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Hewitts: Tryfan, Glyder Fach, Glyder Fawr.
Date: 02/09/2017.
Distance: 8km.
Ascent: 950m.
Time: 8 hours, 30 minutes.
Weather: Mostly warm and sunny.
Finally the Saturday of the Snowdonia meet, and the weather was looking perfect. I had breakfast in the Siabod café just around the corner from the hostel, where Hugh picked me up at 9:30 am. Most of us were headed for the round of Cwm Bochlwyd today, taking in the north ridge of Tryfan, Bristly Ridge and Y Gribin. Despite spending much of 2011 and 2012 on the Welsh hills, I mostly avoided the more popular ones and spent my time wondering in obscurity. So this time round in Wales, Some proper hills would definitely be climbed!
Snowdon Horseshoe from the hostel 6 of us set off from a layby next to Llyn Ogwen at around 10am: Me, Alan B, Martin, Sue, Deborah and Hugh. Tryfan kept us in the shade initially - a good thing as it was warm in the sun! After a bit of puffing, we took our first detour to the right for some scrambling (lower down, all of the harder sections can generally be avoided by going to the left, and if you go far enough left, you end up on the Heather Terrace, which takes you on a straightforward ascent of the E face). This just looked like a short warm-up section, but with 6 of us, it took quite some time! Bags were passed up to avoid them jamming in the crack we ascended.
Y Garn and Llyn Ogwen 
Martin on rucksack hauling duties early on Further up, there were plenty of posing opportunities on the Cannon. Alan made light work of it, but Hugh didn't! I didn't bother going onto it as I knew I would be much the same as Hugh. After we were done, a couple of girls who couldn't have been older than 14 (and appeared to be on their own) showed us how it was done, wandering up it nonchalantly together as if it was a pavement.
Llyn Ogwen and Foel Goch 
Foel Goch and Carnedd y Filiast 
Pen y Helgi Du and Pen Llithrig y Wrach 
Up the north ridge 
Hugh really enjoys getting onto the Cannon 
That'll do 
Martin just strolls up it The ridge narrows down above the cannon, and the routes are obvious. Lower down, you can go up Tryfan dozens of times (as I have done) and never remember exactly where you went before. We were now heading for the serious bit of the mountain and it was busy!
Top section of the N ridge Alan and I opted for the bypass onto the east face, which is marginally easier than the direct route. Alan had injured his wrist and preferred the easiest route, and for me, one of the most off-putting parts I find when scrambling is watching other people teeter up the route in front of me - it often looks more airy than it really is! The eastern bypass was lovely and quiet compared to the direct route.
Bypass around onto the E face 
Llyn Ogwen and Nant Ffrancon We actually missed the full traverse and ended up back on the N ridge again higher up - above the steepest section. Then it was a short wander to the summit, which is bigger than you would expect, and often busy.
Approaching the summit 
North summit 
On top 
Alan goes for the jump...but does he chicken out? Alan went for the jump between Adam and Eve on the summit, but changed his mind (the drop on the far side is pretty sobering). Then after lunch we started down the S ridge.
Adam and Eve 
South summit and Glyder Fach The S ridge is much easier than the N, and therefore even busier, but you still need your hands in quite a few places. Down at the col, Alan decided he had given his wrist enough of a hammering for the day, and the rest of us carried on up Bristly Ridge.
Glyder Fach 
Approaching Glyder Fach 
The way up onto Bristly Ridge 
Llyn Bochlwyd and Nant Ffrancon I nearly always get lost trying to find the right gully onto Bristly Ridge. Martin led us up Sinister Gully, the route he knew would get us up, and it was quite reasonable apart from some nasty scrabbling on loose scree and rock on the exit. I'm sure I've taken an easier route before, but I can't remember where.
Sinister Gully leads onto Bristly Ridge 
In the upper part of the gully 
Tryfan summit catching the sun... 
...then the far south summit gets a turn I probably prefer Bristly Ridge to the N ridge of Tryfan - the scrambling is more concentrated (although mostly dead easy), and the route is well defined along the crest. A climb 'over the garden wall' was followed by a pinnacle with an interesting descent. A guy in front of us always seemed to go for awkward routes, and make them look really desperate.
Nant Ffrancon from Bristly Ridge 
Galt yr Ogof 
Up onto the first pinnacle 
Looking back to the second pinnacle and Tryfan 
In amongst the pinnacles 
We came down on the right hand side of this photo 
Almost there We decided to give the direct route over the second pinnacle a miss as it looked more hairy. The group behind us took the direct route.
Group behind us goes for the second pinnacle direct Then we were on the plateau. A quick pose on the cantilever was followed by a visit to the summit. There are probably no mountain tops in the UK that are a more random jumble of blocks. The Cairngorms have their tors and the Cuillin has some really sharp peaks, but nowhere do you have to balance over huge boulders with holes big enough to swallow a bus in between them, before crawling onto a laterally balanced tombstone
.
Me on the Cantilever 
West to Snowdon and Glyder Fawr 
East from Glyder Fach 
Finding the way onto the summit of Glyder Fach 
Glyder Fach summit 
Castell y Gwynt and Glyder Fawr We missed out the direct route over Castell y Gwynt as we had spent a lot of time on rock so far. I had discounted going up Y Garn by this point, but still fancied Glyder Fawr. Everyone else dropped down Y Gribin so I made a quick dash for Glyder Fawr. While the summit is also made of strange spikes, it is nowhere as complex as Glyder Fach. I could see the forecast poor weather moving in over Snowdon from here.
Looking back to Glyder Fach 
Cwm Cneifion and Y Garn 
Pen yr Ole Wen 
Y Garn, Elidir and Llyn Padarn 
Summit of Glyder Fawr 
Scrambler on Castell y Gwynt A quick dash back to Y Gribin and I soon caught up the rest of the group. Y Gribin can be a nice scramble on the way up, but pretty straightforward, and for descent, most of the awkward bits can be avoided.
Down Y Gribin 
Looking back up Y Gribin 
Smelt this before I saw it 
Devil's Kitchen and Y Garn 
Tryfan and Llyn Bochlwyd The descent to Llyn Bochlwyd gave good views of the north face of Glyder Fach, which has a brilliant selection of harder scrambles on it. I have done most of them in the past, but would be unlikely to be able to get up them now. In fact the other Alan (Alteknacker) had been trying to entice me onto one of them - Shark Buttress - the evening before. I did Shark Buttress in 1997 as a fairly fearless teenager and still filled my trousers back then, so there was no way I was going to go up there today! Can't wait to see Alan's report, as he found it to be one of the more awkward scrambles as well.
Glyder Fach north face After a short boggy section traversing from the main Bochlwyd path to the foot of Tryfan, we were back at the cars after a really enjoyable day of scrambling. I don't think I've ever taken so long to cover such a short distance, but it was a day where it was well worth the lingering. Cheers to everyone else for the company, and in particular to Martin for acting as guide when the route finding was a bit ambiguous.
Having suffered the worst midges of the year when I'd wandered down to the campsite the previous evening, I skipped out on that and went straight to the pub instead. A great meet - thanks Alan for organizing.
