The company is owned and run by its directors Mark Handford and Shan Rees Roberts.

Mark Handford holds the Mountain Leader Summer, Mountain Leader Winter and SPA Qualifications.He has been involved in the great outdoors since the age of 11, firstly exploring his local hills and forest with plenty of wild camping; trips abroad with his parents saw him trek to the top of Mount Etna, 3300m, at the age of 15. Passing the driving test at 17 opened up a whole new world to explore and plenty of trips to the Wales, Lakes and Scotland followed. Mark also has many years of kayak experience and found a passion for competitive Kayak Slalom, racing for one of the main UK clubs, Stafford and Stone slalom club, when he finished competitive slalom he was ranked 17th in the country. He has a broad wealth of experience as an instructor and team member as well as having an abundance of life skills. He is a keen climber and has experienced walking and climbing in the UK, Europe and the Nepalees Himalayas with an exciting attempt on Annapurna 1. His main enjoyment comes from mountaineering in general and you will often see Mark and Shan in the hills and mountains of Snowdonia either walking ,scrambling or climbing. Mark is a team member of Ogwen Valley Mountain Rescue Organisation (OVMRO) and joined the team in January 2005 as well as an instructor for International Rescue Training Centre Wales (IRTCW).

Shân Rees Roberts is originally from the Lleyn Peninsula and has always lived in the Snowdonia area where Welsh is her first language. She is a keen hill walker and climber and has recently completed the Mountain Leader (summer) training – on the first ever course to be run through the medium of Welsh. Like Mark she has a great passion for the mountains and its wildlife and likes nothing better than to go wild camping in the remotest parts of Wales and Scotland. Even though having the beauty of Snowdonia on her doorstep, she enjoys visiting other mountainous areas, especially Scotland and has recently visited Italy’s finest Via Ferrata areas and Chamonix’s icefalls for some exhilarating ice climbing.

Instructors

Snowdonia Adventures has a core of freelance instructors that are employed throughout the year, we only employ instructors who have great teaching ability,life skills and a passion for their work.

The qualifications needed to work with us are Mountain leader Summer and SPA as a minimum.

Other qualifications that some of our freelance instructors have are:

Mountain Leader Winter

Mountaineering Instructor Award

Mountaineering Instructor Certificate

International Mountain Guide.

British Mountain Guide