Tryfan and the Glyders, Snowdonia

Been quite some time since the last lets go for a stroll outing, so it was time to organise another and hope we get a little bit of sunshine for the weekend. The met office forecasts were in our favour and even the drive up on the Friday night, gave good promise of a decent weekend walking was ahead.  Managing to leave work early and being chauffeured part way there we got to the campsite in good time. Antony was just in front of us but unfortunately he stopped at the first campsite he came to past Capel Curig, which was the wrong one :) To be fair there is only one different word in the name and they are a mile apart. He wasn’t the first or the last, after meeting Gillian there. Luckily my phone had reception and I managed to contact them and they made their way other to Gwern Gof Uchaf campsite.

First time I’ve stayed at this campsite, the owners see pretty friendly and despite the weather getting a bit blustery it was filling up fast with climbers, walkers and canoeists alike. My siblings, Luke and Alice had given me their tents the week before and I was supposed to get them up before they arrived, however they made great time driving up from the south coast and they in the end helped me put their tents up – how does that work! Next to arrive was the Macclesfield posse of Phil, Paul (new member), Rowena, Laura and Kiri (new member). Phil delighted us with his new pop-up tent, which literally did pop up! Although the design of the pattern on the outside was a tad suspect and had more camp than david in it. And so on to the Camp David signs, to which Laura, Rowena and Kiris effort completely blew away all competition as they draped the banner over their tent!

Next to arrive was Paul and Helen and then finally the party was complete when Rich turned up. Explaining that he had already pitched his tent in the wrong campsite because it was dark. oops. So he ran off and came back with the tent! A  few beers and some comedy from Brown, the night set in and although the campsite was very busy earlier, it became very quiet all of a sudden, except for us noisy bunch! Then pretty much out of the blue, it absolutely lashed down. It had been windy or evening, but now the rain had come in and we all sloped back into our tents and caught some kip.

With most of our tents shaking through the night with the wind and rain, few of us managed to get much sleep. Antony and Gillian sneaked off to obtain some morning luxury with a coffee and a bacon sandwich, much to Rich’s dismay. I was being camp chef and rustling some sausages sandwiches and tea in the rain. Eventually we all manage to get our stuff together, waterproofs and all, and began walking about 11am. Not an early start but to be honest it wouldn’t have been that much fun in the rain.

We started by heading up past the farm cottage northwards and walked up along the Nant Gwern y Gof. The ground was absolutely sodden with water, and my now rather worn boots were not doing much to keep my feet dry. We plodded on southwards across another stile and up through some more rocky ground. Eventually the contours started to increase and the cloud was coming in. Tryfan was mostly obscured by cloud at this moment, and frequent bouts of rain were falling on us. Considering the mountain forecast from the met office was sunny, I was hoping at some point during the day we may get some sunshine.

We clambered up a scree slope and had a rest and turned direction towards Tryfan, so thats north westward now, we followed the path round the hill. As we were climbing up to Bwlch Tryfan, Helen P spotted something on the ground. It was a perfectly frozen dragonfly, poor blighter probably flittered up there and got caught out by the cold night. Once on Bwlch Tryfan, the first split off the group occurred. Antony, Gillian and Helen P decided they wanted to go back down to the campsite. The rest of us had one thing in mind, to try and get to the top of Tryfan!! So we continued on. Over the wall we turned north and followed the path around the west side of the far south peak and started the scramble up. We were certainly in the cloud now.

I was astonished with how many people were there trying to climb the mountain. I suspect its close proximity to the road and that its fairly steep is  probably the reason. So getting caught in a few traffic jams going up the last 100m or so, and so rather dicey moments (well done to Paul who doesn’t like heights!) we all managed to make it safely to the top. Then quite to my astonishment a father was up there with his lad, and encouraged him to jump from Adam to Eve, the two iconic rocks at the top of Tryfan (915m). People are encouraged to jump from one to the other and are said to be given the freedom of tryfan. But with the conditions the way they were I was surprised that the kid attempted it – but he did and fair play, although I think parental judgement might have been lacking. So I was outdone by a seven year old this day. But I thought my boots with no grip would  not do me very well if I attempted it.

As more people clambered to the top, we all decided enough was enough, so we  walked down, passing a poor whimpering dog, who I thought his owner was being a tad cruel as it was clear the dog was unhappy – bad man! We descended down the same route to the col, Bwlch Tryfan. It had now become decision time, who wanted to continue up another hill and who wanted to head back. Climbing Tryfan in those conditions is pretty good on its own, but Rich, Rowena, Laura and Kiri wanted more punishment and decided to join me to ascend up the steep scress to the Glyders whilst the others decided to make there way down off the hills.

It was quite a steep climb up the screes (near Bristly Ridge), the sky had cleared for a while and the peaks of Tryfan behind were a lovely sight. As we passed some clumsy people causing mini avalanches we got to the top of the slope and took a breather. The view wa s amazing, with the swirling breaking cloud. After some snacks we continued on towards Glyder Fach (994m). Just before we clambered up the the rocky top, I spotted the Cantilever Stone which I had to get a picture – hoping it wouldn’t budge with my bulk. We then claimed our second mountain of the day, trying not to slip up over the rocks.

The weather turning quite cold now and windy, a dutch/german fell runner ran passed and then like us got confused to where the path had gone. So we made our own way around the mini peak of  Castell y Gwynt (972m). We continued eastwards into the cloud. The wind became quite deafening but I managed to utter at least ten times we nearly there just around the corner! And there it was the last peak of the day. I call all the surrounding rock formations dinosaurs or hedgehogs – cause they are quite spikey!! We got to the top of Glyder Fawr (999m) and then moved on pretty quickly and headed north westward down the path towards Devil’s Kitchen.

Passing the reeds in Llyn y Cwn we turned northwards and began the descent of the giant rock staircase. Although it was still quite misty, it didn’t take away the true atmosphere of the surrounding rock faces and waterfalls. We followed the path to the east of Llyn Ldwal and then on down to the Youth Hostel. I was hoping the little shop would be open for a cup of tea but no such luck! I would have to wait to the camp site! With the knees and legs tired, the walking on tarmac was relief, although the cars were not!  We carried on around Llyn Ogwen and passed the Milestone Buttress (a famous climbing haunt) and back to the campsite where we caught up with the others.

Back at the campsite, we all got into warm and dry clothes and all took off down to Betws-y-Coed for some dinner. Dinner options limited at the best of times in this place, I was thinking it would only be fish and chips for tea. But we managed to get a couple of tables at this one place. It was quite nice, and the starters were pretty amazing. I never know with starters if its just that I’m hungry and any decent food tastes wonderful or if it was just good!! Unfortunately the steak was not up to the same standard, and really a pale imitation of what it should have been. Well fed we headed off to a pub for a few beers. With most of us quite tired from the walking we sat around and nattered for a bit and then decided it was time to head back. Picking up a few stragglers on the way we got back and got some well deserved rest.

Up early the next morning, the group started to disband. Although it did take all of us to have a go at sorting out Phil’s pop-up tent back into its bag. A combination of Rich and Laura sorted that out and as a consequence Phil still has a tent, which might have otherwise been launched or burnt!! A quick thank you for everyone for coming along it was great fun despite the weather. Hopefully soon I’ll pick a weekend which is sunny!!

Prizes

Walking with injuries but looking good in a hat goes to Ant
Scrambling over his fear prize goes to Paul.
Best Camp David sign goes to Rowena, Laura and Kiri.
Done a runner, Gillian
Booby prize goes to the met office who completely screwed up their forecasts.