Bwlch y Ddwy Glyder route (S) (GL5)
Not recommended.
The descent starts from a cairn at 653582 on the track that circles round S of Castell y Gwynt. Any semblance of a path soon fizzles out and you should veer R after about 5min, along a heathery shelf banked by crags on either side. As the shelf loses its identity, follow a stream SE towards Llyn Cwmffynnon. Disjointed fragments of path appear, tempting only to deceive. There is no continuous track and what has been rough but bearable going hitherto (with Pen y Gwryd and tea hopefully only 30min away) suddenly becomes an ankle-twister worthy of the Rhinogs at their vitriolic worst. Large squirmy tussocks of heather, half-hiding (or hiding!) smooth slippery boulders and tiny rivulets treble the time and energy that would normally be needed. The frustration eases as you approach the lake, with conventional bog (a relief by comparison) the final challenge. Drier ground is to be found by contouring N of the lake and following the Nant Gwryd to the road at 661559.
Miners’ Track (S) (GL6)
Dull? Maybe, if you are looking for non-stop drama, but not if you give the magic of Nantgwynant and Crib Goch time to work.
The miners’ track that slants across the Glyders’ S slopes from a stile at 661559, close by the Pen y Gwyrd Hotel, is a far cry from its N counterpart. No mountainly grandeur here, just a simple track swathing through the heather of a rock-studded hillside. This used to be excessively boggy lower down, but strategically placed stepping stones and a ‘walk-the-plank’ type bridge now make light work of it.
Once you mount the boggy tableland, shortly after the falls at 667576, you are treated to the principals coming on stage one by one, every step a revelation. Bristly Ridge, Tryfan, the nameless peak and Carneddau all appear, followed finally by the gentle Llyn y Caseg-fraith (Lake of the Dappled/Piebald Mare) and its diminutive satellites. Besides this lake you can pick up a black muddy path that soon turns to stone and leads unerringly (it is cairned to excess higher up) to the bouldery waste of Glyder Fach.
Mist clearing the southern slopes of the Glyders
Glyder Fawr
Most of what I want to relate about this evocative peak has already been told as part of the introduction to Glyder Fach. All that remains is advice on what to do in mist when one rocky spire looks very much like another. Without good compass work Glyder Fawr is one of the most disorientating peaks I know.
Assuming you are at the highest point – which is the more N of two adjacent and almost equal tors – the path to Glyder Fach and Y Gribin starts on 90° and is so densely cairned as to be virtually foolproof. For Llyn y Cwn, and onward to Cwm Las or the Devil’s Kitchen, a bearing of 280° leads into another line of cairns that again are unmistakable once you get below the topmost rocky cap. The Pen y Pass route is a bit trickier. Start on 220° and count the cairns. At the fifth cairn the track splits. One branch continues on 270° to give an alternative start for Llyn y Cwn. The other leads on 180° to another monolith, after about 25 paces. Red waymark signs begin here, plus cairns, and all is well, staying on 180°.
Note Seniors Ridge and the Heather Gully should not be attempted in mist.
Seniors Ridge (GL7)
One of the problems with a book like this is that there are no secrets. Everything has to come out – even pearls like this, which you would rather keep to yourself.
Take GL1 to Llyn Bochlwyd where on still, sunny mornings Y Garn is reflected in its blue waters. Follow a narrow track above its N shoreline. Ignore the well-trodden path that strides off L for Y Gribin, but when the little path divides again, a few minutes later, bear L in the shadow of the ridge. (Pressing straight on leads down to Llyn Idwal beside a wall at 646596; worth bearing in mind as an alternative routing – GL7,1.)
The path splits yet again almost at once and it is important to take the higher fork that wends adventurously, yet safely, across the massive slopes of heather and scree that fall away from the spiky comb of Y Gribin. (The lower branch eventually fizzles out.) This is a walk in a million with Llyn Idwal, far below, cupped beneath the huge forbidding cirque of Y Garn and the Devil’s Kitchen – from nowhere else as compelling as this. To gild the lily, ahead lies hanging Cwm Cneifion (Cwm of the Fleece, sometimes known as Nameless Cwm), wild and forgotten, a haven of secrets.
Glyder Fach from Glyder Fawr
The path ventures over the lip of the cwm before abandoning you to the sheep. Only the tinkling of a tiny stream breaks an all-pervading silence. Seniors is the squat, rock-studded ridge forming the W arm of the cwm and is best tackled from its N tip at 645590. It soars aloft in a series of rocky bluffs and heathery shelves, not unlike the N ridge of Tryfan, but without the comfort of fellow walkers or polished rocks to highlight the way. There is no unavoidable exposure and, as the stiffest bits come first, there is no risk of being stranded through being unable to go on and reluctant to turn back. The views are superb, the purity of untrodden ground refreshing, and it is a disappointment when the stony plateau of Glyder Fawr signals the end of one of Snowdonia’s forgotten treasures.
Note Not recommended for descent.
Devil’s Kitchen (GL8)
Leave Ogwen along the boulder-paved track beside the refreshment hut. It begins as if aiming for Llyn Bochlwyd but soon swings SW (the Bochlwyd track carries straight on) to an iron gate on the shores of Llyn Idwal. What a transformation! After only 20min noise and bustle have given way to a scene that is the very quintessence of wild Wales; the jagged crests of Seniors Ridge and Y Gribin arcing the sky L; Y Garn; the shattered slopes of Pen yr Ole Wen behind you; the cliffs of Clogwyn y geifr (Goat’s precipice) and the dark sinister cleft of the Devil’s Kitchen directly ahead. At your feet is idyllic Llyn Idwal, sparkling and serene, yet rarely more than 10ft deep.
Assuming you follow the E shoreline (a path also follows the W shore) go past the famous Idwal Slabs (invariably dotted with climbers), up a man-made stairway, clamber across the rocky rift of a streambed and then, when the path gives up the struggle, scramble up the downfall of boulders to the cleft itself (Twll Du in Welsh, Black Hole in English). It is hard to reconcile the peaceful scene looking back over Idwal and Ogwen with the harsh, evil gash above. Even on a sunny day it is an eerie place, while in mist…
Looking through the Devil’s Kitchen to Pen yr Ole Wen
Beneath the cliffs a cairned trail forges SE up a shelf of splintered rocks to emerge on a broad marshy plateau with Llyn y Cwn (Lake of the Dogs) a stone’s throw ahead. Few places are more desolate in winter. The gap in the hills channels the full fury of the wind, whipping the lake into a frenzy of rushing waves. To view the top of the Devil’s Kitchen (uncairned) follow the stream that issues from the NW tip of the tarn. To locate the trail for descent take a bearing of 60° from the N tip of the lake and in 300yd you meet the cairned path.
It is time to move on. The key to Glyder Fawr is a stony gully by the NE corner of the lake. It starts sedately, albeit roughly, but later degenerates into a scree slither of the most wearisome kind. A sweaty treadmill climbing up, an unstable gritty slide coming down; a toss-up as to which is the least tedious. When the angle at last abates, lines of cairns appear to lead across a barren stony desolation to the weirdly gesticulating summit tors.
Note This slope is treacherous in snow and must be left strictly alone unless