Tryfan North Ridge & Bristly Ridge

Back In August of 2011 we had a gold dofe group out in snowdonia so I took the opportunity to do some scrambling, We chose the north ride of Tryfan and then onto bristly ridge, which is just south of tryfan leading up to glyder fawr. although technically difficult in places (arguably on the grade 1/2 boundary) the lay of the land ensures that it is less exposed than many grade 1 scrambles in the area such as the north ridge of Tryfan and Crib goch.



The party consisted of me, Joe and Alex, Alex being a novice walker who is scared of heights and he found Tryfan much more difficult than the more technically challenging bristly ridge (we did put him off scrambling for life). The weather was typically welsh with drizzle and heavy showers with occasional dry spells in-between. However the wind was quite low making it relatively safe and to be completely honest rather tame compared to the 60mph gusts I have experienced on the Glyderrau.





We descended via heather terrace path as the original plan was to summit both Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach then descending down devils kitchen which we decided to rule out due to time constraints and that after heavy rain the paths act as channels for water and therefore the water flows into your boots. and even in top of the range £180 gore-tex boots and gaiters on previous trips, the water still finds away in. In addition to there is apart of the path that becomes impassible due to a stream turning into a raging torrent and calls for some rather hairy walking down a steep grassy slope. It is defiantly worth considering this when selecting the continuation of the route back into the Ogwen valley.






I also recommend the campsite at the base of Tryfan, Gwern Gof Uchaf, It is the perfect walkers campsite with decent showers, perfect location and no booking required. The cost is £5 a night and this is paid daily (the farmer comes round in the morning) so you can decide whether you want to stay or move depending on how successful your day has been. The one gripe is that it was quite waterlogged when I went but it had been raining heavily for a few weeks before… take groundsheet protectors if you have them! The route is suitably challenging and seems to be a good place for people that are a bit nervous with heights however it is defiantly technically half a step up from othergrade 1 scrambles.



The tent at gwen gof Uchaf the website for the site is is: http://www.tryfanwales.co.uk/