Saturday, 19th of November

Go straight to:
Tryfan
Glyder Fach
Glyder Fawr

I had hoped to complete the traverse of Crib Goch on Saturday. After breakfast, the various walkleaders said a few words about the routes they'd be leading throughout the course of the day. The guy who was leading the Crib Goch walk planned to complete the entire Snowdon horseshoe, including Crib Goch, Crib-y-Ddysgl, Snowdon, and the Lliwedd. Safety required that we had to be back at the minibuses by dark. Since we weren't starting particularly early, the walkleader made it very clear that he would be setting a strict pace for the day.

I have nothing against walking briskly, but I did not fancy my first trip up Crib Goch to be spent striding over rocks slick with ice. Ideally, I wanted to linger and spend enough time to really enjoy it. There were rumours that somebody else was planning to do a "mini-Crib Goch" on the Sunday, so I picked a different group instead: the Bochlwyd Horseshoe!

We set off in the minibus from the hut in Bethesda at about 9 AM, dropped off another team at Idwal Cottage, then parked at the car park at the foot of the Milestone Buttress of Tryfan. Seeing so many familiar places, and familiar mountains in glorious winter raiment, brought a smile to my face that lasted the whole day. I was surprised to see that Llyn Ogwen was partially frozen.

Y Garn from the car park

Ice on the lake

The pull up to the start of the North Ridge was tedious, as it tends to be, but was over quickly thanks to some clever pace-setting by Colin, our A Walkleader. Colin has a knack of setting a pace fast enough to get you where you're going quickly, but not so fast that you need to stop.

The crew having a break

It soon became apparent that, since neither Colin nor Rachel (the B Walkleader) had been to Tryfan for some time, there would be some dispute over the best line to take. There are many routes up the North Ridge, and luckily I could still find the line we took in July. Since I was the only person in the group with very recent experience of the North Ridge, I was appointed unofficial pathfinder.

After a bit of hunting, I managed to find the quartz platform upon which rests the famous Cannon Stone, proud outcrop of rock that graces a thousand photographs.

The Cannon Stone rocks!

Scrambling on the Cannon

After a few of us climbed to the tip of the Cannon and posed for photos (if anyone has a photo of me, please send it along), we pushed on up the ridge. It gets rockier and more exciting as you go, and we picked a line very close to the one I chose in July: technical enough to be exciting, but not the hardest option available. Colin and I, and occasionally other people, took turns leading the group.

Ian and co. scrambling through a band of crag

We soon reached the First Col below Far North Peak. I wanted to climb the wall, which is in my opinion the finest part of the ridge, but Colin decided that we should try to find an easier route for the benefit of the less experienced folk. We traversed around the wall and climbed a strenuous gully emerging in the Notch, thus neatly avoiding the difficult section of downclimbing from Far North Peak.

After an easier gully climb, we emerged on the North Peak, which is an excellent viewpoint. The panorama of the northern Glyderau and Nant Ffrancon looked particularly fine.

View from North Peak

We arrived on Central Peak (the summit) in time for lunch. There was quite a gathering, and Colin provided entertainment by leaping between Adam and Eve and thus gaining the Freedom of Tryfan.

The gang having lunch

Colin on the summit

We enjoyed the views from the summit for maybe twenty minutes before starting down the South Ridge. This is easier, shorter and less icebound than the North Ridge, but when downclimbing there are a few very nasty traps. It was again my task to find the best route for the group. There was one particularly hard problem which Ian and I solved together. There were several potential lines, but almost all of them looked very dodgy in descent. Ian nearly got into difficulties trying to climb down an overhanging section with a patch of ice at the bottom. In the end, a climber at the foot of the cliff showed us the best way.

Descending the South Ridge

Our next stop was the col of Bwlch Tryfan (the Pass of Tryfan). From there we could clearly see our next challenge: mighty Bristly Ridge.

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Bristly Ridge loometh

The climb to Bristly Ridge begins up a rather demoralising boulder slope beside a stone wall. This section is short, though, and soon you're at the foot of a big gully. We could tell even at the bottom that this would be a hard one, so Colin decided to split the group into two teams. Rachel was to lead the first team, but I volunteered to go first and find the best line.

This was probably a good idea, because about halfway up the climbing became harder and the route less well-defined. The direct route was almost vertical and obviously hard. I progressed up the pitch to see just how hard it was while Rachel and Ian led the others on a traverse to the left ... which was also not without its difficulties!

The short "direct" pitch was certainly Grade 2 due to a complete lack of decent holds and extreme steepness. I managed to climb it, but it's the hardest scramble I've done to date and I'm glad nobody else followed me!

The upper gully

The first team in the hard gully

Once everybody had conquered the gully, we scrambled over some rocky outcrops to arrive at the Pinnacles, an impressive collection of rocky buttresses and spires protruding from the crest of the ridge. The scrambling on this section was tremendous fun: technical without being problematic. Route-finding wasn't quite so crucial here, so I dropped a few places back and left it to someone else to find the optimum route.

Scrambling on the Pinnacles

We reached the summit plateau of Glyder Fach soon after. There was quite a crowd congregating around the Cantilever; I later discovered that it, and most of the rocks leading to it, were frosted over and highly unsafe. For the same reason we didn't make it to the very top stone because this is actually quite a dodgy boulder scramble in frosty conditions.

The views were gorgeous in every direction and beat even Tryfan hands down. Unfortunately the sun was behind the Snowdon range so it was impossible to see any detail in that direction, but the mountains looked big enough all the same.

Crowds around the Cantilever

Colin looking pro

The gang has a rest on the plateau

Although the plan had originally been to descend the Gribin ridge to Cwm Bochlwyd, there were concerns that this would take too long due to the technicality of the ridge. Colin decided to lead us over Glyder Fawr, the highest point in the Glyderau range, then down the pass of Devil's Kitchen.

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Next stop: Glyder Fawr!

Glyder Fawr has a low prominence from Bwlch y Ddwy-Glyder, the col between the two Glyders, and therefore was a quick and easy walk. The summit was icebound, and we passed straight on without attempting to climb the stack of slabs to the highest rock.

The summit

After descending a steep and scary scree path to Llyn-y-Cwn, we began the long descent of the pass of Devil's Kitchen. This is a path I know quite well, but we somehow missed the left turn and found ourselves descending on the Idwal Slabs side of Llyn Idwal. This is actually a much gentler path, but it has one major hazard: the crossing of a gill which cannot be avoided.

We had problems with this crossing in July, and things were made worse this time by a thick layer of ice on both sides. You have to jump the gap, and the prospect of landing on ice, then falling into the churning water of the gill, was frightening (especially since I had already fallen head over heels on the black ice leading up to the bank). We ended up heading further upstream to find a safer place to cross.

By the time we reached Idwal Cottage, it was dark, freezing cold, and the cafe had shut. But we had completed a truly epic hike, seen some views that probably haven't been witnessed since the 1970s, and most importantly of all, everybody had contributed towards the day's success. Team effort isn't something I've associated with fellwalking in the past, but it's an aspect I've learned to appreciate.

Sunset from Llyn-y-Cwn

Many thanks to Colin, Rachel, Ian and everyone else for a cracking day in the mountains!

Next day: Snowdon

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Footnote: On Sunday the 20th of November, a young man was killed on Bristly Ridge due to icy conditions. Read the story here. My condolences to his family and friends.

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