Glyderau Scrambling

A scrambling circuit of the eastern Glyderau.

Having been forced to abandon the last walk here, it was time to make up for a lost opportunity, and reach the tops of the two tallest mountains in the range. This was done using scrambling routes up Tryfan and Glyder Fach, giving a total ascent of just over 1000 metres, and something a little more challenging than the normal walking routes. According to Steve Ashton's grading system (the most popular one used in the UK), these can be done as grade 1 scrambling routes, though we made them as hard as we wanted, and used some grade 2 alternatives in places. You should make yourself aware of what those grades mean before attempting to follow the route.

In case you were wondering, the camera harness did get in the way on some of the more awkward bits, as it pushes you away from the rock. However, there were only a couple places on the route where I was forced to put it in the backpack. A compact camera would be better suited to scrambling, since it could be kept in a jacket pocket.

• Sunset over the Rhinogydd.
• Sunset over the Afon Wnion at Dolgellau. Nearly there.
• View of Y Garn (947 metres) and Foel-goch (831 metres) from our start point. Despite being the 11^th tallest mountain in Wales, Y Garn is substantially shorter than our main targets, and was depressingly cloud covered.
• After a lot of scree at the base of Tryfan's North Ridge, we reached the first cliff where we would need to find a climbing route. Our height above Llyn Ogwen was already quite significant, and enough to make the route feel exposed.
• Pondering the route. Catalogue pose.
• Early part of the route, and relatively easy, to break us in.
• More route finding - it's up there.
• Perched on Tryfan's North Ridge.
• View of the Carneddau range (with a couple of the Glyderau over the valley on the left). On the left of the Carneddau is the large, rounded Pen yr Ole Wen (978 metres), seventh tallest mountain in Wales. Just clipping the cloud to the right of it is Carnedd Dafydd (1044 metres), fourth tallest. Barely peering over its right edge is Carnedd Llewelyn (1064 metres), third tallest. To the right of that are Pen yr Helgi Du (833 metres) and Pen Llithrig y Wrach (799 metres)
• Next set of crags. High enough to feel really airy.
• View over Llyn Ogwen to the northwestern Glyderau.
• A well known rock feature of Tryfan's North Ridge, called The Cannon. Not as exposed as it looks.
• One of the much more difficult alternatives we used. This one certainly deserved grade 2.
• Grade 1 alternative, still at the upper end of grade 1.
• Tryfan is made mostly from Ordovician (Caradoc) age rocks (about 450 million years old), with substantial amounts of volcanic tuff. This particular part looks significantly more life-related, and a quick test shows that yes, it is limestone. Old limestone.
• Some very clear Tabulate Coral fossils (just like those found in the Carboniferous limestones in Pwll Dwfn).
• Upper crags.
• Llyn Bochlwyd and Llyn Idwal, on either side of the Y Gribin ridge.
• Distant view of Twll Du, The Devil's Kitchen, above Llyn Idwal, where we would be descending later. Note the massive folds of the tuff.
• A final climb to the top of the ridge.
• Tryfan's main top (917 metres, but thought to be 915 metres until a more accurate survey in June 2010), Glyder Fach (994 metres) and Glyder Fawr (1001 metres, but thought to be 999 metres until a more accurate survey in September 2010). The two tallest ones are the sixth and fifth tallest mountains in Wales, respectively.
• Looking down 450 metres of nothing.
• Keeping up tradition, by jumping between Adam and Eve, 450 metres up the East Face, at the top of Tryfan. (Any slight oddities you may notice on the right are due to me editing out another walker, who chose to sit on Eve, and not get out of the way while we jumped.)
• View animation.
• We are now freemen of Tryfan. The title means absolutely nothing, except that the person in question did the jump. It's really not as bad as it looks - there's plenty of space to land on if you miss, but high winds do make it far more risky, as they typically blow towards the East Face, which is quite close.
• Descending Tryfan's South Ridge, followed by the train of other walkers.
• Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr.
• One of the steeper parts of the descent.
• The northwestern Glyderau: Y Garn and Foel-goch, then the two bumps of Mynydd Perfedd (812 metres) and Carnedd y Filiast (821 metres).
• Distant view of Sinister Gully on Glyder Fach, with two climbers for scale, just to the right of the gully. It looks ridiculously hard from here, but it's not as bad as it looks. It is as high as it looks though.
• The crags of Glyder Fach.
