Wales's most popular mountain Snowdon is among those closed. Photo: Bob Smith/grough

Snowdonia’s most popular mountains are being closed to the public with immediate effect.

The national park authority announced it was stopping access to Snowdon and other popular peaks during the Covid-19 crisis.

Welsh Government emergency legislation has enabled the authority to introduce the measures, in conjunction with local councils.

Mountains affected are Snowdon; Cadair Idris; the peaks of the Ogwen Valley: Tryfan, Y Garn, the Glyderau and Cwm Idwal; along with Aran Benllyn and Aran Fawddwy.

Snowdonia National Park Authority said: “We hope that these measures will ensure that last weekend’s unprecedented scenes will not be repeated this coming weekend.

“We will continue to monitor the situation and will not hesitate to take further measures if required. This action is taken not only to ensure the protection of the public, but to protect our rural communities and to reduce the pressure the spread of the virus will have on our local health services.

“These measures mean that there will be no parking or access to the most popular sites in Snowdonia including Snowdon, Ogwen, Cadair Idris Aran Benllyn and Aran Fawddwy.

“Therefore, we urge visitors planning on coming to climb Snowdon or any other popular peaks and sites to follow government guidance, to stay at home and exercise in their local area.”

Snowdonia national park chief executive Emyr Williams. Photo: Alan Dop

Chief executive Emyr Williams said: “Today we will be closing public access to the busiest mountain areas in co-operation with the police and local authorities.

“We are doing this in response to emergency powers granted by the Welsh Government in order to protect rural communities and health services in the north Wales area and to help prevent the spread of the virus.

“We encourage local people who live within and close to the boundaries of the national park to continue to exercise from their doorstep. We ask those people to visit our website or email for more information. For those who do not live within walking distance our message is clear: do not visit the National Park until the government’s guidelines to avoid unnecessary travel has been lifted.

“There will be no parking and the mountains will be closed – respect the Government guidance – stay at home to stay safe.

“We hope that as a result of the measures we’ve now taken we will not see a repeat of last weekend’s unprecedented scenes. We will be monitoring the effectiveness of this measure closely and will not hesitate to take further action to expand closures if the situation does not improve.”

The authority said national park wardens will be monitoring the situation, but we are also appealing on the public to keep an eye on their local area and report any issues they see so that we can act urgently to address them with our partners. They can get in touch by emailing or through our social media platforms. This includes any issues relating to parking, excess numbers of people or campervans.

Snowdonia National Park Authority is carrying out the threat it made on Sunday that its mountains would be closed if necessary, after it experienced its busiest-ever day for visitors despite government pleas to the public to stay at home.

Since then, the UK Government has ordered all its inhabitants to stay at home and only take one daily trip outside for exercise, by walking, running or cycling.