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 you are fully experienced and equipped for snow work. One unchecked slip could be your last.
For an alternative approach known as the Sheepwalk (GL8,1), cross the stream issuing from the foot of Twll Du and follow a sketchy path across a grassy ledge leading to the SE slopes coming down from Y Garn. Narrow, exposed in places and with a little unavoidable scrambling, this should only be attempted by experienced scramblers in good weather.
Y Gribin (GL9)
The Glyders are well endowed with challenging scrambles.
Y Gribin, the long serrated spur midway between Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach, is one of the best scrambles in the area. Start from the N tip of Llyn Bochlwyd where a track cavorts away W en route to Llyn Idwal (see GL7). Leave it L at 652594 where black peaty scars indicate the start of a much-used path. The going is easy at first, between soft pillows of heather whose playful innocence give little intimation of the savage gullies away R.
Before long you reach an open plateau of sheep-cropped turf, good enough for a cricket pitch. (You can also reach this by a rough scramble up a subsidiary ridge from Bochlwyd’s SW shoreline at 654591 – GL9,1.) So far the day has been enjoyable without being remarkable – now for the fireworks. Ahead lies an airy tumble of rock and boulders, with occasional exposure L, requiring some easy gymnastics for its conquest. Grist for the mill for experienced hillwalkers, but no place for vertigo sufferers or victims of stiff knees! For them there is an alternative routing R, a badly eroded and crumbly path that avoids the scrambling (and the thrills) in return for a sweaty huff and puff.
The ways unite at the top on a bouldery tongue midway between the two Glyders which is dominated by Castell y Gwynt and the regimented, shattered crags of Glyder Fach. A large cairn at 651582 is the landmark to look out for in mist.
Pen y Pass route (the red route) (GL10)
Glyder Fawr is one of the last peaks you would expect to be able to climb almost all the way on grass, but life is full of surprises!
A fine route, threading attractively through a maze of hollows and humps liberally laced with marsh and islands of rock. It is also a scenic route. Crib Goch and Cwm Glas are the main attractions, but you also get an unusual prospect of Llyn Cwmffynnon and the shapely cliffs that girdle its S shoreline.
The path starts by the Pen y Pass Youth Hostel. A footpath sign directs you across a small garden to a stile over a wall daubed with a red waymark sign. It is wet and soggy at first across a boggy depression and the red blobs on the rocks are not easy to spot. However matters improve after a short sharp climb where the line of attack swings from being parallel to the road to N, and where you begin to tackle Glyder Fawr’s S shoulder. By this time the waymarking is as dependable as any I can recall. It needs to be, because cairns are few
