6 of us. Myself, Dave (Rhino), Luke (ljmeerkat75), heatybob (Ged), Mark (harry_keogh) and Carl (guest invite from another forum) met up last Friday (13th!) for another trip up Tryfan.
Bit different to last time we made the scramble up to the summit as the plan was to head round to the right (west) a bit and go up via the Milestone Gully. Eventually joining up with the North ridge before continuing onto the summit.
After that it was down the other (South) side but instead of going back up Bristly Ridge, we would traverse round to the right to join the north face of Glyder Fach. The plan then was to head straight up the Main Gully. This, conveniently, summits very close to the Cantilever stone.
After that, well it was all depending on the time. Drop back down to climb back up Bristly Ridge or back down the Gribin.
I didn’t fancy a 4am alarm call
back in Notts so travelled down the night before and stayed (along with Dave) in the YHA in Conway the night before.
The alarm clock was set for a leisurely 6am. Breakfast at 645am in the local McDonalds, before popping round the corner to the train station to pick up Luke at 7.30am.
Unfortunately, McDonalds was closed as the Manager hadn’t turned up
This left 3 members of staff outside to turn people away.
Plan B. A bacon cob in the café at the train station.
Said cob and a tea later, we met Luke and headed over to meet the others.
It was just after 8am when we approached the car park at the foot of Tryfan. Ged, Carl and Mark where already there so, after brief introductions, we set of up the path. This time, taking a right turn at the wooden style by the wall.
Traversing round a bit, we began to approach the beginning of the Milestone Gully.
It wasn’t long before we approached the mantelshelf. Cue some fun and games as we tried to climb up this awkward, 5ft high piece of rock.
I don’t have any pics of this (others might) but it was pretty tricky having to haul oneself up this narrow stretch of rock. In the end, 4 of us made it up, 2 walked round to avoid the tricky shelf.
Rucksacks back on (took them off to make it easier to climb up the shelf) and a short debrief on the mantelshelf later, we continued on up the gully.
Pretty steep and wet and slippy in places.
Looking back down
Soon we were out of the gully and out in the open again.
The scrambling continued. Generally, with nice grippy rock with lots of good hand/foot holds.
The grass/heather was very slippy in places though which kept us on our toes.
We took a line up with the intention of coming out near the canon stone and, after some more fun scrambling, we popped out literally just below it.
We paused for 10 minutes and took turns on the stone, taking photos along the way.
Soon after we continued up the North Ridge proper. Again, there was no pre-set route so we just took whatever line looked the most exciting. Occasionally pausing for a quick chat.
There was a very tricky piece of rock that some of us we negotiated. There were various routes around it so it was every man for himself as to which route each person took.
My heart was slightly racing as I followed Luke and Mark up a particular line.
Again, I’ve no pictures of the awkward piece of rock but it was a bit iffy and I was relieved to make it up but my arms where aching from supporting myself on the rock for several minutes.
By this time, the sun was out, the sky was blue and the views all around were great.
Soon after that, we approached another huge chunk of rock that Carl, Luke and Mark decided to venture straight up and over.
The rest of us took some pics and headed round to the right to go the easier way up.
It looked pretty intimidating but, when we joined up on the other side, the guys said that it wasn’t too bad. Maybe next time….
Think this was the easier route up round to the right…
It wasn’t long before the scrambling fun was over (for now) and we reached the summit of Tryfan. Initially, we were the only ones there. As I walked up onto the summit with Luke, we discussed how different it was to the last time when there must have been over 100 up there!
After a brief climb up Adam (or Eve), to have a look at the “leap”, I hastily climbed back down again. Not for me. The gusts of wind put me off. Maybe another time on a perfectly calm day…
Few pics of the guys making the leap
After a spot of lunch, we began the descent down the south ridge. Keeping to our right. The group split for a while as Mark and then Carl forged on ahead to scope out a number of other routes across the north face of Glyder Fach.
