Mark McIntosh, the Amputee and Trauma and Adaptive Sports Lead here at Hobbs Rehabilitation, teamed up with Jack Sims from Adaptiv Mobility earlier this month to facilitate a really exciting experience for some of our patients – summiting Yr Wyddfa, also known as Snowdon. For about a year, Mark and Jack have been planning this expedition, and with the help of Irwin Mitchell, they made it a reality on the 7th of May, 2026.
“Ever since we started the adaptive sports hub down in Chedington, we’ve been thinking about using those adaptive bikes, taking them up some sort of hill or mountain – so Snowdon seemed the obvious choice.”
While people have accessed Yr Wyddfa on adaptive bikes before, this has always required a lot of assistance, so Mark and Jack were keen to make this the first autonomous ascent of the summit on an adaptive bike. All they needed now was a willing participant…
Enter Iwan. Iwan is a 37-year-old man who sustained a T12 incomplete spinal cord injury four years ago and started coming to Hobbs for his rehab three years ago. He’s made incredible progress in this time – still mostly using his wheelchair, but now uses Ottobock’s bilateral C-Braces, which allow him to walk on flat ground and slopes. Iwan has wanted to be able to stand on the summit of a mountain, preferably a Welsh one, being a Welshman himself, but this is something he hadn’t thought possible for a long time. Mark tends to see ‘impossibilities’ as no more than challenges to overcome, and so, along with Jack, decided to cook up a plan to get Iwan to the top of Yr Wyddfa.
In Chedington, as part of regular therapy, our clinicians use Exoquads made by Exotech. They’re incredibly capable, but they have yet to take them on more challenging terrain. So, along with Jack, who’s a spinal-injured person himself, and Sigurd, who owns Exotech, Mark made a plan to summit Yr Wyddfa on these ExoQuads with Iwan.
The whole expedition team stayed in an accessible bunkhouse near the base of the Llanberis track, and after a delicious curry and a good night’s sleep, they set off on Thursday morning. Iwan wore his C-Braces, so he was able to predominantly go up on the adaptive bike, on very steep terrain with some steps he had to climb up being over a foot in height, which really put the ExoQuad through its paces. When he reached the top, Iwan was able to stand in his C-Braces, alongside his parents, on top of the mountain. They managed to go up and down the mountain in about six and a half hours, which is an incredible achievement.
There were lots of things for Mark to consider during this trip, over this extended period of time. Although the ExoQuads are powered bikes, there is still a lot of core, trunk, and arm control that needs to be activated throughout, so it was important to be aware of that, as well as being mindful of skin, toileting, and fatigue. Mark also had to consider any and all eventualities and risks – for example, what to do if a bike overturns, somebody has a fall, or there is a malfunction with one of the bikes. Luckily, with Mark’s physiotherapy expertise and Jack being a bike mechanic, they covered all bases with any potential problems and thankfully didn’t have to enact any emergency procedures as everything went according to plan and incredibly smoothly – if hard work!
Mark initially chose the Llanberis track as he decided it was more suitable for the bikes, but has said that because of how well the bikes managed the journey, he now has much bigger ambitions – he’d love to make this a yearly event, summiting other mountains and tackling other difficult walks, with different clients. Not just spinal cord-injured patients, but amputees, neuromuscular injuries, and others.
As for Iwan, his big goal going forward is to be 80% walking – currently, he’s more like 80% wheelchair, 20% walking, so he would love to flip that. Although it’s been four years since his injury, he is still coming to Hobbs Rehabilitation in Bristol monthly for intensive packages and is still making impressive gains. Even in the last six months, he’s made incredible progress with his walking, going from walking with a walker frame, over short distances on flat ground only, to walking with crutches, and now walking with hiking poles, on variable terrain and slopes. The transition from crutches to hiking poles is quite monumental in terms of what Iwan can now access, in terms of both the terrain he can walk on and his posture. He’s also been making great strides with the C-Braces – they have a microprocessor knee in the joint, which allows him to yield when coming down slopes and stairs, which he’s beginning to master, which has opened up a lot of opportunities for him.
“I think he’s not far off being default walking, which would be epic for someone of his spinal level and impairments. He would love to summit Snowdon again next year, and maybe walk some more up the top.”
When Mark was speaking about the best bits of the trip, he had two standout moments. The first was the whole expedition team having a curry together the night before at the accessible bunk house, with people from all different walks of life. To name a few, Iwan and his lovely parents, Steve and Jan, Caroline Hardman, Specialist Amputee and Neurological Physiotherapist at Hobbs Rehabilitation in Bristol and her patient Rhys, who is an above-knee amputee, and Rhys Dando, one of the associate solicitors at Irwin Mitchell who worked with Iwan before his claim was settled. Irwin Mitchell very kindly sponsored the whole trip, so it was great to have Rhys come along to join the rest of the team. Mark’s second standout moment was getting to stand at the top of the stones with Iwan, his Mum and Dad, all beaming with pride, as Iwan proved that with enough determination, the sky truly is the limit for what you can achieve.
Watch the full video on the trip here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/1e2HkORdH8I?si=ByD7-LWZeaP97s2l
