Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach from Pen-y-Pass

Both of us agreed that this was a brilliant and quality walk - especially in comparison with our previous walks. For one this trail is less popular - meaning a quieter walk for us to enjoy. The views of and from the Glyders, especially that of the mighty Tryfan, are truly inspiring. Apart from some mild scrambling, the walk is pretty easy though navigational skills is a requirement as the trails are often through pathless and boggy terrain. Low grade 1 scramble at most.

Our ascent began at Pen-y-Pass (left of the YHA). We were the only people arriving at Pen-y-Pass that morning who did not head up towards Snowdon, though more did come later. The ground (which is pathless) steepness gradually grows, but isn't difficult. It is a very remote trail - we only saw two other people on our way up to Glyder Fawr. Due to the less than favourable weather, the path is extremely boggy. Once at the stop navigation is simple enough, we just aimed for the peaks (including the Castell y Gwynt down the middle). At the summit plateau of Glyder Fach we found the famous Cantilever Stone. We expected a crowd there, but fortunately it wasn't busy. This was also where Jennifer recorded her video review of the E75. To the left the towering figure of Tryfan stood. Sadly it won't be our destination today, but it is on our to-do checklist. We saw more people making their way up, presumably from Ogwen.

Anyway, making our way down, a RAF Sea King rescue copter suddenly made an appearance, coming in from the mountains above us. It was a magnificent sight, but the Sea King was too fast for me to capture on camera (I've already packed it). Fortunately it made a couple more passes above us. We are not sure if it was on a training exercise or rescue mission. Regardless they do seem to know that we did not need any assistance and ignored us. The descent eventually takes us over a large boggy area that meets with the Miner's track. Descent is steep, slippery and boggy, but manageable. We eventually reached Pen-y-Gwryd where the Sherpa bus awaits.

The trail is a short 5.5 miles, but with exploration my tracklog read 7 miles with a total of 3420 feet of ascent.



























Maps: Ordnance Survey Explorer OL7, Landranger 115

Snowdon via Pyg track and Miners' track

Both Pyg track and Miners track starts from Pen-y-Pass (the car park fills up by 8am so take the Sherpa bus service instead). We decided to ascend via the Pyg track and descend via the Miners' track. The weather was pretty dull that day (no where near the BBQ summer that the Met Office predicted), and we only saw the summit less than a hundred yards from it. The Pyg track route itself is easy, and is well marked. Just be careful not to accidentally skirt left onto the Crib Goch arête at the Bwlch y Moch junction if you aren't planning to. Including the return trip via the easier Miners' track, the total height gain of around 3370 feet (at least according to my log) and involves about 7.8 miles of walking.

The summit was crawling with human traffic, and as one fellow walker commented - more crowded than Piccaddilly Circus (which is true! - even the Sherpa S1 bus we took from Llanberis is more packed than a rush hour Tube carriage). Disappointed that we couldn't see anything once we were up there, but this is great excuse to climb back up again the next time we are in this area, hopefully eventually bagging all the other routes (including the Snowdon ranger, Watkin path and Snowdon horseshoe).












Maps: Ordnance Survey Explorer OL7, Landranger 115