In the 80s I went on a primary school trip to Snowdonia and the weather was awful - we didn't get to climb Snowdon and had to turn back scrambling up to Devil's Kitchen. Last year I finally got to conquer Snowdon, this year it was time to get back to Cwm Idwal, with my eldest son, 14.
We were only in the area for a few nights so I was delighted when the weather forecast on our first morning showed near perfect conditions for the Glyderau. We set off from the Visitor Centre car park just before 10. The skies were still cloudy, with occasional outbreaks of sun, and the waterfalls were in full spate after the previous day's deluge. My DSLR was also still misted up!
It's an easy walk up to Cwm Idwal on a clear path and before long we could see the Devil's Kitchen (Twll Du) looming overhead. We choose to go round the left of the lake and then cut across the end. We later realised we could have walked further on up past the Idwal Slabs and then walked diagonally up to join the path climbing to Devil's Kitchen.
I ended up taking rather a lot of photos on the climb, as it gave me an excuse to catch my breath. There were good views back down to Cwm Idwal and across to Pen yr Ole Wen and the rest of the Carneddau. As we got higher, we could just make out the top of Tryfan.
At one point an older chap caught up with us, carrying a huge rucksack and proclaiming it his last walk here. While we chatted a jet went through the valley below us, flying incredibly low.
In 1984 the route up was a slippery scree slope. It now has large stone boulders as steps and the first mission for the day was accomplished surprisingly quickly. Devil's Kitchen itself was extremely wet so we took the path off to the left.
That leads up to a wall with a stile and then on to the col between Y Garn and Glyder Fawr. We were heading for the latter, up an unpleasant but not too challenging scree slope, and could look back to the former across Llyn y Cwn.
From the top of the scree slope it was a quick walk to the summit of Glyder Fawr.
The summit of Snowdon was in cloud and remained so all the time we were on the plateau. We had definitely chosen the right walk.
We didn't want to hog the summit so my son found us another rock formation to shelter by while we ate some lunch. It wasn't that windy for 1,000m up and although there were people dotted about it was quiet.
There was a large boulder field to cross on our way to Castell y Gwynt and Glyder Fach. I've seen it described as a moonscape and with all the odd rock formations I can see why.
We wanted to scramble over Castell y Gwynt and had a lot of fun trying but never made it to the actual summit. At one point I forgot the basic rule of never climbing up something you can't climb down but eventually, by repeatedly lowering my rucksack first to to my son, I was able to retreat.
I decided I didn't want the ignominy of returning to the path at the same point we'd left it and thought I could see an alternative way out. I ended up having to get down the groove you can see in this picture. A passing couple shouted instructions to me and I managed to get my feet in the right place. As we walked off it became clear the summit would have been easier tackled from the east.
Next up was Glyder Fach. Again it called for scrambling over large boulders. We reached what we thought was the summit then decided another high point a few metres away might be it. We went round to the eastern side to scramble up. My son had a vertigo attack but with the help of a kind chap's arm I was able to get to the top. I usually love it when we're the only ones on a mountain but today I was glad there were just enough friendly people around to help out, without it being too crowded.
Before we left the plateau there was one more thing we had to do - stand on the Cantilever. What people don't tell you is that although in the pictures it looks like a flat slab, it actually slopes towards the photographer, making it feel less secure than I'd expected to walk along. Never the less I managed a small jump.
My original plan had involved going up the South Ridge of Tryfan but I was pleased when my son said no way, as it saved me having to say it. Looking back at the pictures now I think I can see the route up but at the time, already tired, it just looked like a very steep bunch of rocks and scree. We also didn't want to take the direct route down the scree slope to Bwlch Tryfan, instead taking the long way round by heading down to the Miner's Path.
From Bwlch Tryfan we went over the wall and down to Llyn Bochlwyd. The walk out seemed to go on forever, despite us taking the direct route down to the car park.
In all, the walk/scramble took us just under 9 hours - you can see the route
here. Having not quite fitted in enough Snowdonian cliches, we ended the day in Pete's Eats in Llanberis, with pint mugs of milkshake and hot chocolate and large plates of food.