PlanetSKI Goes Skiing in Wales!

Ski turns on the Preseli Hills near the Pembrokeshire village of Reynalton in November 2025.

Who’d have thought it?

Skiing in Wales. Image c/o Mike Richards/PlanetSKI.

Skiing in Wales. Image c/o Mike Richards/PlanetSKI.

Skiing in Wales. Image c/o Mike Richards/PlanetSKI.

To the north squalls catch the morning sun creating rainbows over this snowy landscape.

Skiing in Wales. Image c/o Mike Richards/PlanetSKI.

There’s something magical about making turns in a place which isn’t known for its skiing with views of the Irish Sea to one side and bronze age burial mounds, rainbows, and green fields to the other.

I had reached the slope by driving as far as I was able to.

Skiing in Wales. Image c/o Mike Richards/PlanetSKI.

Then walking up the snow covered Cardigan to Haverfordwest road.

I passed a red triangular road sign with a black horse and no rider alerting drivers to the presence of wild mountain ponies and the need for extra caution.

Someone has cheekily added a horn to the horse’s forehead turning it in to a unicorn.

Skiing in Wales. Image c/o Mike Richards/PlanetSKI.

It was going to be that sort of day.

My regular ski partner, Chris Morris, had been out here the day before to assess snow conditions and debut his latest acquisition.

A portable ‘ski lift’.

The Zoa Engineering PL-1 Portable Rope Tow System designed to take the huffing and puffing of ski touring out of the equation.

It was designed by a Canadian back country skier, Robert Button.

See here for more about the Zoa PL1.

Skiing in Wales. Image c/o Mike Richards/PlanetSKI.

The rechargeable, lithium-ion battery is lightweight and powerful, and the electric ski lift can be carried in a backpack and set up in minutes.

Chris started from the roadside and for the first ascent ski toured the 300m length of the para-cord uphill, where he buried the anchor attached to one end deep in the snow.

Then it was a careful ski down trailing the para-cord behind.

Stopping when he got to the end of the rope it was now the simple task of unpacking the PL-1 from his backpack.

Skiing in Wales. Image c/o Mike Richards/PlanetSKI.

Skiing in Wales. Image c/o Mike Richards/PlanetSKI.

Then feeding the para-cord through the pulley system, opening up the throttle, and being pulled back up the slope like a water skier off the back of a boat.

Skiing in Wales. Image c/o Mike Richards/PlanetSKI.

The snow arrived mid-afternoon Wednesday and over the next 36 hours a solid 40-50cm had blanketed the villages, fields and hills of North Pembrokeshire.

It came courtesy of the mythical weather phenomenon peculiar to this part of Wales, the ‘Pembrokeshire Dangler’.

It’s been seen frequently enough over time to warrant being named.

How can the low lying hills overlooking Cardigan Bay and the Irish Sea turn white when the 800m peaks of Bannau Brycheiniog/Brecon Beacons National Park two hours east remain green?

It’s all down to ‘The Dangler’.

A line of continuous showers aligned north-south across the Irish Sea where warm sea temperatures and cold Arctic air forced between the Rhins of Galloway and the Antrim Plateau converge, resulting in an intense period of snowfall.

Even down to sea level.

In the thirty years that I’ve been making ski turns on the Welsh hills and mountains this is only the second time I’ve been able to enjoy ‘The Dangler’s’ bounty.

This ‘Sea Effect’ snow is some of the best I’ve seen in years.

Skiing in Wales. Image c/o Mike Richards/PlanetSKI.

It’s remarkable how easy ski touring is compared with boot packing and post-holing and how much quicker and easier being pulled up the hill is over human-propelled forms of ascent.

We spent the next couple of hours alternating between short descents of the steeper pitches which run directly from the stone trig point and orientation table at the summit of Foel Eryr, and PL-1 assisted laps of the lower angle slopes which run westwards to Cardigan Bay.

Skiing in Wales. Image c/o Mike Richards/PlanetSKI.

The snow is deep and consistent with no rocks lurking beneath the surface to wreck the base of the skis and catch one unawares.

We made turns from Foel Eryr all the way back to the Greenway crossroads doing the ‘Snowman Slalom’ on the last pitch where scores of locals are sledding, having snowball fights, and building snowmen.

We had hoped to enjoy après at the quirky Tafarn Sinc – The Tin Tavern – which has been the mainstay of social life for Rosebush and the surrounding area since 1877.

However the light was fading and with a two hour drive to home we saved it for the next ‘Dangler’.

We’ll be back.

Skiing in Wales. Image c/o Mike Richards/PlanetSKI.

Skiing in Wales. Image c/o Mike Richards/PlanetSKI.

Zoa Engineering : https://zoaeng.com/

The PL-1 Portable Rope Tow System. Image c/o Zoa Engineering.

To see more skiing from Wales visit Mike’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikethesnow/

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