UK Mountains Expedition Report

The concept of the mix 'n' match is proving so popular; we wonder why we didn't think of it before. It is a simple formula; clients want to do several different things on a weekend, not just walking, or scrambling or climbing or camping, but a combination of all of those.

So it was that we found ourselves in the Ogwen Valley on a dull but dry Friday evening distributing gear and preparing to walk up Gribben Ridge for an overnight camp on the Glyders. The walk from the valley can be achieved in a couple of hours or so and whilst reasonably steep in places, is never really that hard. As we ascended, we could see Tryfan to our left and Y Garn to our right.

Soon enough, we reached our destination and set up camp for the night. Both the clients and myself had lightweight tents, but mine was particularly good, I had just purchased a new MSR Zoid tent in grey and red colours. It is a two-man tent weighing in at under 2kgs and takes about 5 minutes to put up - the clients were well impressed, but as I explained, for someone who does this all the time, I needed good quality lightweight kit.

Saturday morning we woke early, the plan was to leave the camping gear in place, collect the climbing gear and make a descent to the East Ridge of Tryfan where we would climb Grooved Arete from Heather Terrace. By 9am we were at the foot of the route, sorting the rope and doing the last minute checks. Both of my clients had experience of single pitch routes, but neither had done any multi-pitch stuff, this was to be their introduction!

Grooved Arete is not a hard route (graded at V Diff), but it is spectacular in both position and airiness. Six pitches brings you to the summit area, the hardest being across the Knights' move, which has eased considerably over the years with the loss of the quartz in the grooves. It was made slightly harder with a few light showers, but nothing to worry us unduly.

Once on the summit, we took a well earned lunch, sitting amongst the rocks near to the Adam and Eve stones which, as I explained were the two large rocks that brave souls jump across - they declined! Tryfan has a very rocky summit and it is difficult to walk in a straight line, having to jump from rock to rock, or climb up and down. Even the descent to the South Summit is not without its problems. Eventually we found ourselves in the col between the South Summit and the ascent to Bristley Ridge. This is a classic scramble with one or two technical sections which can catch out the unwary climber. It brings you back to the summit of Glyder Fach (pronounced Glewder Vak) and it was a short walk, via a detour to the Cantilever stone for the obligatory photo session. The stone is huge and it is a challenge to walk up to it and out as far as you can, hoping it won't tip. I have seen 20 or 30 people on it without any problems, it must weigh 50 tons or more!

Eventually, we made our way back to our campsite.

Breaking camp, we loaded our rucsacs and headed off over towards Pen-y-Pass and the site of our next campsite, which would be the lake above Pen-y-Pass.

Saturday evening was spent cooking and chatting about the day we had had. Both clients were thoroughly enjoying their weekend and were looking forward to Sunday.

There is never much to do at a remote camp once the tents have been put up and food eaten, so we soon retired for the night.

Sunday morning and the reasonable Saturday weather had been replaced by dull, damp skies. The question was, would it rain? A downpour is never welcome, but, given that our target was Crib Goch (pronounced Crib Gok) via the North and East ridges, wet rock would require some considerable care. On a positive note, we could leave all of the camping gear and all of the climbing gear behind. It was a pure scrambling day - albeit a long one as we planned to return via Llewyd (pronounced Lewwid). Lightweight rucsacs were the order of the day.

We set off quite early, about 8am and began the long descent to the Cromlech (pronounced Cromleck) bridge where our ascent would begin. Unfortunately, there is a mile or so of road from the Pen-y-Pass Youth hostel to the bridge which is unavoidable, but downhill so not too bad. The pass is quite impressive with the Glyders range to the right and the Snowdon range to the left.

Soon enough we arrived at the bridge and began our ascent - trying to regain all of the height we had just lost! It is a good hour or more to reach the North ridge proper, being a combination of rocky outcrops and grassy walks. Eventually we arrived, pausing for a break after our exertions. It had got noticeably colder as we ascended and we had felt a few drops of rain so the waterproofs were donned. The North ridge is a good introduction to scrambling and I find it helps clients get their balance before the fun of the East ridge begins.

Soon enough, we took the turn and began the crossing. As always, there are faster and slower people crossing and it is important to make your own pace to avoid any accidents. About half way across, the ridge drops to a path and it was here that we had our first serious shower. Electing to stop for a while and wait it out, we reached for food and hot blackcurrant drinks. Eventually the rain subsided and we resumed our walk, this time climbing Crib-y-Ddysgyl (pronounced Cribby Disgul) and eventually onto the final slopes of Snowdon and the summit. We had made it!

Lunch was consumed before heading down towards the imposing peaks of Llewyd - not that we could see them, we had been in cloud for some time. This mountain requires a mixture of walking and scrambling, with one or two interesting sections. We were in the clouds and so the mountain seemed to go on forever, but eventually we turned left and started our descent to the lakes where we would pick up the Miners track to return to Pen-y-Pass. The rain was getting heavier now and by the time we reached the café at the pass, it was seriously heavy. A suggestion of a coffee and a bun was welcomed and in we went. A decision to try and wait it out was taken, and it was just over an hour later that we emerged and headed off towards our campsite. This had added some time to our schedule and we would be considerably later home than I had anticipated, but the time of year meant that it would be light until 9pm at least so nothing to worry unduly about.

We collected our camping and climbing gear - the extra weight being most unwelcome on the top of already tired shoulders and legs, but it had to be done.

The route back over the Glyders is not hard, but is a slog. Luckily there is a reasonably good path and we soon saw the summit of Tryfan looming. Our route took us to the West of Tryfan descending near to Bristley Ridge where we had climbed yesterday. Another long and tiring walk eventually bought us to Ogwen Youth Hostel where we had left the cars and it was three tired but happy climbers that dropped their sacs at the cars.

Due to the enforced stop and the long weekend, we all decided that driving home that night was a bad plan, so, after phoning home to check in, drove the few miles down to Betwys-y-Coed (pronounced Bettsy Cow-wed) and the campsite in the town. Tents were put up and the short walk made down the road, over the railway line and across the field to the pub for dinner. We were all asleep by 9pm!

My thanks to Dave and John for their company over the weekend and their enthusiasm for everything. It is always nice to see clients enjoying themselves and discovering new abilities that they didn't know they had. Maybe see you guys on the hills again someday?