Plan B (but only just) on the Southern Carneddau

[malky_c]

Hewitts: Pen yr Ole Wen, Carnedd Dafydd, Yr Elen, Carnedd Llewelyn, Pen yr Helgi Du.
Date: 17/08/2019.
Distance: 19 km.
Ascent: 1340m.
Time: 7 hours, 10 minutes.
Weather: Overcast and sunshine. Strong winds.

Thursday had been a great day out on Tryfan and the Glyders, but we knew the forecast for Friday was dire. A late start, brunch in the Moel Siabod Café, a visit to my parents place on Anglesey and some drinks with everyone else at Alan's van filled Friday up, and although I might have overindulged slightly on the whisky, fortunately the heavy rainfall didn't quite flood the campsite . Saturday dawned clear and sunny, but with a strong breeze, so we opted to give my alternative Snowdon Horseshoe (up from the Llanberis Pass via the N ridge of Crib Goch) a miss and go for some slightly more rounded hills instead. Not that our alternative plan was really much inferior to Crib Goch.


Moel Siabod from the campsite

The southern Carneddau round from the east end of Llyn Ogwyn was another classic I'd hoped to do anyway, so it was a good plan B. Due to the heavy rainfall the day before, streams were running high and we diverted slightly from the Cwm Lloer path to use a footbridge. The going was a bit rougher than the normal path, but before too long we were in the corrie and climbing up onto the eastern ridge of Pen yr Ole Wen.

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Cwm Lloer


Y Garn


Tryfan and Llyn Ogwen


Afon Lloer


E ridge of Pen yr Ole Wen


Ffynon Lloer


Nant y Benglog and Gallt yr Ogof


Tryfan from the E ridge


Jackie on the E ridge


Short scrambly bit

There are a couple of scrambly moves on the ridge but the route is obvious. On the summit of Pen yr Ole Wen, it was pretty breezy and we were glad not to be on Crib Goch.


Glyders


Carnedd Dafydd and Cwm Lloer


Glyders and Snowdon


Bangor and Anglesey


Y Garn and Foel-goch


Pen yr Ole Wen

We strolled on over Carnedd Dafydd, finding a slightly sheltered area to stop for a bite to eat overlooking the Black Ladders. Then onward to the traverse around Carnedd Llewelyn. The light was marvellous on the surrounding hills, even if the wind was a little annoying.


Black Ladders


Down Cwm Llafar


End of the Black Ladders


Carnedd Llewelyn


Carnedd Dafydd

There is a bit of a path traversing Carnedd Llewelyn that I don't remember from years ago, but it gets a bit lost amongst a pile of greasy scree. Eventually we popped out on the ridge to Yr Elen, which gave us a nice short out-and-back to the summit with good views over Cwm Caseg and the more rounded norther hills in the range.


Cwm Caseg


Anglesey from Yr Elen


Foel Grach


Ridge to Yr Elen

Back to Carnedd Llewelyn, where we didn't hang around, but started dropping down towards Cwm Eigiau to get out the wind a bit. A short scramble down to Bwlch Eryl Farchog took us to the steep final ascent of the day - Pen yr Helgi Du.


Jackie on Carnedd Llewelyn


Yr Elen


Conwy Valley


Ffynon Llugwy


Craig yr Ysfa


Pen Yr Helgi Du


Cwm Eigiau


Bwlch Eryl Farchog


Pen yr Helgi from the bwlch

Pen yr Helgi Du might be steep but the ascent is short and over before it has started almost. We debated dropping down to the reservoir road after Pen yr Helgi Du, but it was steep and our ridge was lovely and easy walking. It led us down across the aqueduct and into the only bog of the day, before we crossed the road at Helyg.


Carnedd Llewelyn and Craig yr Ysfa


Ffynon Llugwy


Pen Llithrig y Wrach


Carnedd Llewelyn and Ffynon Llugwy


Gallt yr Ogof


Tryfan from the aqueduct


Tryfan

All that remained was a stroll back along the old main road. Jackie was now tiring a bit - I had almost forgotten that her fitness was below what it used to be .


Tryfan


Tryfan Bach

We headed back to Capel Curig via tea and cake in the Moel Siabod café - a good end to the day . Sadly we wouldn't have time to go up Crib Goch on Sunday as we needed to get back up to Glasgow at a reasonable hour, but we had manged two out of the possible three walks I had in mind. Cheers Alan for turning the Welsh meet into a regular fixture in the calendar .

[dav2930]

Nice one. Two excellent shots of Tryfan there. I'd like to do the Carneddau next time I'm down that way, have only been up Pen yr Ole Wen before. This looks a fine round.

[Alteknacker]

Always great to see pics of my back yard, especially in such fine weather (what wind? I didn't feel any when reading it...).

At my nieces's wedding on the same day we also had superb weather, worth even missing the meet for!