Tryfan and the Glyderau

Monday 2nd September 2019

As part of my memorial tour of Wales I had reached Snowdonia and the mountains more than three thousand feet high that are around and including Snowdon, but the peak I was most eager to climb was the difficult Tryfan and the north ridge ascent. When I was in Snowdonia in 2015 I was unable to climb Tryfan due to heavy rain and I also encountered poor weather when I had climbed Tryfan in 2009 during a highlights tour of Wales. The last time I climbed the north ridge of Tryfan was in 2007, so I felt a re-ascent was long overdue. I woke to good weather, which is exactly what is needed for such a scramble, but the forecast was for the weather to deteriorate so I needed to make the most of what I had before it went. Setting off from a car park on the A5 beside Llyn Ogwen I walked to the foot of Tryfan and up a manufactured path to Milestone Buttress under warm, sunny skies that soon made me sweat. Before too long I had to come off the manufactured path to face the bare rock and tackle the north ridge. Route finding is critical here and I don’t think I have ever taken exactly the same way up twice, and I have not been particularly good at picking the right scrambling route. Behind me were three guys who seemed to know exactly which route to take, so when they overtook me I naturally followed them.

However, they seemed to be veering towards the eastern side of the mountain and they had climbing helmets on their rucksacks, so thinking they were heading towards a proper rock climb I left them behind and took my own route up. I would gingerly try a scramble to see if I liked the feel of it, and if it became too scary I would back out and attempt something less hair-raising elsewhere, therefore the key is always to never climb what you can’t climb down. Eventually I came across a cairn on a level platform and soon I came across other cairns that reassured me that I was going the right direction with easier scrambling that enabled to enjoy the climb and views behind me towards Y Garn and the Carneddau, but then I hit a sheer rock face that was unclimbable to someone of my limited abilities. I don’t know whether I effortlessly sailed up that cliff-face in 2005 and 2007, but I am a lot older now and more aware of my own vulnerabilities. I saw a path leading around the rock face and hoped that would provide me with a way up, but instead it led me to a steep scramble that had me quaking with my heart in my mouth until eventually the terrain eased and I was able to catch my breath.

Moving back across the ridge I found another faint path that took me up to the north top of Tryfan and with a little rain in the air I carefully made my way finally up the last pull to the summit and the two rocks that mark the top. I can’t say I enjoyed that climb up the north ridge of Tryfan and I may not be eager to do it again soon. Strong winds and rain hit me as I started to scramble down the south ridge, which made the descent really difficult and reminded me of the fact that most accidents on mountains happen when coming down. Despite the rapid deterioration in the weather during the morning I still had views towards the neighbouring mountains with the clouds staying off most of the tops and just brushing the tops of the Glyderau. Eventually I managed to reach the safety of Bwlch Tryfan where I had to decide whether to turn left, right or straight on up Bristly Ridge as I had done on my previous climbs up the north ridge of Tryfan. Turning right would have meant heading back down, which I had thought might be necessary, but the weather was starting to improve slightly with the rain not forecast to come back until mid-afternoon. Since I had not enjoyed the earlier scramble I did not want to do the harder scramble up Bristly Ridge so I turned left along the Miner’s Track.

There is a path up the screes beside Bristly Ridge that I came down in 2003 on my first visit to the area and I have never taken that route since. The faint, rough Miner’s Track is much better and took me up to the top of the main Glyderau ridge where a cold and biting wind forced me to wrap up before turning west, into the wind, towards Glyder Fach. While occasionally the sun attempted to push through the clouds I climbed up the rock-covered terrain until finally I was able to sit beside the mass of rocks that form the summit of Glyder Fach looking across to the distinctive cantilever rock. After eating my lunch I rounded the summit and made way past the fabulous rock formation of Castell y Gwynt, down the rocks to the col and slowly across the bleak moonscape of Glyder Fawr up to the summit. It was very windy as I made my way across the shattered landscape, but also sometimes sunny as the sun continued its hopeless battle to break through. From the summit of Glyder Fawr I slowly headed down broad, dreary scree slopes until eventually the terrain steepened and I found horrendous, heavily eroded scree-runs that were a nightmare to descend, especially with my wobbly knees, and I hated every moment as I slid all the way down.

With rain forecast I was more than happy to head to Twll Du, the Devil’s Kitchen, and the fabulous path that descends through awesome rock scenery with views across Llyn Idwal to Pen yr Ole Wen. It was great fun scrambling down this fabulous path into Cwm Idwal and more than made up for the horrible descent down the screes of Glyder Fawr. Once I reached the bottom of the valley the promised rain started, perfectly on time, as I walked around Llyn Idwal and past Idwal Cottage back to my car. This was a funny day when the weather didn’t seem to be able to make up its mind with the sun repeatedly trying to peak through the clouds even after the skies had clouded over. Even the walk was not wholly enjoyable with some of the scrambling on Tryfan too terrifying, but the highlight of the walk was the descent through Devil’s Kitchen. Tryfan is a very distinctive mountain that cannot be walked up from any direction and requires at least a scramble to get to the summit. I am not good with heights and this does not seem to be getting any better with age, but if successful, an ascent of Tryfan is always rewarding.

