Читать книгу Hillwalking in Wales - Vol 2 - Peter Hermon - Страница 35

Tryfan

Anyone not moved by Tryfan is unlikely to be inspired by any mountain. Of all the Welsh peaks it is the most brashly spectacular. Nothing prepares you for the colossal triangle of rock that leaps so dramatically into view on the road from Capel Curig to Ogwen. Narrow crested, unremittingly steep, isolated, generously garlanded in heather and bilberries, it is a scrambler’s paradise to its very roots. Most striking of all is the E face, a massive edifice of precipitous rock, buttressed with frowning gullies that soar to a triple top. The W face is only marginally less steep; it rises from the placid Llyn Bochlwyd, over grassy steeps and scattered islands of rock, before merging into the topmost rocky crown.

The usual lines of ascent follow the N and S ridges. There is no better scramble than the N ridge, a long succession of rocky steps, shelves and giant boulders where the use of hands is obligatory. The S ridge is shorter and easier but no less rewarding. The W face is unfashionable, but if you can survive the early grind there is again an excellent scrambling finale. Curiously, for such a bastion of power, it is the E face that offers one of the easiest approaches – along a shelf known as the Heather Terrace that slants diagonally across it and is easily distinguishable from the road.

Of the three tops the one in the middle is the main top, the highest; a boulder-strewn platform where two famous monoliths called Adam and Eve (often mistaken for climbers by viewers in the valley below) stand in for the customary cairn. The spikier N top, 5min away across the scree gully that rends the W face, is the smallest and most rugged of the three tops. Airy and free of crowds, it is the most ‘Tryfan-like’ in character. The S top is flat and slabby beneath a tiny wall that can cause a minor problem for ordinary pedestrians. Finally, nearly 300ft below across a much-trodden col, is the far S top, a rocky eminence with a tiny tarn that from some viewpoints looks like a Tryfan in embryo.

Despite being overtopped by Pen yr Ole Wen and Glyder Fach, Tryfan is a first-class viewpoint, as befits a peak that rises over 2000ft from the road in under 0.5 mile. To the N the Carneddau stretch from the scarped slopes of Nant Ffrancon to the bald top of Pen Llithrig-y-wrach, leading the eye SE to the elephantine sprawl of Gallt yr Ogof and the lone elegance of Moel Siabod. SW are the threateningly sharp, even weird battlements of the Glyders beyond which a discerning eye can just catch a glimpse of Snowdon. Finest of all is the nexus of little-known cwms and hills to the W: the two arms of Y Garn, shy Cwm Cywion, Creigiau Gleision and the Mushroom Garden, the spiky arete of Yr Esgair falling away from Foel Goch, the slow curve of Elidir Fawr, and far-off Carnedd y Filiast. On a bright day you will be doubly blessed with the mosaic of greys, greens and mauves leavened by the glint of sunlight on the clear waters of Ogwen, Idwal and Bochlwyd.

Provided you stick to established routes Tryfan is safe in mist. The main paths are so well worn and nail-scratched that, with care, it is difficult to stray. In snow and ice, however, it is a different proposition and Tryfan should then be left to specialists who possess ice axes and crampons and know how to use them. In short, though Tryfan can be ruthless to the unwary, you have only to treat it with respect to be rewarded handsomely, time and time again!

Tryfan from the east in winter

Note The six routes on Tryfan described below start from one of four different points along the A5: Ogwen cottage for GL36/37, the car park towards the E end of the lake at the bend in the road at 660603 for GL38, the car park below Milestone Buttress at 664603 for GL34, and Gwern Gof Uchaf Farm for GL35/39. These are the most convenient starting points but it will be clear from the map that other permutations are possible given a bit of simple cross-country work. In particular I refer in the text to starting the Heather Terrace from Milestone Buttress and N ridge from the farm. To add to the variety, there are at least three other potential starting places: a stile on the A5 near the W tip of Llyn Ogwen, a layby at 656603 and a stile at 668606 opposite Glan Dena. The latter is especially useful once you know Tryfan well as you can pull up the slopes for N ridge, or follow a faint path round the E brow of the nose to reach the Heather Terrace, or follow a farm track to Gwern Gof Uchaf for Cwm Tryfan.

