Many years ago, Colin, Geoff and I went to our normal lay-by at the foot of Tryfan’s North Ridge. I knew we were going to do Tryfan that day, but was unaware until we got out of the car that we were going to also take on Bristly Ridge, cross the Glyders and come down via The Devil’s Kitchen (Twll Du). I thoroughly enjoyed this day. So with that in mind I said to Andy and Ray I would love to do this route again!

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We talked through what we wanted to do, and came up with a plan. The plan consisted of me dropping Andy and Ray off at Pete’s Eats  in Llanberis where they would tuck into a breakfast. I would then drive to the Ogwen Valley and park in the usual lay-by at the base of Tryfan’s North Ridge.

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Andy & Ray would start off from Pete’s Eats and walk out of Llanberis along the A4086 and go through Nant Peris to Gwastadnant, they would then turn left and take the track up Cwm Cneifio to Llyn  y Cwm which sits between The Glyders and Y Garn.

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 My route would take me up the North Ridge of Tryfan past Adam & Eve, over the South Peak down to Bwlch Tryfan and then up Bristly Ridge, across The Glyders and down to Llyn y Cwm to meet up with Andy and Ray and then we would all go up Y Garn and then make our way down to the car park by Idwal Cottage, then the final bit to the lay-by where my car is parked.

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We were up early, snacks and drinks made, gear checked and packed. The day looked over cast, but nothing to worry about. I dropped Andy & Ray off at Pete’s eats and I headed off to the Ogwen Valley.

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I parked in the lay-by I normally park in when doing the Tryfan North Ridge (SH663602). I then crossed the road to take some photos and have a look at Llyn Ogwen. The weather was still quite overcast, but I was in the right frame of mind to do this route today!

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I re-crossed the road, through the gate and onto the base of Tryfan’s North Ridge. Following the path which leads to a dry stone wall, which I follow with the wall to my right. The wall seems to come to an end, at which point I turn left and continue up. Every time I climb Tryfan’s North Ridge, the first 50mtrs until I turn left away from the wall and the climb gets steeper, is what gets me the most. I am always out of breath and find it hard going, taking countless breathers, but as soon as I start to head away from the wall I seem to be fine! (This has happened every time I have climbed Tryfan, even when I was still young and relatively fit after leaving the army).

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Every time I have climbed Tryfan via the North ridge, I have never been able to follow exactly the same route, I always pass the Canon and obviously always get to the gullies and then Adam & Eve, but these are the only points I can safely say I have got to every time. The rest of the route is always down to how I feel, what the weather is like and what grip I am getting. I have always said the North Ridge can be as easy or as hard as you want to make it! On this day, yes the weather was overcast which would mean the rock face would be at best damp in places, but as I have already mentioned I was up for this route, so as I got to what I would call a technical bit of the route, I would weigh up the options and find the hardest route I could find, taking into account the conditions. (I was in my element and having fun).

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I reached the Canon with no problems.  Around this time, Andy & Ray were just leaving the outskirts of Llanberis. There were a few people having the obligatory photo on the Canon, so I took a quick photo and headed on my way. The weather seemed to be improving, still some low cloud but some blue sky showing through, I thought the sun would eventually burn this off.

I seemed to gain height quickly this day compared to my last visit the week before, I seemed to be taking more breathers last week, but that might be down to the fact I was taking a lot more photos, so I could go through the route with Andy & Ray, to see If I could convince them to try the North Ridge. (No I couldn’t).

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I got to the summit and Adam & Eve in around 2 hours, not the quickest I have climbed the North Ridge, but not the slowest either! There were very few people on the summit for a change. There were some lovely views into the valley when the cloud cleared.

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At around this point, Andy & Ray had started on their route. The road follows the edge of Llyn Peris; on the opposite bank is the entrance to The Electric Mountain Power Station.

 

I continued towards the South Summit. From here you could see Y Garn in cloud then out of cloud. When the cloud was gone, it looked a wonderful day! I carried on down to Bwlch Tryfan. Looking back at Tryfan in glorious sunshine is a wonderful sight. I had a quick break before I started up Bristly Ridge.

