Back in 1989 when I was a student at Cardiff and snowboarding was barely known in the Alps, let alone in Wales, I used to head up to the Beacons to have fun dodging the tussocks on my first board, a Burton Elite (swallow-tail, skeg, no edges and warped like a spoon). Happily, I've been all over the world riding since then, but I still maintain that on a rare deep-snow day, there are runs in the Brecon Beacons that are worthwhile, offereing a huge variety of open slopes and a chance for local rookie boarders to make the transition to real snow before heading to the Alps - meanwhile, the rounded summits make for great ski-touring terrain.

Many years ago when winter snow was reliable, (1970's and 1980's) local skiers used to run a drag lift at Storey Arms every year. The lift is long gone and these days you can only expect between 5 and 10 good snow days a year, although the year that access was barred because of foot-and-mouth disease, the hills were mantled with several feet of snow for weeks on end. However, even after light snowfall of just a few inches there are sheep-nibbled grass slopes that allow skiing e.g. alongside Glasfynydd Forest on Moel Feity. Even on rare deep-snow days, windward slopes are swept bare of snow so study a map to make the best of the cover. If the wind blew from the SE, the flanks of northern ridges of Pen-Y-Fan, high above Brecon town, tend to accumulate snow, and because SE winds blow off the continent, you may even score an incredible powder day. They allow up to 600m of challenging vertical with some lightly wooded areas low down. The other common snow-accompanying wind direction is from the NW, in which case, the hummocky run down from 734m Fan Fawr to the A470 is a safe-bet and excellent fun too. Ban Brycheiniog, 20km to the west tends to catch more snow than Pen-Y-Fan but a 6km walk is needed to reach the excellent 250m high escarpment above the Llyn Y Fan lakes. The 200m high slope of Bwlch Giedd on the slopes of Fan Brycheiniog is probably the most snow-sure spot in South Wales, but the real challenge is the huge escarprment. For most of its length it's too steep and rocky to ski, but there is a small rock-free area mid way between the two lakes where it is safe enough to launch off the edge if the snow is deep enough. Further down the mountain, drifts sometimes form along the west walls of deep stream gulleys and some years these boardable sinews of snow get deep enough to survive weeks of warm weather. There is another great run down the steep benched west-facing slopes of Fan Gyhirych above the A4067 though it is unsual for sufficient depth of snow to accumulate on these exposed slopes.