Well… There is a lot to be said about Tryfan. I hope I can convey everything within a blog.
Tryfan, the 917.5m (3010ft) peak, is part of the Glyderau range in Ogwen Valley, Snowdonia. The north ridge of Tryfan is a route with little direction and can go from an easy scramble to a climb quickly (and it did for me). This hike was eventful; I had fear, joy and all other emotions on the walk.
The Hike
I started the morning by getting up at 05:00 and being on the road by 05:15. The journey to Ogwen Valley took me about 2 hours. It was a very peaceful drive with a lovely sunrise.
Arriving in my parking spot at roughly 07:15, I changed my shoes, put on my gear and headed down the road towards the base of the north face of Tryfan. I was going through a gate just at the end of the next layby from where I parked. The ascent began.
The Ascent
Going through the gate, I started on a simple rocky path, but that would soon subside and turn into a scramble…
About 5-10 minutes into the ascent, I encountered the start of the lengthy scramble (roughly 700m).
The best way to write is to split it into two sections.
In section one, the scramble was just a simple scramble. Other than meeting some goats (and a guy I ended up spending most of the hike with), there wasn’t much that happened. I did have some fantastic views, however.
Coming to the top of the first scramble section, there was a plateau. Here I could see what I am now calling the second section.
A huge craggy rock face. According to the guide, there was an easy route if you followed round the left and a more challenging course straight ahead. I had to go directly!
The Final Push to the summit
Now, at the base of section two, scramble. Now all I needed to do was cross a gully to get to the next section. I went up on the “normal” route (there’s no one route up this mountain), and I took a left around a rock which I believe was a slight mistake.
I was no longer in a grade 1 scramble but close to some climbing if I was at the gym, maybe v3 bolder. However, not a problematic grade, but it is pretty scary when you have a significant drop below and no rope. I pushed on anyway, as downclimbing would have been more of a challenge.
Getting past this point, I moved back onto what seemed like a good (but typical) scramble. From here, I went up to the plateau of section two.
From here, I had some smooth rock to cross. It would usually be a river/stream, as it seemed soft down.
At this point, I was back to a path ish and hiked around a corner and over some rocks to the true summit—the Adam and Eve rocks.
I climbed the rocks, but it seemed too gusty and windy to jump. Eventually, I built building the courage and having a spell of no wind; I did the jump! I forget to record it, which means one thing. I had to climb up and jump again. After a 30-second wait and a brief window of no wind, I jumped.
The jump would not have been quite as scary if it were a still day. With the wind and the significant drop below, I was scared to get blown off balance by the wind. I completed It nonetheless.
Now for the mandatory descent.
The Descent
The Descent down the south side of Tryfan was as fun as the descent. I started by following what seemed to be a path (I can’t tell for sure on here, it’s all rock). It was pretty easy and had no real down-climbing for about 30 minutes.
I then came across about 30 meters worth of down-scrambling. This was fun and challenging. The scramble was scramblings considerably harder than up. You can’t read the route and struggle to see whether your foot is close to holding it.
Going down here went well. There was one section that was more of a challenge. I had two big rocks and a gulley to climb down. Not a large one, maybe 3 meters, if that. I couldn’t see anything and be going down basically blind. In hindsight, I should have gone out and found a different way. It wouldn’t have been hard to do so.
After that downclimb, I came back onto what looked to be alike—looking across to Bristly Ridge. It was a horrible scree-ish-covered path, and I must have rolled my ankle about five times.
Anyway, coming to this end, I got to a T path that would have led me to the mighty Bristly Ridge, but I wasn’t doing that this time. I left and followed the path past Llyn Bochlwydand down towards the Ogwen Valley visitors centre.
Where the excellent slabs of slate window stones show you the mountains in the area, I’ll put a photo below to show you what I mean if you haven’t seen them.
Back on the road, I walked along the pavement next to Llyn Ogwen to my car. Where I got my trainers on, had some food, and got ready to set off on the two-hour journey home.
Conclusion
To conclude this hike. It was 8.16km and took me 3:14 to complete. I probably could have done it quicker, but I didn’t want to rush. I’ve wanted to climb Tryfan for a while and didn’t want to rush.
This hike/climb was so fun and didn’t disappoint. I had great weather, went through all emotions, and learned a lot.
Now, do I recommend it? 100%. If you are an experienced head up the North ridge for a challenge, it is fantastic and will not disappoint. However, you don’t have to be highly skilled/confident to climb this mountain. Check out going up via the south ridge. It would be best if you still had confidence, but it’s a lot easier (I did only descend this side).
My Ratings
Difficult 3.5/5
Enjoyment 5/5
Views 5/5
Overall 5/5
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