Tryfan Mountaineering Day

Today I was joined by Craig, Jon and Glyn. The plan was to take a grand tour of the Tryfans. The weather was forecast to be good: dry, sunny, windless; and actually turned out to be even better than that! We met relatively late at the big layby on the A5 near SH668605. I'd expected there would be parking problems due to the bank holiday bringing out everyone, but there was sufficient space for us to park safely. We sorted out all our climbing gear and, looking at the weather, decided to ditch the big mountain boots in favour of walking shoes and trainers.

Once packed up, we headed the short walk to Tryfan Bach (Little Tryfan). The path is easy to find as you head from the end of the layby, through the gate, then almost back to the farm to the second gate on the right in the fence. The ground here was a little damp, but not avoidably so.

Craig on Left Edge, Tryfan Fach (just out of the bright sunshine)

Little Tryfan was heaving! There were at least 10 pairs of climbers on this short rock crag. Luckily, our later arrival meant that most of the climbers were already near the top. We paired up, Glyn and Jon tackling the Mossy Crack (VS 4a), while I led Craig up the Left Edge (VDiff). The sun was not yet high enough in the sky to shine on the rock, but even so, it was not overly cold. I climbed the route in two pitches, mainly to get some practice in belay building, but my rope organisation skills could do with practice, too. I left Craig with a bit of a bird's nest of ropes for the last pitch! He was kind enough to let me know, though, so this was something else for me to think about and practice for the rest of the day.

Heading to Tryfan from Tryfan Fach

Once Craig and I finished the route, Jon and Glyn were there waiting. We joined up then headed toward Tryfan main. We scrambled over the final top of Tryfan Bach and toward the Heather Terrace path. There was a little bit of wet peat in the gully between the two, but we were able to skip over most. We continued along the Heather Terrace, identifying Bastow, Nor Nor and Green Gullies. There was one group of climbers just starting up Grooved Arete (obvious by the GA scratched on the rock). The start of North Gully was another 50m beyond.

Craig on an exposed and tricky pitch 2!

The North Buttress (VDiff) route starts in the second groove to the right of North Gully. Glyn chose to lead the VS variation in the first groove, which allowed Craig and I to start at the same time, keeping the two groups together. The climbing on the first pitch was fairly physical, with a few boot jams and a good amount of thrutching (such a good word!). The climb was mainly protected by slings: I like to tackle these old routes in the manner that they were originally climbed! The second pitch was good but, as a leader, had a bold step sideways to get up onto the arete. Craig took the easy option and climbed from the bottom of the Arete. The third pitch gave us two options: follow Glyn and Jon up the fairly blank small groove on the left, or take an obvious larger groove to the right. The larger groove looked easier, but had a 6 foot long fallen pinnacle resting in it: tapping it made a hollow sound. I was tempted to go this way but didn't like the consequences of this pinnacle falling off (to be fair, it probably weighed 250kg and was going nowhere), so I struggled a little but finally surmounted the arete again. Pitch four was then fairly straightforward and took us to the scramble section.

At this point in the route, there's a big, 50m scrambly gap in the route. By this time, it'd been a while since we'd heard from Jon and Glyn, so we assumed they were long gone. We scrambled up the path to Terrace Wall, and there they were, Jon belaying, Glyn halfway up, carefully considering the direct assult on the Belle Vue route (Beeline?, VS 5a). Craig and I watched for a bit and, realising that we were contributing nothing to help Glyn's route finding, referred to the route notes and easily found the quartz-slashed hanging boulder halfway up the wall. Pitch 5 was straightforward and dispatched quickly. Unfortunately, this was the first time we'd been in the shade all day (shaded by the main summit of Tryfan here) and the chill air was noticeable. Time to crack on back into the sun!

Craig on The Traverse

Pitch 6 is "The Traverse" pitch, and it's amazing! The capitals are there not because it's scary, but because it was worth naming it and they named it well. It basically takes you from the shadows around to the right of North Buttress to Belle Vue Terrace. The climbing is easy, with good places for hands and feet all along the route. The gear again is mainly slings. There's a bit of up-and-down route finding to follow, but it's all there. The main challenge lies in protecting your second for the traverse; oh, and not looking down! For me, this certainly was the pitch of the route, the exposed position balanced by the good holds, lack of polish and the Eastern Carneddau backdrop, especially on a clear day like today. It would be a worthwhile route just on its own (you can get to here by scrambling down the top of North Gully), and is comparable to pitches of Spiral Stairs on Dinas Cromlech.

On Belle Vue Terrace with Glyn

Once on the Terrace, I set up the belay, Craig started climbing, Glyn arrived, Jon arrived, and Craig arrived. We tackled the final pitch 7 relatively quickly: I used only 2 slings for this section in today's dry conditions, then friction-belayed Craig to our final destination. We sat and ate lunch at the top, enjoying the clear skies and breezeless warmth from the sun, before packing up and scrambling across the top of North Gully to bag the summit.

At the top of the route, before bagging the summit (behind)

Our descent route was via the south path with a slight rightward trend to gain the exit stream from Bochlwyd. Here I dunked my head into the cool waters of the llyn, by lying on a flat platform rock level with the surface: ah, refreshing! After a brief rest and recce of the Glyder Fach cliff for future days out, we route marched back to the parking after a long, tiring, but completely satisfying day.