The Moelwyns and Cnicht

Sunday 1st September 2019

While heading north from Kings Youth Hostel towards Snowdon, my eye was attracted to some craggy, rock-covered mountains ahead of me that I immediately wanted to climb, even if they weren’t on my agenda, though fortunately they were. I came off the main road to pass through the small mining community of Tanygrisiau and parked at the top of a steep road near the entrance to Cwmorthin. The weather was looking good as the sun shone promising a good walk, but the weather did not stay good, although I would enjoy some occasional sunshine during the walk. Rather than take the clear track into Cwmorthin I crossed the stream that comes out of the valley and followed a path that soon led me onto a tarmac road than runs below the cliffs of Craig yr Wrysgan and Pinacl. This road serves and brought me to the foot of the upper reservoir for the pumped-storage hydroelectric Ffestiniog Power Station. When I got within sight of the dam I turned off the road and took a footpath that climbs past the southern end of the dam and up the ridge of Carreg Blaen-Llym. The sunshine had not lasted long and it was already raining as I made my way up the hill, however these showers would prove to be short-lived and not return. Eventually I reached the top of the ridge at a point just to the south of Moelwyn Bach on the side of the mountain that I had seen from the A470 road during my approach.

When it wasn’t raining I had stunning views of the mountains north that would be my target for this walk where the scars of centuries of quarrying have added to rather than taking away from the spectacular scenery. The summit of Moelwyn Bach was a short grassy walk away, which I am sure I had been to before, but I don’t know when exactly this was, although my uncertainty must mean that it was during my ‘dark year’ of walking, in 2004, when I was not keeping any notes of my walking before I started this blog. This walk is a remembrance of that old walk, but in the opposite direction and from the other side of the mountains. On that occasion I had finished the walk on Moelwyn Bach, so I must have crossed from Moelwyn Mawr to Moelwyn Bach, but I have no memory of how I did that or how I was now supposed to cross the difficult terrain either side of Bwlch Stwlan, however a faint path led me away from the summit passing to the east of the difficulties taking me down a broad grassy band between the crags to Bwlch Stwlan where the path up the other side doesn’t bypass the difficulties but tackles them head-on. This ingenious path weaves through the rocky terrain scrambling up to the immensely satisfying ridge above Craigysgafn.

It was very cold and windy as I made my way up increasingly grassy and tedious slopes to eventually reach the summit of Moelwyn Mawr. It was now largely overcast, which was leaving the views disappointingly grey and dull, though they were still extensive and otherwise spectacular. Steep grassy slopes took me down to boggy ground where I kept to the edge of steep crags and climbed once more to reach the minor top of Moel-yr-hydd where the best views were back over the rocky Moelwyns and the hidden bowl housing Llyn Stwlan. In the other direction I descended broad grassy slopes to the ruins of Rhosydd Quarry where I had my lunch sheltered from the wind behind one of the buildings. Continuing my walk, I passed through the desolation left by the extensive quarrying and eventually emerged amongst the abandoned mine buildings in the broad saddle at the top of Cwmorthin. To my left, the shapely peak of Cnicht was drawing me on even though I was not seeing it from its most iconic perspective, from the south, where it appears as a well-defined peak. To get to the top of Cnicht I had to take a roundabout route continuing north along a faint path that was not easy to follow as it seemed to go out of its way to cross boggy ground when drier, rocky ground was available nearby.

Eventually I climbed up to a broad ridge where I turned left to head along an increasingly fabulous ridge as it narrows deliciously all the way up to the summit of Cnicht. The views north towards Snowdon and the other mountains in the area promised many delights for the coming week and had me eagerly anticipating the coming days. I had a fabulous walk in improving weather along the undulating ridge to Cnicht, so when I reached the summit I had no problem with having to turn around and head back along the ridge I had just walked along. When I reached the turning right onto the boggy path, I stayed on the ridge not wanting to take that path again, and instead I repeated my route of 2004 when I attempted to bag all the tops in the area. At the end of the broad grassy ridge is an unnamed 672 metre top where I was assailed by strong winds that had been curiously silent on Cnicht, and these continued as I exhaustingly climbed to the top of Moel Druman. A broad grassy saddle was crossed before I could reach the final peak of the day: Allt-fawr where I had extensive views over the mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog including the still active quarries to the north of the town.

Descending south I made my way along the ridge between Cwmorthin and the active slate quarries until eventually, before reaching the sheer drops off the top of Craig Nythgigfran, I turned right descending through heather into the remains of Cwmorthin Quarry. After negotiating the various twists and turns of the quarry roads I eventually found my way down to the track at the bottom of the valley that took me back to my car. This was an epic walk in strong winds with overcast skies for a lot of the day, but occasionally the weather cleared and afforded me with stunning views of these fabulous mountains that, except on Cnicht (the Welsh Matterhorn), were entirely empty of people. It is tragic that the awesome, craggy mountains of the Moelwyns should be ignored as they dominate the view from the south and more than satisfy a traverse.