N ridge (GL34)

Nature has excelled; this ridge is a hillwalker’s dream.

The N ridge is never exposed, yet ‘nearly’ exposed often enough to maintain challenge and excitement. You are always on rock but never far from restful cushions of heather. Surrounded by Tryfan’s massive architecture there is never a dull moment in this scrambler’s Valhalla.

Start from the car park at 664603 near the foot of Milestone Buttress. Walk up the man-made stairway across the stile, keeping near a wall R. After 5min bear L at a large cairn (straight ahead is for climbers intent on the buttress) and thread your way up a chaotic downfall of boulders in the shadow of a cliff. A heathery hiatus at 665600 invites the first rest, with views over Ogwen and the N Glyders. Continuing E from here would bring you to the Heather Terrace. However today’s route is N, up a waste of boulders and scree. There is little to choose between a myriad of tracks; after a little easy scrambling they all seem to meet up on a cosy little terrace with a large cairn, another good resting place!

The main line of attack is now established, and you have only to follow the scratch marks on the rocks and their rounded polished edges to stay on course. A short scramble leads to a tilted shelf distinguished by outcrops of dazzling white quartz. Over to the R is the famous Cannon Rock (easily spotted from the road) with Y Garn and Foel Goch gloriously portrayed beyond. The track meanwhile meanders over heathery, boulder-studded slopes to another shelf where Llyn Bochlwyd comes into sight for the first time and a soaring wall of gigantic boulders bars the way ahead. They may look formidable but experienced scramblers should have no trouble in shinning straight up, provided there is no snow about (GL34,1).

Looking from Tryfan N ridge across to Y Garn (photo Steve Lewis)

For something less taxing follow a cairned trail that twists round to the E. and descends briefly before regaining its composure to cross a gully. Leave it here and climb the gully R with a spell of easy foot and hand work. The top of the gully is the ‘notch’, just N of the N top, which is clearly visible from the road below and is where clambering directly up the rock wall would have brought you to.

More scrambling, high up on the W face, leads to a hollow separating the N top L from the main top R. There are easy scrambles up to each with the latter crossing over the W face gully route.

Stepping over the gully and staying with the path would bring you to a shallow cleft between the S top and main top, high above the E buttress, with an obvious finish for either.

Y Garn and Llyn Ogwen from Tryfan’s N ridge

Heather Terrace/S ridge (GL35)

An easier route to the top.

It is strange that such a manly giant as Tryfan should surrender itself so tamely to a thrust across its fearsome E face. Strange but fortunate, for how else but along the friendly Heather Terrace would the first-time walker not yet confident enough to take on the N ridge (or the family party with young children) get to enjoy this most exciting of Welsh mountains?

Park near the entrance to Gwern Gof Uchaf Farm. Follow a well-worn track that skirts the farm R before crossing a stile and making for open country in front of some smooth, tilted slabs known as Little Tryfan (a nursery for young climbers). The next objective, across a splash of bog, is the ribbon of white scree that scars Tryfan’s otherwise inviolate ramparts. It is laboriously steep and loose but a newer path avoids the worst (until it too suffers the same fate) by arcing round to the L.

Up the slope a jot more and you would be on the N ridge. Otherwise join the ledge L as it climbs aloft through boulders lavishly dressed in heather and bilberry. Below, the mottled-green loneliness of Cwm Tryfan; above, buttresses and gullies speckled with climbers’ reds and blues and an occasional glimpse of the wild goats that frequent these lofty heights.

Before long the angle abates and the terrace divides into two paths. Both trend W to a wall with two stiles that crosses the col separating the S and far S peaks. The lower path toils unadventurously up scree, while the higher gives a short but airy romp over the terminal boulders of the S ridge.

Heather Terrace is over; now for the S ridge. Scramblers looking for a challenge can take it head on, climbing virtually due N over huge blue-grey slabs of scabrous rock. Most folk will cross the wall and continue round the bend for 50, maybe 100yd, until a line of cairns reveals a more conventional scramble to the miniscule col separating the main and S tops.

