Go Snowdonia in winter At the start of Bristly Ridge, having escaped the evil clutches of Sinister Gully and with Tryfan successfully ticked off. Do Tryfan & Bristly Ridge RIDGE RAIDERS Trail tackles two classic scrambles in the full grip of winter – and discovers that you never know what you’re capable of till you push yourself to the limit. WORDS OLI REED PHOTOGRAPHS TOM BAILEY 40 TRAIL FEBRUARY 2017 FEBRUARY 2017 TRAIL 41 Tryfan & BristlyThurso Ridge ISLE OF LEWIS HARRIS Lairg Ullapool Part 1 Tryfan north ridge The cloud clears for a few precious seconds, delivering knockout views down the Ogwen Valley. ISLE OF SKYE Inverness Portree Shiel Bridge Aviemore Inverie Aberdeen s I stepped out of the car into a muddy Rising from the valley floor to Tryfan’s 917m Mallaig Invergarry Braemar puddle and stared up at Tryfan’s grey, summit, this fractured, soaring ridgeline is one of the Fort William saturated north ridge, I could not have most recognisable landmarks in north Wales, and it MULL Oban predicted that this would become my finest sums up everything that’s great about Snowdonia. JURA everA mountain day. It was cold in the Ogwen Valley, There are moves to make your legs wobble, problems Glasgow Edinburgh but far from freezing. We could see white dollops to solve, shards of rock so sharp you could slice ISLAY Berwick-upon-Tweed high on the mountains from the breakfast table of cheese on them, and a trio of oddly angled standing ISLE Ayr our hostel, but somehow it didn’t feel like winter. It stones (The Cannon, Adam & Eve) for you to horse OF ARRAN Jedburgh Ballantrae was calm, drizzly, almost mild – and it was all a bit around on. It’s huge fun, not excessively exposed, and Dumfries Newcastle Newton Stewart miserable. But we’d driven a long way to get here, demanding without being too difficult. But what’s it Londonderry -upon-Tyne Stranraer Carlisle so we weren’t about to sit around doing nothing. like under snow? Donegal Belfast Keswick Penrith Middlesbrough Besides, we had a local expert egging us on… We started discovering the answer to that question Windermere Kendal Northallerton Strenuousness lllll “Don’t worry about the clag down here,” around half an hour after leaving the car, as the Ingleton Navigation lllll Rob Johnson assured us. “It’ll be full winter squishiness of sludge was replaced by the reassuring Bentham York Technicality lllllLancaster conditions from around 700m. We’ll have a great crunch of hardened snow. If you’ve explored this Skipton TRAIL’S ROUTE Leeds day.” And he should know, because he’s a local ridge before, you’ll know even the early footpath Dublin Liverpool Manchester Rhyl mountain guide and the chairman of the overworked sections are ferociously steep, so it wasn’t long before Conway Llanberis Mountain Rescue Team. crampons and axes were deployed. The higher we Bodelwyddan Sheffield Betws-y-Coed So with crampons buried in our rucksacks and climbed, the better it got. Below us the hum of cars Llangollen Derby ice axes safely lashed to our backs, off we went. from the A5 faded, and the tourist hordes of the Barmouth Dingle Tralee Peterborough Aberystwyth Birmingham The early stages were steep, sweaty and soggy, but Ogwen Valley became a distant memory. Cloud Waterford it wasn’t long before grass and mud gave way to swirled around, clearing occasionally to tease a Killarney Cork Cardigan Hay-on-Wye Kenmare snow and rock. In summer Tryfan’s north ridge is a glimmer of a view, before clamping down again to Brecon Gloucester Distance 5km (3 miles) scrambler’s paradise, a riotous mixture of technical leave us lost in our own little world: one of snow Oxford Total Peascentmbroke 860m terrain and tricky route-finding that’s regarded by and ice, rock and ridge. The terrain was committing, Swansea Maps OS Explorer Cardiff Bristol many as the very definition of Grade 1 scrambling. almost frightening in places, and the sheer number of (1:25,000) OL17; OS I’m a very confident scrambler – in fact it’s by far route options would have left me bewildered if not for Landranger (1:50,000)Minehead 115; Harvey Superwalker Southampton my favourite way to travel in the mountains – but Rob’s calming reassurance. Brighton I’ve always considered myself a bit of a charlatan We started on a path, then hit a wide section of XT25 (1:25,000) Exeter Poole Snowdonia North in winter, a cocky hillwalker masquerading as a ridge, then negotiated an awkward rock step with the Bodmin Start/finishPl Milestoneymouth serious mountaineer (or a have-a-go hero with all the added security of a rope around our waists, but we Buttress