• Tryfan and the Carneddau, this time showing Llethr gwyn (678 metres) at the right edge of the Carneddau, and Gallt yr Ogof (763 metres) and the edge of Y Foel Goch (805 metres) in the Glyderau at the right edge of the picture.
• Climbing the middle part of Sinister Gully.
• And looking down from the top, where the trickiest move is, about 150 metres above the pass.
• Spiked rocks on the Bristly Ridge.
• Eastern edge of the Glyderau. Gallt yr Ogof and Y Foel Goch, then the scree slope of Glyder Fach (the normal walking route - note the two walkers for scale). In the background is Moel Siabod (872 metres), the tallest of the Moelwynion range.
• Bristly Ridge.
• Bristly Ridge, at about 200 metres above the pass. Just after taking this, her head made contact with that rock. Oops. At least she was being spotted, and was caught from above and below, but consider this a warning.
• Climbing down into the Great Pinnacle Gap, approaching the Great Pinnacle.
• Great Pinnacle Gap.
• Great Pinnacle.
• Llyn Bochlwyd.
• Beautiful light on Tryfan.
• Spiked outcrop near the summit of Glyder Fach.
• The Cantilever Stone on the top of Glyder Fach.
• View from the top. On the left is the Moelwynion range, on the right is the Snowdon massif, and on the far right is the summit of Glyder Fach. Snowdon's main tops are missing, but then, Snowdon has never shown me its top - why should today be any different?
• Glyder Fawr from Glyder Fach. The obvious rock outcrop part way along the ridge is Castell y Gwynt (972 metres), the ninth tallest mountain in Wales.
• The summit of Glyder Fach. It's a very narrow strip of rock, with a 10 metre hole on the other side. At least there are no crowds.
• Y Lliwedd, part of the Snowdon range, showing Lliwedd Bach (818 metres), Y Lliwedd East Peak (893 metres), and Y Lliwedd West Peak (898 metres). The cliff is over 300 metres high (the West Peak is 460 metres above the lake), considered by climbers to be the tallest single cliff in Wales, though regular mortals are less strict about the definition of a cliff, and would consider there to be a few taller cliffs in the range.
• Castell y Gwynt.
• Spiked rocks on Castell y Gwynt.
• The route down Castell y Gwynt, over huge rock spikes.
• Superb view down Cwm Bochlwyd; the Y Gribin ridge, the Carneddau, Tryfan, Glyder Fach, and Castell y Gwynt.
• The Nameless Cwm, with Glyder Fawr and the northwestern Glyderau on the left, and the edge of the Carneddau on the right, on the other side of the Nant Ffrancon U-shaped valley.
• Multiple bizzare rock outcrops on Glyder Fawr. They look almost like the tops of volcanic vents. Note the human for scale.
• Rock outcrops.
• One of the possible summits on Glyder Fawr.
• The other possible summit. No idea which is the top; stand on both.
• Glyder Fach from the Glyder Fawr summit.
• The Fingers.
• Heavy rain sweeping along the valley behind Elidir Fawr (924 metres). It would not be long before that hit us.
• Descending the unpleasant scree slope down Glyder Fawr to the top of the Devil's Kitchen.
• Top of the Devil's Kitchen (Twll Du), looking into Cwm Idwal.
• Twll Du, the Devil's Kitchen. The waterfall at the top is about 20 metres high ("Rock Climbing in Snowdonia" gives a height of 24 metres for a climb beginning just below it, and ending just above it).
• Clogwyn y Geifr, the cliffs of Cwm Idwal. On the left is the obvious Devil's Kitchen gorge. The slimy black smudge on the right is a dribbly waterfall (it fills out nicely after more wet weather and can be a single drop, or broken by low flow or wind) called the Devil's Appendix. It is, according to "Rock Climbing in Snowdonia", 93 metres high, and sometimes freezes in winter, making a 93 metre ice fall. This also makes it the tallest single drop waterfall in Wales, significantly taller than any others, including Pistill Rhaeadr, which is normally thought to be the tallest.
• Inlets in Cwm Idwal. These cascade (in significantly broken steps) for three hundred metres down the cliffs. Despite that almost certainly making it the tallest white-water stream in Wales, it doesn't manage to break into proper waterfalls, and does not even earn a name on the maps. This picture shows the biggest continuous set of proper cascades, totalling just under 40 metres in height.
• Fording the cascades.
• The Idwal Slabs, a popular climbing location.
• One of the long cascades making its way down the cliffs. This one is about 300 metres in total height.
• Tiny island in Llyn Idwal, in front of the Castell y Geifr cliffs.
• Don't bring a coat to the mountains. Buy a polythene rain cover. Don't bring proper shoes to the mountains. Wear slip-ons with absolutely no grip. Loop handbag over arm. This is what we call a "liability", probably attempting to head up to Tryfan. Eesh.
• Returning along Llyn Ogwen, to the base of Tryfan, and the end of the route.

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