping under the stars. However, I needed to get my overnight bag from YHA Pen y Pass and catch the S4 bus to Bangor to catch my three trains back home. 

So I said goodbye to the race route and hurtled down, poles clacking on the wide, gravel path of the Miner’s Track. On four limbs rather than two, my achy leg joints complained less at the pace as I hurried to get back in time for a YHA shower (£2.50 well spent!) before my long journey home. 

NEXT TIME: Join me on Day Two of the Dragon’s Back Race as I recce it over three days, wild camping in the rugged Welsh wilderness, the Rhinogydd.