Coming down is a bit more difficult. Starting off on 230° puts you on the cairned track just described, but staying on it is quite another story. In over 20 descents I doubt if I have ever followed the same line twice! I descended the S ridge twice in three days in July 1988. On the first occasion I reached the col in no time at all, calm and collected; two days later, using the ‘same’ route, I was stepping gingerly over yawning crevices, ensnared by awkward boulders, trapped by tiny cliffs just too high for comfort and forced to slide down shiny rock. It is magnificent scrambling nonetheless, and great fun!

Bochlwyd/S ridge (GL36)

A quick way down when time is of the essence.

Follow a band of scree falling away W from the col separating the S and far S peaks. It aims for the N tip of Bochlwyd and soon merges into a wet, squelchy path beside a stream before eventually passing between two little outcrops to join the miners’ track about 100yd short of the lake’s N shoreline. Halfway down you may notice a track creeping away E of N. This gives an alternative lead into the W face route.

Miners’ Track/S ridge (GL37)

Follow GL1 to Bwlch Tryfan. Do not cross the stiles; instead follow a well-used stony track heading N. This climbs a rocky knoll and then stays W of the wall before rising to the S col to finish as in GL35. Find time, if you can, to visit the far S peak to see the little tarn that lies cupped in its summit rocks.

West face (GL38)

The first hour is a brute; slow starters should look elsewhere!

On a grey, drizzly Ogwen morning the sight of the pink scree trail struggling painfully up the mountainside so very far above is as daunting as any I know. From the parking area at 660603 cross the stile, climb the steps and then make a beeline S for the stony path that curves round to the W of the knuckle known as Brag Rocks. (Do not stray L to the stone shoot that fills the gap between these rocks and Tryfan proper.) The best ways I know to survive the tumble of loose, wet bouldery debris that lies in wait are to enlist a congenial companion, or to concentrate on some knotty philosophical problem (or both!). The gradient relents when you at last cross a broad grassy saddle. But beware – this idyllic interlude is shortlived. The agony returns with unabated fury when the trail merges into the prominent scree shoot that culminates in the cleft between the N and main tops.

Now for the good news – at least for experienced hill-walkers. As you cross the grassy saddle look out for a faint path that breaks away to skirt the edge R, high above Bochlwyd. Stay with this until it embeds itself in the rock face at about 662594, then scramble up boulders W (GL38,1). A scattering of cairns looks reassuring, but there is no established path. It is very much a matter of trial and error in a setting of heathery thickets, fresh rock-bound pools and little rock walls reminiscent of the N ridge at its best (with the added zest that comes from novelty and isolation). Trend L and you should come close to a bull’s-eye on Adam and Eve; stray too far R and you will probably join one of the S ridge paths.

View across the Gwyder forest to the Glyders (photo Steve Lewis)

You can also reach the grassy saddle from Bochlwyd by following GL36 until you can exploit a gap in the crags (GL38,2).

Cwm Tryfan/S ridge (GL39)

This lonely cwm has the freshness and serenity Tryfan is so often denied.

Cwm Tryfan lacks nothing in grandeur, cupped between the terraced outcrops of Braich y Ddeugwm and Tryfan’s kingly spires. Nowhere is the triple crown more splendidly revealed, and when a powdering of snow dusts the tops the effect is truly magical.

Start along GL35 (the Heather Terrace route) but break away S, keeping little Tryfan on your L, until you meet the wire fence that straddles the fells from W to E. At least five stiles cross this fence. The one you want is the highest, a new ladder-stile at 671599, so plod up alongside the fence to the crest and then cross over. The path appears at once, white and stony, keeping well to the W of the stream and heading for drier ground.

The shortest ‘route’ (GL39,1) is to grunt and groan up scree to the col below the S ridge. Feasible, but trackless and definitely not recommended. It is much better to imbibe the wild flavour of the cwm for as long as you can by staying with it until you meet the miners’ track at 666584 (GL39,2). Best of all – a compromise – is to look out for a sketchy path that wends away R where the track crosses the stream at 667588. This swathes through rampant heather to Bwlch Tryfan and GL37.