Y Gribin on Glyder Fawr, in the Ogwen valley

Last weekend my sister came up to stay with us in Snowdonia.  The requirement for Sunday was a good mountain walk with a tiny bit of scrambling.  As I'm trying to convince her to start climbing I thought it would be a good introduction to get on a grade one scramble, and to prepare for some of the more exciting longer walks you can do both in the UK and the Alps.  It couldn't have too much exposure and not be too long either, so I was 'very good' and put thoughts of Tryfan behind me and opted for Y Gribin in the Glyders instead.

Misty views across Llyn Idwal.  The Y Gribin scramble path starts by the stone wall on the left.

The forecast was for sun from 11am onwards, light winds and no precipitation.  We had a leisurely start and left Ogwen cottage at around 10am.  A nice stroll up to Llyn Idwal until the first dry stone wall, where you follow this up to the start of the ridge between Idwal and Bochlwyd.

The view across to Tryfan from the start of the Y Gribin ridge

The initial section of the ascent until the 'football field' is steady, on a good path with excellent views.

The view from the 'football field' to the main part of the ridge scramble

From the 'field' the path continues up through the rocks and onto the main ridge of Y Gribin.  Here you can either remain on the 'true' ridge or continue on the right hand side joining the ridge later on and avoiding the majority of the exposure - although the route finding is trickier here.

My sister on the scramble

It seems as soon as the good scrambling starts it ends.  The route is short but great fun, and takes you right to the top of the Glyderau 'plateau' from where we turned west to Glyder Fawr at 1000.8m high (or 999m on the map as it was resurveyed in 2010).

On top of the Glyderau 'plateau'

Glyder Fawr is the fifth highest mountain in Wales, and Glyder is supposed to mean 'heap of stones' from the Welsh, gludair, and Glyder Fawr is translated as 'big heap'

The view from the summit across to sunny Llanberis

By the time we had reached the top the sun was coming out and the mist was clearing in waves.  We sheltered across the back of the summit from the icy light breeze for a lunch break and then headed down the screes to the devil's kitchen descent path.

Autumnal colours on Y Garn

It was a short sharp walk back down to the lake, and we descended to the bottom of the Idwal Slabs before  returning around the other side of the cwm back to the road.

The Y Gribin ridge with Tryfan behind

To summarise it was a super day out in the mountains, atmostpheric misty views, relatively quiet on the scramble and a pleasant cool temperature, requiring only an icebreaker t-shirt and my incredible Haglofs Boa 'active' softshell for the majority of the day.

Pen Y Ole Wen reflected in the sill water at the end of the day

Y Gribin scramble on Lliwedd

The incredible views from Y Gribin towards Moel Siabod

(Please excuse the picture quality, my phone camera is not that great)

Most keen hillwalkers will have heard of the Y Gribin grade one scramble in the Ogwen valley, but few know the Y Gribin on Lliwedd.  Earlier this summer I was assessing a D of E group on Snowdon, and having check-pointed them on the summit I watched them down the initial steep section of the Watkin path, having to descend a bit myself as there was some light fog, and then remembered my van was the other side of the mountain... Damn!  I didn't really fancy going over Lliwedd, having already been up Snowdon twice in one day, but recalled reading where the start of the Gribin ridge was.  It was incredible, a fast descent, not a soul in sight, and I vowed to go back and ascend it.

Panorama of Lliwedd on the Left, the Gribin ridge in the centre and Snowdon on the right

Earlier this week a friend and I did just that.  As it is a short route, we had a lie in, and with the bad forecast, as Lliwedd is around 200m lower than Snowdon, had a much more pleasant day then those heading for higher peaks.

The small river crossing to get to the start of the ridge

Setting off up the Miner's track you soon pass the 'normal' descent route of Lliwedd, from where you can see our objective.  After a short walk onwards we were at the base of the ridge. 

Looking up at the entire ridge line

The first sections of the scramble are gentle, with simpler steps and routefinding.  As you ease into it and ascend further not only do the steps become 'solid grade one' but you need to begin to focus in on the route to seek out the best and simplest line.  With the hardest section left until last you soon top out by a small cairn and lake near the main path.

One of the main sections of scrambling

From here we traversed over Lliwedd in the fog and then legged it down to the car.

Fog and sun at the top of the ridge

It was a great adventure out, and one that I would highly recommend to the grade one scrambler who wishes to seek out a sound route without encountering many if any other people.

Snowdon panorama looking atmospheric between heavy rain showers