APRIL 2023 · ADVENTURE

Eryri: Snowdonia - Camp and Scrambling Tryfan

Ogwen Valley, Eryri

Day two was Tryfan's North Ridge. Grade 1 — the first serious grade. The description in the guidebooks is something like "a long, exposed scramble on sound rock." What it doesn't prepare you for is the architecture of the thing: the rock on Tryfan's ridgeline is not rounded or worn smooth. It is angular, fractured into columnar blocks and spires, pinnacles that appear suddenly above you as you gain height. The mountain has a silhouette recognisable from the valley — the pyramid profile, the jagged top — and from inside the route you understand why.

Green tent pitched in mountain landscape with Tryfan peak rising beyond — Morning before the ascent begins

— The North Ridge

The green tent in the valley below, Tryfan's pyramid rising beyond it. That's the morning frame, before the start. Then the route: a scrambler ascending through blocky formations, the handholds here solid, the technique from yesterday visible in how they move. Two scramblers on a ridge, Llyn Ogwen directly below them in the frame — the lake a small dark rectangle from that height, the valley layout readable for the first time from above.

The rock on Tryfan's ridgeline is not rounded or worn smooth.
Tryfan — April 2023

Scrambler ascending through blocky rock formations on mountainside — The blocky architecture of the lower ridge

— Gaining Height

Adam and Eve are the two rock pillars at the summit. In the image they stand slightly apart, the distant mountain slopes behind them. The tradition is to jump between them — the leap of faith. No one is jumping in this photograph. They're standing near them, taking in the fact of having reached them.

Two scramblers on ridge with Llyn Ogwen lake beneath sheer rock wall — The lake a small dark rectangle from height

Jagged rock spires overlooking Ogwen Valley and surrounding mountains — Spires at the top of the ridge

— Adam and Eve

Looking through craggy rock formations across Ogwen Valley: the view from the upper ridge, the valley floor a long way below, Pen yr Ole Wen and the Carneddau across the water. Columnar rock formations framing distant valley. Jagged spires overlooking the full length of the valley. These images are from the same hour, different angles on the same fifty metres of ridge.

— Summit Hour

Two hikers on summit rocks with Llyn Ogwen beneath them. The skill from yesterday was visible in how people were climbing by this point. That was the achievement.