A website and blog by Peter Lewis
PostsGlyder Fawr and Glyder Fach from Ogwen
I decided that it might be quite nice to keep a record of some of the walks which I've done, along with photographs along the way. This is the first, an all day walk in Snowdonia, beginning and ending at Ogwen Cottage, and conquering Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach, passing Llyn Idwal, Devil's Kitchen, The Nameless Cwm, Castle of the Winds and Bristly Ridge. The full set of photos is also on Flickr.
One sunny morning in April... breakfast cooked on my new Trangia stove! Fried egg sandwiches!
The walk begins at Ogwen Cottage, on the road from Capel Curig to Bethesda. Park in the car park and follow the well-maintained path which begins behind the Ranger Station. Tryfan and the Glyder ridge loom up ahead...
We quickly arrive at Llyn Idwal, with the gully of Devil's Kitchen marking our route ahead.
On the other side of the lake, the gentle walk turns into more of a scramble, as we make our way up to the side of Devil's Kitchen, gaining height quickly. My legs start to hurt.... :-(
Once we're above Devil's Kitchen, the landscape flattens out and despite the very dry weather recently, the ground is still very boggy. The path splits here; right to Y Garn, straight on towards Snowdon and the Llanberis Pass, and left up to Glyder Fawr - our route.
As we make progress on the second steep ascent, the village of Llanberis comes into view on the other side of the ridge.
A quick look back towards Y Garn and down to Llyn Idwal reveals that we've gained height quickly. No zig-zags here - it's straight up the mountain side.
As we near the peak of Glyder Fawr, the Snowdon range comes into view on the right, flanked by Crib Goch and Crib Y Ddysgal.
At last the peak of Glyder Fawr is visible... there's just a final scramble over the rocks to the top!
We get our first view to the east, across the moon-like ridge to Glyder Fach, with Tryfan off to the left. Time for a snack too!
As we begin our somewhat less strenuous walk along the flat ridge to Glyder Fach, the landscape opens up and really does feel quite desolate. There's not much alive up here.
Just to the west of Glyder Fach, stands the rocky outcrop known as the Castle of the Winds. Having walked around it, the retrospective shows the path we've just walked, with the peak of Glyder Fawr on the skyline, and Snowdon on the left.
The summit of Glyder Fach just like a small pile of rocks from a distance, but size can be deceiving up here.
Reaching the top of the peak itself is a little more challenging...
It's fairly quiet up here on Glyder Fach - there are only a handful of people. A zoom lens on my camera reveals that there are quite a few people on the summit of Tryfan though!
Just beyond the summit of Glyder Fach is "The Cantilever"... can't miss this photo opportunity!
Time to leave Glyder Fach, and head down to the side of Bristly Ridge... this is quite steep and there's a lot of loose scree.
We lose height quickly, and Tryfan looms ahead of us the whole way down. On another day (or with better legs) we might have added this peak onto the end of the walk.
Mountain Rescue are out. Luckily on this occasion it appears to just be a training exercise.
As we reach Bwlch Tryfan at the base of Bristly Ridge, the path evens out and the grass returns.
Further down and Ogwen Cottage and the car park come into view. Not far to go!
Tired but triumphant! Marla smiles on reaching the end of the six and a half hour walk.
Thanks for sharing the photos and the account of the journey. I'm doing this same walk on Thursday 20/03/08 and reading this account has really inspired me. Awesome!
Thanks for the comment Geoff. I hope you enjoy the walk. Drop by and let us know how it went!
I did this walk a few months ago. We lost our way and ended up in a sticky situation. We got back eventually though, just before nightfall. It got really misty too so we couldn't see a thing. Lucky we didn't stop to take photos on the cantilever stone, otherwise it would have been night time by the time we got back to the car! I have some lovely photographs from the walk though.
Doing the '15 peak challenge' in June, you have just scared the hell out of me.
Ady
Lovely photography on this rugged part of Snowdonia.
I live in Llandudno and prefer the Carneddau for the solitude they provide the walker but on Bank holiday Monday (26-05-08)i desided to have a go at the Glyders not having done them for some years.
Now this was a bank holiday but either the weather forcast had scared the walkers away or they had already gone home because it was extreamly quiet.I only spoke to four people on the main ridge itself and for most of the time i had the Glyders to myself.
The clouds were high but so was the wind,blowing extreamly hard at times making it almost impossible to stand at times but thankfully it remained dry.
After traversing the main summits i came down the terribly steep Lyn y cwn path and boy was the wind strong.
Eventually i desided to come down the Devils Kitchen path but right at the top before you assend the wind was at its full strength.I cannot remember wind this strong,it was so strong that i almost changed my mind in coming down this way.
The last time i experienced wind this strong was assending the ridge towards Pen y Fan in the Brecon Beacons over fifteen years ago when i had to go down on hands and knees and crawl the distance to the summit.
Apart from the wind the day was perfect.
Thanks for the comments folks - it's great to hear about other people's adventures up on the mountains.
I've actually never been up the Carneddau, though I'd imagine that there'd be some fantastic views of the Glyders from up there. In the past, I've experienced some of the strongest winds ever on top of Tryfan... so much so that getting to the summit was impossible. Having said that, on a quiet sunny day, there's nowhere better.
I'm hoping to get some more of these walks pages up here soon - it's been too long!
Did the walk yesterday, after walking Yr Wyddfa via the Pyg Track the day before, but went opposite to you. Me and Amber the dog loved every minute. Unbelieveable views and great scrambling/walking from Bwlch Tryfan up the scree. Gutted as I missed the cantilever like a muppet I thought it was near Glyder Fawr. Cant wait for our next day out to Y Garn and Elidir Fawr. Take Care. Jamie
Myself and a team from Stena Line are attempting the 24 Peaks challenge in the Lake district in July (24 Peaks all over 2400ft in 24 hours)to raise money for Seafarers UK. This route, in reverse, has been suggested as a practice walk so the pictures are a great help for me to get an idea of what is ahead.
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