Pen yr Ole Wen and Carnedd Dafydd

Weather Forecast: for Sunday 27th March 2011

Route Length: 5miles

Note:- Carneddau is pronounced as "Carn neth aye"

After a year off it was a great feeling to be back hiking on the hills again. The Carneddau range has always been on my list of "must dos". In the past, the magnetic draw from the Glyders was too great to ignore so I have never ventured on this side of the valley.

It was another chance to cross off another two peaks from the Welsh 3000s! If I had more time and the following day off work I would have continued to complete the Carneddau range.

Conditions were dry but the whole morning had extensive hill fog and low clouds which did put a dampener on things. I could have produced a whole lot more amazing scenic shots if we had clear blue skys, especially the view from Pen Yr Ole Wen summit.

This is a shot of Llyn Ogwen from the east.

Llyn Ogwen again with the foot of the south slope of Pen Yr Ole Wen to the right.

Looking back down toward the A5, the path runs parallel to the Afon Lloer for most of the way.

Beyond the path, as you ascend further up, it suddenly disappears and its just boggy grassy terrain until you get to the foot of the climb before reaching the Ffynnon Lloer.

After a hard slog through boggy terrain we come to the foot of the east ridge of Pen Yr Ole Wen.

Some great scrambling up here, this was the steepest part of the hike. Hand holds were plenty, not too many loose rocks plus they were dry to touch so I breezed up this bit in no time :P

The summit Cairn of Pen Yr Ole Wen, amazing views!!. From here you can see Tryfan, the Glyders, the Snowdon horseshoe, the Carneddau.............on a good day!!

Looking toward the south side of the summit.

Onwards to Carnedd Dafydd, now we have even thicker mist! This was the ridge walk between the two mountains.

Carnedd Dafydd Summit Cairn! I must come up here again in clearer weather to give a part 2 report sometime.

Looking back after descending Pen Yr Ole Wen.

The mighty Tryfan north ridge in the mist.

A Few More Pics

A view not far from Plas Y Brenin (sounds like Plastic Bread Bin, lol) Mountain Centre looking toward Snowdon Massif.











A view towards Nant Peris

Tryfan North Face+Bristly Ridge+Devils Kitchen09

Today Jason and I are going to tackle some of the best scrambling ridges in Snowdonia.

The route we'll be taking is from Tryfan's north ridge, down the south ridge, up Bristly ridge, Glyder Fach, over Castle of the Winds, Glyder Fawr, down the steep scree slope and finally down through the Devil's Kitchen to the Idwal carpark.

We left one car at Idwal carpark and one at the foot of Tryfan which cancels out the need to walk along the A55.

Here is a quick map with our route plotted for the day.

Parked along the layby just off the A55 at the foot of Tryfan, we headed up the steep climb. (9:50am)

Looking across Llyn Ogwen, A55, with my car in the distance below! Foel Goch in the middle with some low level cloud cover.

A bit more elevation gained.

At this point there are no distinct paths so route finding was up to us.

On my way up!

We could see the first of the three summit points of Tryfan.

A great photo opportunity on the famous cannon stone.

Conditions were damp so the climb down was a little bit trickier.

Jason doing the vertical stuff. This is what a grade 1 scramble looks like.

Looking across to the summit with one of the Adam and Eve stones in view.

Llyn Bochlwyd, Llyn Idwal and Llyn Ogwen all in one shot with Y Garn and Foel Goch in the background.

More of the north ridge traverse.

Taking a quick break on the summit.

It was too windy and scary to stand up or jump between the stones!

Adam and Eve.

View of Bristly ridge and Glyder Fach from the summit of Tryfan.

South side descent of Tryfan.

After the descent of the south face of Tryfan we were faced with the gnarly Bristly ridge. We had a 5mins stop and think time to discuss our line of attack!

Jason at the start of the scramble up one of the Gullies, Sinister Gully? Possibly.

A view down from a safe standing point. Not a good place to be if you suffer from Acrophobia as the exposure is quite severe.

Looking across the gully.

Plaster on my finger, minor mishap, the rock won and my finger lost!

Quite a distance down!

Nearly there at the end of Sinister Gully.

Near the top of sinister gully, notice a small group of people in the distance! I can sum up the gully as having some serious exposure, sheer drops, slippery damp rock foot and handholds and much more technical than most parts of crib goch.

Topping out, the only way is over and down climb.

My turn.

A vertical down climb part.

Looking back at the wall we'd down climbed.
Another pinnacle ahead, the great pinnacle gap perhaps?


Resting spot. me admiring the drop!

Looking across the Glyders from Bristly ridge. The lake below is called Llyn Bochlwyd or sometimes it is also known as lake Australia, due to the fact that its shape, when seen from above, resembles that of Australia.

Looking back at Tryfan from Bristly ridge.

Jason down climbing one of the pinnacles.

Llyn Bochlwyd through the gap.

Looking back from Glyder Fach after topping out on Bristly ridge. After doing Tryfan and Bristly ridge I would rate the latter as harder and more technical of the two as some lines were a definite grade 2 scramble in dry conditions!

The boulder field summit of Glyder Fach.

The famous cantilever stone on Glyder Fach.



Coming off the cantilever, there was still a fair gap to jump over!

The amazing Snowdon horseshoe viewed from Glyder Fach.

Straddling the summit stone of Glyder Fach. I must say that it was quite narrow!

Snowdon horseshow and the Castle of the Winds to the right.

Looking across to Glyder Fawr. This was a straight forward walk between the two mountains after negotiating round the castle of the winds' boulders.

Y Garn and Foel Goch from Glyder Fach.

Where's the summit point on Glyder Fawr?

Jason going down the nasty scree slope of Glyder Fawr.

More of the never ending scree slope descent.

Heading toward the top of Devil's Kitchen, our final descent.

Descending the Devil's kitchen.
A view of Pen Yr Ole Wen from Devil's Kitchen.









Looking back at Devil's kitchen.

Back to the start and we have Pen Yr Ole Wen basking in the afternoon sunshine. It was a great day out, a proper mountain day, with some scars and bruises to prove it as well!

Duration of walk:- 6hrs 20mins

Weather:- Forecast to rain, but it was dry all the way through.