Go in winter At the start of Bristly Ridge, having escaped the evil clutches of Sinister Gully and with 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 , 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 Strenuousness lllll Kendal Northallerton “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 . 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. 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

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like a craggy up you’re dealing with nothing but rock. We e g

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The frozen spires of d

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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

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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

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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 , 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.

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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 awaybigger, in the cool steeper,frozen fingers pointier...– and I’m far happier on onT the world. You adopt a manly stance I suspected the opposite was true. on Helvellyn, ’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. Today it felt dangerous. Tom, accomplished in winter mountains than a winter mountaineer. But sometimes, scowling back at you, goading you, daring by far the safest way onto the ridge and right on the edge of my ability level. We the photographer, went first, gripping I realised, but would never have known when the right mountains with the right you to attack it. And we couldn’t resist. It well worth the effort. And Sinister Gully moved slowly and deliberately, picking the frosty lip of the gap with an axe-and- that if I hadn’t pushed myself that little bit routes present themselves, I don’t mind was still only lunchtime, the weather was isn’t really that sinister, either: nothing our way carefully through the mad tangle hands combo, lowering himself into the further, raised the bar that little bit higher. blurring the lines a little. T improving and by this point I’d only torn a bit of knee, elbow and axe jamming of rock and ice, grateful to be following narrow divide. He landed safely, giving I also discovered that Tryfan and Bristly around 15 holes in my £250 jacket with can’t deal with – and the views back to the footsteps of a lone walker who’d me confidence, then supporting me as I Ridge sit on the upper level of the butt of my axe, so on we went. Tryfan are the stuff of fantasy. It’s loose ascended earlier that day. There are many followed suit. Before long we were hauling what I enjoy doing This is also where Rob, our safety net, and awkward, with plenty of sharp rocks lines to follow on Bristly Ridge, but the ourselves up the icy step to the right of in the winter departed the story, cautious of pushing jutting out from above, so a helmet is a general consensus is that staying as close the impressive pinnacle for which the gap his luck while still on the comeback from good idea if just for this section. As we to the exposed crest is best, trusting is named, then scrapping upwards as the an injury. He pointed out the start of exited the gully and crested the ridge, the your own level of ability, experience and route widened onto the ridge’s superb the scramble in the troublingly named beauty and sheer magnificence of what lay nerve. We mostly tackled the challenge finish, crowned by a spiky rock formation Sinister Gully, then left us alone in Bwlch ahead struck me. It may be deemed the head-on, straight down the middle, but with the look of a frozen porcupine. Tryfan, gawping upwards at a ridge same level of difficulty by whoever defines swung to the left and right on a couple of Then all of a sudden we hit Glyder Fach’s that looked incredibly exciting yet also scrambling grades, but Bristly Ridge is occasions, even backing down from a few slightly impossible. I’ve always wanted a like Tryfan’s north ridge put through a sections we didn’t like the look of. crack at Bristly Ridge, but in my head it pencil sharpener. Everything is bigger, I never quite got scared, but I was had looked nothing like this. I’d pictured steeper, pointier, with far more things cautiously tense from the second we lazy summer sunshine and dry rock to topple off. It’s a very cool place with a exited Sinister Gully. I’ve never been with gigantic jug-shaped holds, whereas afraid of heights, but my confidence what lay above resembled the contents starts to waver the second I start relying of a giant chest freezer that had been on the pick of an axe or the spike of a poured down the mountainside, coming crampon for balance, and it’s safe to to rest in a chaotic landslide of giant ice say my heart somersaulted when we cubes, wonky towers, protruding slabs

Getting stuck in to the lower sections of Bristly Ridge, with a few hundred metres of rock, ice and snow lying between us and Glyder Fach’s summit.

TRAIL STAYED...... at the recently, and wonderfully, revamped YHA Snowdon Pen-y-Pass Hostel – situated 1,000ft above sea-level in the stunning surroundings of the . Call 0345 371 9534 or visit www.yha.org.uk to book.

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