Fell running on the Glyders and Carnedds
Posted by Sam Harrison on April 14, 2012 at 11:22.
carneddau carnedds fell running glyders snowdonia y gribin
It dawned on me last week that I only had two weeks to go until the Three Peaks fell race and that the last long run I did was the Edale Skyline fell race a good few weeks ago - time to put some proper training in! I've also entered the Welsh 1000m Peaks race in June and so I thought I'd use the opportunity to recce the only part of the route I've never done before - Y Gribin ridge onto the Glyders.
I did the run yesterday as a variation on what could be described as the "Ogwen Horseshoe" - along the Gyders, down to Llyn Ogwen and back up onto the Carnedds. The variation I chose came out at 15 miles with 7000 feet of ascent. I parked at the base of the north ridge of Tryfan and headed up to Llyn Bochlwyd before picking up the obvious track up the Gribin ridge. I had a quick look to see if I could spot the Cneifon Arete (translated as the nameless arete) that I've fancied doing for a while now, but couldn't pick it out of the mass of crags lining Cwm Idwal. From the top of the ridge it is less than a kilometre to the summit of the highest mountain in the Glyders - Glyder Fawr, standing at 1001m.
The ridge is down as a grade I scramble, though I definitely think it is at the lower end of the grade as most of the difficulties can be bypassed.
Until late 2010 the listed height of Glyder Fawr was 999m and as such it wasn't included in the Welsh 1000m Peak race. However, new GPS measurements found the height to actually be 1000.8m and so a decision was made to include the mountain in the two fell running categories of the race. This year, the "elite" mountaineer's categories will include the summit as well. This addition makes the long fell runners class (A) race a grueling 20 miles with 9000 feet of ascent - why did I enter this!?
From the summit of Glyder Fawr, I headed down to Llyn y Cwn and then onto Y Garn, before taking the eastern ridge straight down to Ogwen Cottage. The past few times I've been down this ridge, a new path was in the progress of being built, and it was a relief to see the new path fully in place yesterday - it certainly made the descent easier than the boggy/grassy mess it was before!
I had been planning on topping my water bottle at Ogwen Cottage and so had drank everything I had before I got down to the little takeaway stall in the car park. Unfortunately however, the little takeaway stall refused to fill my bottle up and so I was left with a choice of either water from the outlet of Llyn Idwal or water from the sinks in the toilets that was specifically marked as not drinkable. I presumed that the sink water was marked undrinkable as it was also from the outlet of Llyn Idwal and as I didn't have much choice I filled up from there. The Carneddau are notoriously dry and I didn't fancy my chances of finding a source higher up.
My route up Pen yr Ole Wen was via its south-western ridge, a route I'd never done previously. It was a drag and my legs started aching, but a bit of scrambling and the odd bit of steep scree added enough entertainment to keep me going. There was a good deal of snow about on the summit and I chose to eat this instead of drinking the water from down at Ogwen.
I followed the ridge along over Carnedd Dafydd and Llewellyn, before heading over to Pen yr Helgi Du and Pen Llithrig y Wrach and finally down to the A5. The weather closed in on the final section and for the first time all day I was forced to put my windshirt on as it started snowing. By the time I was down at the A5 this snow had turned to persistent drizzle and by the time I got back to the car I was drenched through. I can't really complain though, as most of the run had been cloudless and with sunny intervals. The run took me 4 hours 30 minutes altogether.
My legs ache now but not too much and yesterday has definitely boosted my confidence that I'm (just about) fit enough for the Welsh 1000m Peaks race. I ended up drinking the water from my bottle and as of yet (touch wood) I haven't fallen ill!
I did the run yesterday as a variation on what could be described as the "Ogwen Horseshoe" - along the Gyders, down to Llyn Ogwen and back up onto the Carnedds. The variation I chose came out at 15 miles with 7000 feet of ascent. I parked at the base of the north ridge of Tryfan and headed up to Llyn Bochlwyd before picking up the obvious track up the Gribin ridge. I had a quick look to see if I could spot the Cneifon Arete (translated as the nameless arete) that I've fancied doing for a while now, but couldn't pick it out of the mass of crags lining Cwm Idwal. From the top of the ridge it is less than a kilometre to the summit of the highest mountain in the Glyders - Glyder Fawr, standing at 1001m.
The ridge is down as a grade I scramble, though I definitely think it is at the lower end of the grade as most of the difficulties can be bypassed.
Until late 2010 the listed height of Glyder Fawr was 999m and as such it wasn't included in the Welsh 1000m Peak race. However, new GPS measurements found the height to actually be 1000.8m and so a decision was made to include the mountain in the two fell running categories of the race. This year, the "elite" mountaineer's categories will include the summit as well. This addition makes the long fell runners class (A) race a grueling 20 miles with 9000 feet of ascent - why did I enter this!?
From the summit of Glyder Fawr, I headed down to Llyn y Cwn and then onto Y Garn, before taking the eastern ridge straight down to Ogwen Cottage. The past few times I've been down this ridge, a new path was in the progress of being built, and it was a relief to see the new path fully in place yesterday - it certainly made the descent easier than the boggy/grassy mess it was before!
I had been planning on topping my water bottle at Ogwen Cottage and so had drank everything I had before I got down to the little takeaway stall in the car park. Unfortunately however, the little takeaway stall refused to fill my bottle up and so I was left with a choice of either water from the outlet of Llyn Idwal or water from the sinks in the toilets that was specifically marked as not drinkable. I presumed that the sink water was marked undrinkable as it was also from the outlet of Llyn Idwal and as I didn't have much choice I filled up from there. The Carneddau are notoriously dry and I didn't fancy my chances of finding a source higher up.
My route up Pen yr Ole Wen was via its south-western ridge, a route I'd never done previously. It was a drag and my legs started aching, but a bit of scrambling and the odd bit of steep scree added enough entertainment to keep me going. There was a good deal of snow about on the summit and I chose to eat this instead of drinking the water from down at Ogwen.
I followed the ridge along over Carnedd Dafydd and Llewellyn, before heading over to Pen yr Helgi Du and Pen Llithrig y Wrach and finally down to the A5. The weather closed in on the final section and for the first time all day I was forced to put my windshirt on as it started snowing. By the time I was down at the A5 this snow had turned to persistent drizzle and by the time I got back to the car I was drenched through. I can't really complain though, as most of the run had been cloudless and with sunny intervals. The run took me 4 hours 30 minutes altogether.
My legs ache now but not too much and yesterday has definitely boosted my confidence that I'm (just about) fit enough for the Welsh 1000m Peaks race. I ended up drinking the water from my bottle and as of yet (touch wood) I haven't fallen ill!