Once down at the path, it was time to say adios to Ged who had arranged to do just the Tryfan section of the walk. As Ged took the path back down to Llyn Ogwen, the 3 amigos, turned left and traversed across towards our next destination, Main Gully.
Lovely view of Llyn Bochlwdy and beyond.
And back to Tryfan.
Another brief rest stop by Alphabet slab and a brief hello to 2 climbers that had descended down one of the gully’s, we were ready to begin the ascent up the main gully.
We couldn’t see Mark and Carl so assumed they had already began ascending one of the gully’s further across to the right.
Dave coming up the Gully.
I don’t have any pics of the next hour or so and, could probably write a whole trip report about said hour.
The short version however….it was a good climb up the gully. Then we reached the infamous chockstone.
Luke make the awkward manoeuvre, no problem. I had a couple of attempts and so did Dave.
It was tricky and, half way through the manoeuver (which is as far as we got initially) the exposure feeling was starting to make me feel a tad nervous.
Feeling a bit dejected, we decided that we would not be able to make it so agreed that the sensible thing would be to retrace our steps and descend back down the gully. Didn’t like the look of that either!
Just as we were about to descend. Carl and Mark turned up. Fresh from their own adventures on another gully/ridge. Carl, being the climber type, asked what the problem was and suggested we take another look at the chockstone. He then climbed up to said stone and a consultation began about exactly how to navigate it!
I watched Carl make the manoeuvre and saw that he had positioned his body at a different angle to how I (and Dave) had approached it previously.
Encouraged by the team, we gave it another try. Suffice to say, with some help from Carl and Luke, Dave tried first and, with a helping hand from the guys, made it up the stone.
I followed next and, whilst I didn’t fancy the exact manoeuvre that Dave managed, I made it up, following the manoeuvre that I had seen Carl perform a few minutes earlier.
Was a bit of a revelation really. 15 mins before I had been in the same position and couldn’t find a way up.
Now, just by positioning myself a bit different, the hand/footholds instantly became more accessible and voila, easy peasy! Well, not that easy at all but previously it had seemed impossible!
A few minutes were taken to gather ourselves (heart was racing a bit from the ups and downs of the last 30 mins) before we then headed onwards and upwards.
Was fairly steep but not too technically demanding with good foot/handhelds again.
A short time later the gully opened up and we could see that the final leg was in sight.
Another steep section with some big chunky rocks but very grippy and bone dry, unlike some sections back down in the gully.
Glorious blue sky too
Shortly before the summit and scrambling complete.
A brief stop on the top (no venture onto the Cantilever stone this time) and chat about our earlier exploits. It had certainly been an interesting last hour to say the least.
Time was getting on and, from memory, it was around 5pm so a drop back down and “extra” climb back up Bristly Ridge wasn’t on the agenda so a quick decision was made that we would walk across the ridge and descend via the Gribin.
The descent of the Gribin wasn’t too bad. As far as long descents go. Having done it once before, I knew the top part was fairly steep with some loose scree but, I've seen worse
A look back up the Gribin.
Tryfan, Bristly Ridge and the North face of Glyder Fach
A close up of the North Face. Main gully just left of centre.
Route details.
Total time of 11hrs 22 mins.
Total Ascent 1101m (3612ft). Total distance 6.69 miles (10.7km).
Another epic route and nice to meet a couple of new faces (Mark/Carl) on this meet.
Certainly was a tough one. Thank god we seemed to have a whole chemist at hand between us as we had our fair share of incidents (bumps/bruises/tumbles/muscle/joint pains). Still, no pain no gain.
Thanks again to Luke for his unflappable composure in all situations. The time spent around the chockstone wasn’t the most comfortable for myself and Dave but it helps tremendously when calm heads are around.
Special thanks to Carl who joined us on the route. His experience, from a climbing perspective was most welcome and really came in handy in a few places.
Thanks to Mark, Ged and Dave for attending what was another terrifically exciting meet.
I seem to say this every time but it’s another route I’ll just have to do again some time.