Video: Dan Atherton - Welsh Backcountry

 What goes up must come down. Fast.

 i hear quite differently about his brother, maybe thats what gives him such a competitive edge.

 A lot of people have slated Gee but from what I have heard he is equally down to earth so long as you don't pester him with questions whilst he's trying to train/practice, which is quite understandable to be honest.

 I really wanted to see Dan beat Gee like he said he was going to do at the end of 3 minute gaps, i'm a bit dissapointed hes pretty much just riding enduro now

 Met all 3 at Leogang last year and they are all pretty chill. Gee even went into the trailer and got Dan to sign a onesie for my son and Rachel was going crazy taking pictures of it. They got my respect for sure! Good people.

 how long will it be till dan is winning enduro races? about this - long. nice video

 especially for cader idris, ive been up there well over a dozen times and ive never had a clear day on top

 Get on google maps, click the option that shows where all the hills and mountains are, and get up there! there's loads! Ya don't have to ride at trail centres, just carve your way down Snowdon

 i mainly ride downhill .... but like the idea of riding a mountain instead of a man made DHtrack, is sowden a good decnt on a bike ?

 Snowdon is incredible on a bike and a long descent. You can either follow the rangers trail all the way down or if youre a risky bastard you can go the opposite side!

 I did Snowdon rangers trail for the first time on sunday. Had to start at 7am to be off by 10am (you are not allowed on by bike after 10am may to sept). 2 hours to ride/push up, 15-20 min not including stops to ride down. Steep, rocks, drops and speed; good fun!

Watch out for walkers and show them respect! most were nice and congratulated us on getting up there, there were only a couple of haters.

 Yeah, and get bikes banned from the mountain... nice one

 @Hobbnobs- just a question, who is the hater here?

Love the look of N. Wales. What a treat to ride there someday.

 Walkers, but i guess eveyone left their sence of humor at the on button today

 lol - as an Englishman who spent two years in S. Wales I made it my business to be able to pronounce local place names, areas, random things, and especially Welsh beers. Brains SA ftw you have a great culture and history, it's a shame that nationality and politics causes conflict. thankfully I was made very welcome in small town Wales and had an amazing time. diolch !!!

 Not sure who did the remix, but the original tune is "Lover's Carvings" by Bibio.

 If someone know who made the remix ....

 chateaubriand edit..download it on soundcloud

 Lovers' Carvings (Chateaubriand Edit) is the song.

 Thanks dudes

 Thank you guys! This tune is mint, goes well with this vid too.

 you need to come and try Scotland then, too! I used to live in Wales, and felt the same..... till I moved to the Highlands :-) . Right to roam up here means every trail is available, too - and no walkers. Its just you, your bike and a 500m vertical descent on sweet flowing singletrack

 After seeing the pics from last ixs round...... :p

 ridenz, I hear you on that one :-D . Inner can be a bit "moist". But that's down south anyway - I live 4 hours north of that ;-) ! Its all rock up here! (honest)

 Yeah, the highlands make for some great riding! Just a shame there aren't more DH tracks being built in places such as cairngorm, i can see the tows lining the mountains from my garden and just wish someone would take advantage of the situation!

 I live in North Wales but was in the highlands in april for a week, only got out in the valley we were in and a couple of trips to Laggan, but WOW. such incredible countryside, and im unsure if it was because i had been off the bike with injury for 6 months and it was my first time back riding, but Laggan red route was better than alot of the black routes i regularly run in North Wales, and the views from the top were out of this world. ill definitely be going back!!

 I know what you mean lawrie - i think they spent all their dough on that gold course up by the Dalfaber estate on the north end of Aviemore. Fools....

And yes minceypies - i know Laggan well B-) . There some awesome natural stuff round that area, too.

 elevation, geography, and climate; the valleys and other areas have loads of wooded areas. Wales has a very diverse geography and north, south, east, west and various coastal areas are all very different. it's an amazing country for its size.

 Wouldn't a lot of the forests have been logged centuries ago already? Just my guess. I don't know anything about Whales' climate, geography or history really.

 yes but no forests up at higher altitudes, just heather and gnar grass. and Wales, not Whales, dammit

 No trees? That's partly due to upland sheep farming but the lack of soil high up doesn't help. Awesome riding in N Wales, just like the Lake District in England.

 Like Trevads said, over farming in upland areas, poor soil and high winds mean there are little to no trees. Elevation isn't really a factor as we dont have any mountains over 4500ft. Also a lot of woodlands were logged for rebuilding after the fire of London and more recently for trenches in the world wars, which is why we have a lot of 'fast' growing norway spruce and lodge pole pine on forestry comission land...

 As has been said already but I'll stick my Swansea Uni Geographers 2 cents in here the lack of trees in Snowdonia is mainly due on the uplands to soil type (very acidic and rocky on account of very poor soil retention on account of the very wet weather / glacial heritage / steep sided valleys) and also the exsposre - its very hard for young plants much higher than ferns or grasses to establish when they are constantly battered by wind rain snow ice and yes sheep. The human impact in the UK uplands has been significant and certainly at lower alitidudes the treeless areas are almost certainly due to if not present then historic farming (i.e. Dartmoor which ought to have far more tree cover than it does as it does not suffer the soil issues or have the altidude / exsposure problems of snowdonia).

Just in case you were interested - im going to go wear my sock and sandals now

 ah sorry should re-read and edit for spelling!

 the rain can makes it even moe fun

 All that slippy mud practice just means you're a king in the dry, for like one day a year.

 seemed like the trail didn't need it. it was just straight up, then straight down, so he probably just dropped it at the top. dropper posts are for "swoopy" trails with random ups and downs

 AAAHHH. Right. Didn't really think of that. And in my case I just leave it on the bike... but I'm not an Atherton (who have their own bike stable & garage with everything one will ever need for a bike in there) hahaha. But have you seen him use one on the Enduro videos (SuperEnduro or Trans Provence)?

 There's no way for you to know that. People go all kinds of crazy places with bikes.

 ... I even rode on on a road the other day...

 i have gar only on the dh bike though down the fox path, not been on the other side yet or on the new meta!

 if you go from the south side then head east from the reservoir onto the ridge you can ride along the ridge to pen y fan and then there's a great route off of top and then the gap road takes you back down to where you started, have a look at this map www.walkingclub.org.uk/book_3/walk_85/map.shtml. hope this helps

 Just did exactly this literally 24hrs ago - great fun do it!

 It really makes me wish I had mountains so I could properly use an enduro bike, This looks too fun.

 Yes the song I used was Lovers' Carvings (Chateaubriand Edit) Glad you liked it thanks!

 i heard it

 Had to take my headphones off, sooo fucking annoying.

 That's one thing you rarely see in Scotland!

 whats that, a sunset??

good to see Dan out on the bike having fun & what a great riding spot...

 There is a ban on Snowdon from May to October between certain hours. Basically, us mtbers are only allowed the dark and winter weather. If you time it right you can be on top for sun rise/set.

 Wales

 it does mention wales in the title and mentions the two mountains in the video

 cadir idris in north/mid wales

 roughly translated "Then chair of Idris" The say he was a big guy...