layby on A5 gear and no idea). As a result, anything with even knew we could have avoided that obstacle completely (SH661602) the slightest degree of technicality has a tendency on easier ground to our right if we to set my tummy fluttering. So it felt good to have weren’t trying to be so but the reality is quite different once you start an experienced companion with impeccable local laddishly heroic. spidering across its many crinkles and crevices. Glyder Fach knowledge in the lead. From the road this route Tryfan’s north ridge rises and falls, twists and Bwlch looks simple, arrowing turns, shimmies and slides, grapples and heaves its y Ddwy Glyder Cwm directly upwards way up the mountain – and from around halfway Cneifion T e h e g like a craggy up you’re dealing with nothing but rock. We e g d The frozen spires of d i M i n R Tryfan’s north ridge loom Llyn y e escalator, stayed as close as possible to the crest, posing with r y s’ l Caseg-fraith Trac t k s threateningly above. i shaky knees on the Cannon Stone, then squeezing r B n beneath shed-sized blocks and clambering up tight ini gullies to reach the mountain’s north summit. I’d Bwlch Tryfan ib never considered it before, but the name Tryfan Far South Peak Y Gr Tryfan ASHCROFT JEREMY translates from Welsh to ‘Three Peaks’, and Cwm Bochlwyd when you’re scrambling across that trident of Llyn Cwm Tryfan Bochlwyd e summits they feel far more pronounced than first e g g Cwm Idawl d d i R impressions suggest. Every boulder, slab and turret h t r Gribin was rimed in ice, with the snow consolidating o N Facet and compacting beneath our feet as we inched Llyn closer to the dual columns of Adam and Eve that Idwal mark the top of this remarkable mountain. As we NORTH N approached the summit the cloud cleared for a few precious seconds, giving way to deep blue skies, Milestone Buttress Ogwen crystal clear air and a view of the Ogwen Valley Bwlch A5 Cottage YHA I’ll never forget. We could see people strolling Tryfan beside Llyn Ogwen, milling around the café at Idwal Cottage, totally unaware of the alpine-style START/ FINISH Llyn Ogwen Gwern conditions we’d climbed into high above. I smiled Gof Uchefhef at the ridiculousness of it all. � FEBRUARY 2017 TRAIL 43 Tryfan & Bristly Ridge Part 2 Bristly Ridge Grateful for an experienced Sinister Gully isn’t quite companion You to follow adopt a manly stance on the summit, probably leap as terrifying as it sounds, on the more exposed but it requires full winter kit sectionsfrom of Tryfan! Adam to Eve, then glare across the deep divide of and the right experience Bwlch Tryfan and see Bristly Ridge scowling back at you. in these conditions. � 44 TRAIL FEBRUARY 2017 FEBRUARY 2017 TRAIL 45 Tryfan & Bristly Ridge he problem with climbing and pinched gullies. In fine summer monstrous personality, and I don’t mind scrambled to the top of a jagged turret summit plateau, where the hands-on mountains. I don’t have the skill, desire Tryfan is that when you get to conditions I’m told this route is far easier admitting I was nervous. overlooking the two-metre drop into excitement ended, the tension lifted or patience to spend much time tying the top you feel untouchable, than it looks – just a slightly exposed I’m quite an experienced winter walker. Pinnacle Gap. On a normal day I wouldn’t and the sense of peril I’d been battling ropes and fixing belays – especially with Bristlyunbeatable Ridgeand ready to take is liketop-end Tryfan’s Grade 1 scramble – northbut in winter ridgeI’ve successfully put ascended through Striding Edge a pencileven think sharpener. about the move that followed; Everything all day seemed to isdrift bigger,away in the cool steeper,frozen fingers pointier...– and I’m far happier on Ton the world. You adopt a manly stance I suspected the opposite was true. on Helvellyn, Snowdon’s south ridge and it’s just a case of swinging yourself down afternoon air. angled mountainsides than vertical ones. on the summit, probably leap from Adam The entrance to Sinister Gully is a even Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis (with and making sure you don’t twist an ankle I discovered a few things about myself I’ll always be a scrambler rather than a to Eve, then glare across the deep divide fiddle to locate, tucked behind a small lots of ropes and four experienced guides) on landing. But this was anything but a that day. I learnt I’m probably more climber, and a winter walker rather than of Bwlch Tryfan and see Bristly Ridge drystone wall beneath steep crags; but it’s in full winter conditions, but this felt normal day.