The Carneddau by Crib Lem

Saturday 25th August 2007

On another holiday I was once more in Snowdonia enjoying the Welsh 3,000 foot mountains. There are only two places in Britain, outside of Scotland, where great rugged mountains can be found: the Lake District and Snowdonia. I have visited the Lake District many times so it's only fair to let Snowdonia have some of the fun. My goal on this holiday was to take in a few different routes up the familiar mountains, hopefully on routes that require a good amount of scrambling. To start, on this walk I was in the Carneddau, taking a route described as the best scrambling in the Carneddau.

After over three hours of driving in the morning I parked in Gerlan near Bethesda. The start of the walk involved going to the end of the road and then up a path beside the Afon Llafar, spurning the wide ridge of Mynnydd Du to follow the river into Cwmglas Bach. Up to this point the weather had been, if anything, a little too warm, however the tops were cloud-covered and it wasn't long before I also was lost in the clouds and no longer required my sunglasses and sun hat. After the wet summer it had been nice to enjoy a bit of sun, but unfortunately it wasn't to last.

Climbing steeply into the cwm I picked up a faint path that climbed to my left on the side of the cwm and after a while turned onto the ridge that skirts the side of the cliff. Once onto the ridge the path turned right to begin the great scramble, but in the absence of views the ridge was not as amazing as it could have been, though under foot it was really enjoyable. The gradient lessened after a while and then things got a little hairy as a number of pinnacles had to be circumvented. The scrambling here was rather tricky but a do-able route was always available to insured that the ridge stuck to a solid grade one standard.

Eventually the ridge merged onto the mountain-side and left me with a short scree climb up to the summit of Carnedd Dafydd. At the summit an amazing thing happened as the clouds thinned and cleared to reveal clear views on the other side of the mountain producing an awesome sight all around me. Sitting at the summit I reflected that I have been up many mountains, this particular one three times before, and yet I still found the rock scenery around me thrilling. A barren, boulder-strewn landscape is so special and precious to me that I am in awe of it every time I summit a true mountain. The awesome views, however, were short lived as the clouds returned to envelope me as I left the summit.

During my traverse of the ridge of Cefn Ysgolion Dion the sun and clouds alternated frequently with the overlapping times affording me with a possibility of seeing a rare Brocken Spectre. After a number of no-shows I eventually managed to make sure I was standing in the right place at the right time to witness a good example of this optical effect. I can die happy now, my life has been fulfilled because I have seen a good Brocken Spectre. Soon after that the sun failed to reappear and a strong, cold wind came out of nowhere that eventually required me to put on not just my cagoul but also my gloves. With the cold wind continuing to blow I trudged up the interminable scree to the top of Carnedd Llewelyn, the second highest mountain in Wales.

With little reason to linger I headed off towards Yr Elen, Llewelyn's partner. Checking the compass direction I crossed the mist-covered summit plateau and descended to the bridging ridge that took me across to Yr Elen, though, in the mist little enjoyment could be gained from the crossing and the summit also failed to excite me. Heading off north I descended the steep scree slope eventually emerging below the clouds as I walked along the ridge of Braich y Brysgyll gradually descending to the river. Once at river level I found the ground to be very wet under foot with no sign of a path. After a very wet crossing I reached a fence with a footpath on the other side, but no way over the barbed-wire. With great risk to the seat of my trousers I crossed the fence and followed the right-of-way, but no actual path on the ground, to the road and thence back to the car.

This was a good walk but marred by poor weather and wet, boggy ground at the end, but that takes nothing away from the fabulous ridge ascent and that Brocken Spectre.