Photo Journal
18th January // The Tour Guide
Tryfan North Face // N53.114 W-3.997
It’s probably no big secret that one of my favourite hobbies is planning, so when I had the opportunity to organise a hike for a friend who was coming up just for the day, I couldn’t refuse.
The obligatory route of course is seeing some of Wale’s best views, so Ogwen Valley it was. We set off early in the morning, partly travelling by bus before switching to a taxi to get to the base of Tryfan an hour before sunrise. The plan was to summit via the North Face, being a grade 1 scramble, then complete the loop via the Glyders and Y Garn before being back in time for the 3pm bus back to Bangor.
A spoiler; we made it - barely.
I’m not quite sure my friend knew what he was in store for, but North Wales’ notoriously shakey weather had kindly decided to play us a favour, and even before the sun rose the valley was filled with a low hanging cloud. It wasn’t long before we were above them and the sun poked it’s head out from behind. The suns glow was warming and gave us the much needed push to the summit.
Aside from having a laugh with few other hikers with a similar idea it was peaceful at the summit of Tryfan. Clouds stretched on South as far as the eye could see, flowing like a river over the hills and mountains in the distance. One prominent peak of cloud stood out, rising like a wave high above the others, this wave marked Moel Siabod.
Over to the Glyders, the cloud began pouring in like a bath who’s taps have been neglected and left running. We stood and took the view in for a while before the inevitable descent down under the guise of the clouds to meet the miners track.
Atop the Glyders Snowdon poked it’s head out above the clouds and we briskly continued along down the steep slopes of Glyder Fawr until we made the decision to make a final push to Y Garn to get the best views back over to Tryfan.
Racing the final part we even made it with 5 minutes to spare for the bus.
