they can be the most mind-numbing, leg-throbbing, body-chilling, toe-stubbing mountains of soil and stone this side of the Scottish border.
Rock climbing takes a back seat. There are many little cliffs dotted about the southern slopes – pleasantly secluded places for sunny afternoons – but nothing of real significance. The few big cliffs are tucked close under the north faces, secure in their shadows yet unbelittled by the vastness of their setting. Craig yr Ysfa, on the Cwm Eigiau shoulder of Carnedd Llewelyn, is the best of them. There are many hard routes here, up the vertical Amphitheatre Walls so well seen from the ridge path above, but also a splendid easy one – Amphitheatre Buttress – on the opposing flank. An early start in full sunshine on this climb out of Cwm Eigiau can be an exhilarating way to begin a walk over the summits.
The north-west ridge of Pen yr Helgi Du from Bwlch Eryl Farchog
Winter transforms the Carneddau into a bleak and hostile wasteland. North winds blow unceasingly over the ridge crests during bad weather, so that a seemingly innocent walk becomes a struggle against time and tiredness. Fresh snow piles deep in intervening hollows, trebling approach times to the gaunt cliffs of Black Ladders and Craig yr Ysfa, now seamed with ice falls and snow gullies. A waiting game begins. Then, after the storm, when the winds have blown the ridges clear of powder, the Carneddau will offer uncomplicated winter traverses across miles of glistening uplands.
The ridge walks described in the following pages represent the Carneddau at their best: great horseshoe circuits penetrating deep into the heartland of the range and linking summit with summit along high ridge crests. Nowhere is the ridge walker’s exalted position more clearly stated.
A1: CARNEDDAU: NORTHERN RIDGES
A remote, high-level ridge walk through the heart of the Carneddau.
Distance/Time:
18 km (11 miles). 5 hours.
Ascent:
1000m (3300ft)
Major Summits:
Pen Llithrig y Wrach – 799m (2622ft)
Pen yr Helgi Du – 833m (2733ft)
Carnedd Llewelyn – 1064m (3485ft)
(Foel Grach – 974m (3196ft))
(Foel Fras – 942m (3092ft))
(Drum – 770m (2529ft))
Terrain:
Mostly easy walking over grass. Some sections of rocky ground.
Ascent of Pen Llithrig y Wrach from the north on Route A1. The ridge (partly in cloud) circles Cwm Eigiau to the summit of Carnedd Llewelyn (back right)
Main Summer Difficulties:
Two short scrambles either side of Bwlch Eryl Farchog.
Winter Conditions:
Not suitable except under light snow cover or when well consolidated. Scrambling sections awkward under deep powder (and in those conditions the whole route is exhausting).
Emergency Alternatives:
Descent south into the Ogwen Valley from Bwlch Eryl Farchog (695633).
Special Problems:
Route-finding in bad visibility from Carnedd Llewelyn to the finish point.
Note that there is no longer a telephone at Llyn Eigiau dam.
Approach:
From Tal y Bont on the B5106 between Conwy and Trefriw. A surfaced, gated road – steep and sometimes impassable in winter – leads into Cwm Eigiau (not the road to Llanbedr-y-cennin).
Start:
At the roadhead (732663). Space for numerous cars (avoid blocking gate).
Finish:
As above.
ROUTE DESCRIPTION
A rough track leads from the parking place to Llyn Eigiau dam. Cross the outflow and take the higher track to Hafod y Rhiw.1 Now bear up left to gain the ridge at a shoulder above its first step, continuing steeply to the first subsidiary top. An intermittent path then leads along the broad ridge before rising more steeply to the summit of Pen Llithrig y Wrach2 (1¾ hrs).
A grass ridge leads down to Bwlch y Tri Marchog3 and rises again – there is a good path now – to the summit of Pen yr Helgi Du.4 Continue along and down a rockier ridge to Bwlch Eryl Farchog5 (where Variant (a) arrives). More scrambling up a blunt nose leads to the rim of the Craig yr Ysfa Amphitheatre. A steady rise now, up an open slope, leads to the final scree dome of Carnedd Llewelyn6 (1½ hrs)
Circle rightwards around the head of Cwm Eigiau to descend the ridge towards Foel Grach. Before reaching that summit, and from a shallow col, bear rightwards to descend a grassy spur to a marshy plateau and signs of vehicle tracks. From the rock promonitory on the far side of the plateau, go north-east down the ridge, now reasserted, to a track leading rightwards to the roadhead (1¾ hrs).
There’s something not quite right about driving north out of Snowdonia to get to the start of a walk – down the Conwy Valley, flatlands and hedgerows, coastward bound with tourists. At Tal y Bont, a bend or two before the scenery turns hopelessly flat, a single-track road strikes bravely up the hillside, serving first a small cluster of cottages, then isolated farmhouses, and finally only the whims of idle walkers eager for the hills. It ends abruptly at a junction of ways, continuing from there as a rough track fit for nothing.
This is a broad place, dominated even at a distance by a dam wall on the far side of the moor. Its sinister shape matches your every step – stone for stride. A slight detour shows it to be an empty threat: breached in its full height, the wall harnesses only more grass and more sheep. A scramble at the breach wins a brazen promenade along its elevated pavement as far as the sluice gate, where the original track is regained.
From a little way above the romantically situated Hafod y Rhiw, the circuit of ridges can now be seen almost in its entirety. Up on the left is the broad shoulder which begins the steady rise to Pen Llithrig y Wrach; while at the apparent head of Cwm Eigiau (the cwm is in fact longer and curves rightwards out of sight) stands the peak of Pen yr Helgi Du, beyond which a long ridge leads up to Carnedd Llewelyn at the true head of the cwm. The rest is hidden; although its lower arm can be seen, raised up from the far bank of the lake. All in all it seems more than a fair distance for a walk, which indeed it is.
Once on the shoulder itself, an appreciation of the scale of the undertaking is taken out of mere contemplation and planted firmly in the reality of choosing a thousand footfalls across the uncountable acres of pathless upland. And yet progress is made, height won, views gained –
