Charity hikers 'really angry' at being booed for dodging queues at Yr Wyddfa summit

Two charity hikers who skipped queues to reach the summit of Yr Wyddfa have told of their anger at being booed.

Jamie Richardson, 32, and Richard Thiedeman, 34, avoided "Alton Towers-like" queues as they hiked different routes up the mountain on Sunday and were met with jeers from those waiting as they tapped the trig point to complete a charity challenge.

The pair from Lincolnshire had already climbed Ben Nevis and Scafell Pike as they attempted the Three Peaks challenge, raising money for their friend Thomas Hynes who has motor neurone disease (MND).

Richardson said: "There's no policing of it at all, it is purely free will, if you want to queue you can."

Over the years, it has been reported that visitors have waited over an hour to reach the trig point, which is 1,085m (3,560ft) high.

On social media, some described the scenes of Yr Wyddfa, also known as Snowdon, as having a carnival atmosphere this bank holiday weekend.

Richardson and Thiedeman planned to do the challenge in 24 hours and travelled from Lincolnshire to Scotland to hike Ben Nevis, then to England for Scafell Pike before arriving in Wales to hike Yr Wyddfa at 05:00 BST on Sunday.

As the pair reached Yr Wyddfa they decided to hike separate routes and described the atmosphere on the way up as "friendly" and everyone being in "good spirits".

Other walkers noticed the duo walking the 40 minutes from a separate car park and offered them a lift to the start point, with some on the hike offering kind words and donations during the climb up.

Thiedeman said: "There were two young ladies that saw us walking and saw all the charity labels we had on us.

"They were very kind and were able to give us a ride to the start of the trail."

After reaching the top the pair chose to skip the queue, as they just wanted to touch the summit and head back down.

Thiedeman said: "Knowing what I've just been through with the other two mountains, I was really exhausted.

"I just needed to get it over with, I'm in the sun, I'm getting sunburned. I just need to tap [the trig point] and leave."

Richardson experienced another hiker trying to physically stop him from reaching the trig point.

"I'm up to the third mountain, I'm physically exhausted, it was 20 odd degrees. No shade or anything," he said.

"I was physically struggling. I wanted to just go up and touch the summit and get myself down.

"I was getting booed and then there was a gentleman who was at the top, who had just had his photo taken and he physically tried to stop me."

He added he had just touched the summit point and heard someone say "you should be ashamed of yourself".

Thiedeman continued: "If you've got nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all.

"Instead they were trying to belittle the attempts of people they don't even know.

"When I'm wearing a T-shirt that you can see what this person's hiking for... surely anybody at the summit of a mountain deserves a cheer and a well done?

"I was coming up feeing proud and then I'm being booed, so now I'm really angry and I'm not focused on being proud.

"Whatever anybody's belief or approach is, you don't boo somebody else because they don't have the same approach."

Richardson added: "There's no policing of it at all, it is purely free will, if you want to queue you can.

"The queuing, that is just purely down to British culture traditions.

"A bit more encouragement in the world would go a little bit further, rather than trying to put people down."