The striking summits rising high above
the west side of the Ogwen Valley

The Glyderau
As far as scenic grandeur is concerned, only Snowdon itself and the Highlands of Scotland can compete with this place. It is certainly a favourite part of Wales for myself. It is a place that is better suited to the wilderness of the Cairngorms than the busy road infrastructure here. On nice sunny weekends, the huge number of parked cars lining the road here is testimony to the fact that this really is a great place. Often though, it will be very hard to find time alone on a sunny weekend. Come during midweek though, and your're far more likely to have the place all to yourself.

Foel Goch and Llyon Ogwen seen from Tryfan's north ridge

Dramatic Tryfan seen across Llyn Ogwen

The cantilever stone on Glyder Fach

Tryfan seen from Bristly Ridge

When Driving towards Llyn Ogwen from Capel Curig, it is the imposing north ridge of Tryfan that captures the hikers attention. The ascent of this north ridge is a grade 1 scramble and is second only to Snowdon for popularity in Wales. The ascent has a lot of walking to it but where the scrambling does exist it is enough to scare quite a few people. The main difficulties lie in finding a way through the lower crags and also the upper nose.

On 'Adam and Eve'

How to get good luck!

Tryfan seen from the Devil's Kitchen

There are many routes through the lower barrier of Tryfan and have varying levels of difficulty. Route finding is half the challenge here. Generally as you follow the paths diagonally upwards and leftwards beneath the crags, the routes through the barrier become easier. Once past the barrier it's mostly walking up to 'the nose'. Here the scrambling becomes compulsory. Folk usually find the route up and slightly left of the nose to be the easiest before finding themselves at 'the notch'. Beyond the notch, there are no more problems.

Glyder Fach and Bristly Ridge seen from Tryfan

Scrambling out of the notch of Tryfan

Scrambling on Bristly Ridge

The scrambling fun can be continued by traversing Bristly Ridge up to the summit plateau of Glyder Fach. Bristly Ridge is said to be the same level of difficulty as the North Ridge of Tryfan. Overall the steepness of the route is more prolonged and there are vertical drops close by but it really is easy. There are no awkward moves and there are numerous opportunities to exit the ridge on the right. The ridge is less popular than Tryfan so you have more grippy and less polished rock. In that sense it's probably safer than Tryfan - but certainly more spectacular!

Glyder Fawr seen from Glyder Fach

Glyder Fach and its broken northern cliffs

The eastern ridge of the Gyderau - the approach from Capel Curig

The walk between Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr is certainly very rocky while the Castell y Gwynt provides some mild optional scrambling. The plateau of Glyder Fawr can be challenging to navigate off under misty conditions and with cliffs never far away, the place does have a feeling of being on a high Cairngorm plateau. Two good routes of ascent bring you up on to Glyder Fawr. The Devils Kitchen brings you close to some fantastic cliff scenery including the deep cleft of his Kitchen itself. A scrambling option is to ascend the Y Gribin ridge. This is regarded as an easy introductory scramble and it is well worth the climb. Another route up is via the north east ridge of Y Garn that brings you on to its grassy summit ridge. The entire northern escarpment is a site to see from the mountain on the other side - Yr Ole Wen.

Looking down the southwest ridge of Glyder Fawr

Glyder Fawr seen from Y Garn

Llyn Idwal and the Devils Kitchen with Idwal slabs

The Glyderau ridge extends north beyond Y Garn continuing over the summits of Foel Goch and Mynydd Perfedd before terminating on the most the northerly summit of Carnedd y Filiast. The ground is quite grassy from Y Garn onwards with big cliffs dropping eastwards down into the Valley of nant Ffrancon. An interesting side summit is that of Elidir Fawr - it looks best when seen from Myndd Perfedd where its pyramidal profile looks very striking. Nestled at the bottom of its north eastern slopes is the Reservior of Marchlyn Mawr, part of the Dinorwig pumped storage scheme.

Eildir Fawr and the Llanberis quarries

The Glyders seen from Moel Siabod in the south

Looking down Nant Ffrancon