The Retracing Footsteps project at the University of Chester, in partnership with Eryri National Park Authority and Snowdon Mountain Railway, has reintroduced a contemporary visitor book at the summit of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon), offering visitors a unique opportunity to record their experiences of Wales’s highest mountain.
The installation forms part of a long-term project exploring historical visitor books kept at the top of Yr Wyddfa during the 19th century, led by Associate Professor Daniel Bos (Geography and Environment) and Associate Professor Cian Qualyle (Art, Design and Innovation). These historic artefacts provide a rich and fascinating record of tourist encounters with the mountain, capturing personal reflections, poetry, sketches and observations that reveal how generations of visitors experienced this iconic landscape.
Building on these historical sources, the Retracing Footsteps project has sought to engage creatively, bringing the past to life through art, photography and creative workshops to understand what they can reveal about the sustainable future of one of the UK’s most popular landscapes.
The contemporary visitor book offers the approximately 700,000 people who reach the summit each year the chance to contribute and become part of Yr Wyddfa’s continuing cultural heritage. At a time when littering and graffiti pose growing challenges on the mountain, the installation encourages visitors to record their experiences and leave a more positive mark.
While many visitors document their journeys through photographs and social media posts, the visitor book provides a slower, more reflective way to connect with the landscape, inviting people to share their thoughts, creativity and personal responses to the mountain.
Located within Hafod Eryri (the summit visitor centre), the installation features a unique, eye-catching design by Dr Alan Summers (3Dpixels) and uses words and sketches produced by local schoolchildren at a poetry workshop, alongside extracts from historical visitor books. Designed to withstand the challenging weather conditions at the summit, the installation will preserve contemporary experiences of the mountain for future generations.
Dr Daniel Bos, Associate Professor in Human Geography at the University of Chester, said: “The installation of the contemporary visitor book has been a highlight of the Retracing Footsteps project. We have been blown away by the initial response, with visitors filling one of the visitor books within less than a week.
“We are excited to see how people go on to respond to the visitor book and it will help us understand how people experience this landscape today. Compared with the historical visitor books, it will also show how this has changed over time.
“It is well documented that the mountain faces significant pressures from high levels of tourism. In the longer term, the visitor books will provide valuable insights to inform a broader understanding of mountain-visitor interactions.”
Alongside the summit installation, visitors can contribute to an additional visitor book which is part of the exhibition, Retracing Footsteps: The Past, Present, Future of Yr Wyddfa, at the Betws-y-Coed Visitor Information Centre. As part of the project a bilingual poetry book Yr Wyddfa: I Remember was produced and will be available for purchase at visitor centres across Eryri National Park.
For more information about the Retracing Footsteps project, visit: https://www.instagram.com/retracing_footsteps/.