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As I have said before, the north ridge of Tryfan is my favourite climb, but when you climb Bristly Ridge, it is whole new level of climbing especially as it is obviously a shorter climb than Tryfan. You have to be sure of your route choice and most of all know your limitations! The beginning of the climb is a lot like Tryfan plenty of choices and as hard or easy as you want it to be. After about 20 minutes of climbing, I took a breather and also took my 1st photo from Bristly Ridge.

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Andy & Ray continued to follow the A4086 and went through Nant Peris onto Gwastadnant. They then turned left (SH614576) through the middle gate and follow the track up Cwm Padrig and  Cwm Cneifio, following Afon Las.

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Bristly Ridge is a brilliant scramble, but not for the faint-hearted. As it has been quite a few years since I had climbed it with Colin, I had forgotten just how difficult it is in places to climb it! As you are more or less climbing a gully, it is surprising how many great photos and views you can get while climbing it.

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As I reached the top of Bristly Ridge, and clambered onto the Glyders, the cloud had come down again in places. I turned to look at Tryfan which was bathed in sunshine except for the very top which was covered in cloud. The cloud on the Glyders was as it had been all day, one minute it was there, the next gone! I missed seeing the Cantilever stone, because of the mist; I was using the cairns to plot my route when the mist was about me! The Castle of the winds was shrouded in mist which gave it an eerie look!

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Andy & Ray managed to get some nice photos of a view of Snowdon we don’t see that often, including one of the train heading to the summit!

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Ray started to feel unwell at some point and he decided to turn back, and meet us in Llanberis, leaving Andy to continue to near Llyn y Cwm which sits between The Glyders and Y Garn, to meet up with me!

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I continued across the Glyders, in and out of the mist, while in Bwlch y Ddwy-Glyder, I got a lovely view of Snowdon, not completely covered in cloud, with the miners track in clear view, although Crib Goch was slightly covered in cloud. I continued across the Gliders from cairn to cairn even if there was no cloud, because it would come in that quick!

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I tried to contact Andy on the radio, but got no answer, so I just continued on my way. I eventually found the scree slope which was my route off the Glyders and down to meet Andy & Ray (or so I thought), but unbeknown to me Ray had already turned back. As I descended the scree slope I tried again to contact Andy on the radio, eventually getting a reply. He told me where he was waiting for me.

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When we met up, he told me about Ray, I was concerned as Ray had felt unwell on Yr Aran the previous week. Andy and I sat down for a while talking about each other’s routes, while I had a bite to eat, which Andy had bought for me.

 

The original plan was once we had met up was to go up Y Garn, then down to Llyn Idwal, but as we talked, the cloud covered the top of Y Garn. As neither of us had ever been up this peak, and knew the route, we decided against it, opting to go down via the Devil’s Kitchen (Twll Du), a route we had come up before, and I had gone down before but Andy hadn’t. It was a quick decent down to Llyn Idwal, then down to the car park near Idwal cottage, then an easy walk along the A5 to where my car was parked at the base of Tryfan, while walking along the A5, we both kept looking at the skyline to our right, we both said more or less the same thing at the same time, my whole route was in that view, and what a spectacular view it was! I got the sense from what Andy had said that he was sort of proud of me!

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Once back at the car (around 15:30), we got ourselves sorted (change of footwear etc), then headed along the A5 to Capel Curig, then turning right onto the A4086 towards Snowdon then turned right again at the Pen-y-Gwryd hotel, to continue along the A4086, going over Pen-y-Pass, down the Pass of Llanberis, going past the start of Andy & Ray’s track to Llyn y Cwm, and down into Llanberis. There is a bar in Llanberis we have been to before called The Heights; Andy had told Ray we would meet him in there. We pulled into the car park, and there was Ray enjoying the late afternoon sun. We had a few drinks and then headed back to the cottage.