Tryfan via Heather Terrace - Tuesday 24 April 2012
Route
Llyn Ogwen - Milestone Buttress - Heather Terrace - Tryfan - Llyn Bochlwyd - Idwal Cottage - Llyn Ogwen
Parking
Plenty of parking below Milestone Buttress (Free) - Grid Ref SH661603
Mileage
3.5 miles
Terrain
Mountain paths that need to be taken with care in some places. There is some scrambling up Milestone Buttress and near the summit of Tryfan but nothing too onerous providing you take your time. The descent to Llyn Bochlwyd is steep in places. The final part of the walk is along the A5 but there is a pavement.
Weather
Overcast with sunny periods.
Time Taken
3hrs
Total Ascent
2070ft (631m)
Map
OL17 - Snowdon & Conwy Valley
Llyn Ogwen - Milestone Buttress - Heather Terrace - Tryfan - Llyn Bochlwyd - Idwal Cottage - Llyn Ogwen
Parking
Plenty of parking below Milestone Buttress (Free) - Grid Ref SH661603
Mileage
3.5 miles
Terrain
Mountain paths that need to be taken with care in some places. There is some scrambling up Milestone Buttress and near the summit of Tryfan but nothing too onerous providing you take your time. The descent to Llyn Bochlwyd is steep in places. The final part of the walk is along the A5 but there is a pavement.
Weather
Overcast with sunny periods.
Time Taken
3hrs
Total Ascent
2070ft (631m)
Map
OL17 - Snowdon & Conwy Valley
GPX File
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Walk Description
Tryfan at 3010ft is a truly fantastic mountain. It has everything for us - scenery, scrambling, a superb ridge and a lovely summit. Between us we have been up it a few times and the ascent via Heather Terrace is a challenging one with a fair amount of scrambling, particularly at the start and prior to gaining the summit. It is a mountain not to be taken lightly and is best climbed on a cloud free day with good visibility.
The walk started from the Car Park below Milestone Buttress. This is a popular start for the ascent of Tryfan but today it was fairly quiet on the mountain thankfully. The altitude at the start is already 1000ft therefore it only leaves another 2010ft to go!! The initial climb was on a steep path up the Buttress before meeting the path going off up the North Ridge, which in itself is a challenging scramble - one for another day. We carried on the Heather Terrace path soon turning right, scrambling in places before we reached the many boulders which bar the route to the summit. The boulders need taking care getting over - we just took our time and negotiated the safest and easiest way to the summit ridge - from then it was a simple case of following the ridge to reach the summit.
At the summit of Tryfan are the two monoliths of Adam & Eve, a pair of rocks some 3 metres high and separated by 1.2 metres. The rocks are visible from the Ogwen valley, from where they resemble two human figures. It is customary to scale Eve using the foothold and then jump over to Adam thus earning "the freedom of Tryfan" - not for us as the wind was starting to blow. Leaving the summit, we retraced our steps to near the Far South Peak and then made our descent steeply off the mountain to reach the idyllic Llyn Bochlwyd, the shape of which bears a remarkable resemblance to a map of Australia.
From the Llyn, the steepness relented and it was now a simple matter of following the good path down to reach the A5 at Idwal before walking back along the road to the parking place at Milestone Buttress. A great day out on a superb mountain.
The walk started from the Car Park below Milestone Buttress. This is a popular start for the ascent of Tryfan but today it was fairly quiet on the mountain thankfully. The altitude at the start is already 1000ft therefore it only leaves another 2010ft to go!! The initial climb was on a steep path up the Buttress before meeting the path going off up the North Ridge, which in itself is a challenging scramble - one for another day. We carried on the Heather Terrace path soon turning right, scrambling in places before we reached the many boulders which bar the route to the summit. The boulders need taking care getting over - we just took our time and negotiated the safest and easiest way to the summit ridge - from then it was a simple case of following the ridge to reach the summit.
At the summit of Tryfan are the two monoliths of Adam & Eve, a pair of rocks some 3 metres high and separated by 1.2 metres. The rocks are visible from the Ogwen valley, from where they resemble two human figures. It is customary to scale Eve using the foothold and then jump over to Adam thus earning "the freedom of Tryfan" - not for us as the wind was starting to blow. Leaving the summit, we retraced our steps to near the Far South Peak and then made our descent steeply off the mountain to reach the idyllic Llyn Bochlwyd, the shape of which bears a remarkable resemblance to a map of Australia.
From the Llyn, the steepness relented and it was now a simple matter of following the good path down to reach the A5 at Idwal before walking back along the road to the parking place at Milestone Buttress. A great day out on a superb mountain.
Heading up Milestone Buttress with Llyn Ogwen below. Idwal Cottage is at the head of the Llyn.
Foel Goch towers majestically above with the slopes of Y Garn to the left
Foel Goch towers majestically above with the slopes of Y Garn to the left
Y Garn from Milestone Buttress
Looking across to the Carneddau and Pen Yr Olwen above Llyn Ogwen
Another good view over to the Carneddau
Adam & Eve (and Angie) on the summit of Tryfan
(It looks like him, but that is not the Son of God on the right although he was wearing open toed sandals!!)
(It looks like him, but that is not the Son of God on the right although he was wearing open toed sandals!!)
Is this Australia? No it is Llyn Bochlwyd from the descent
Looking over to Foel Goch
And if we didn't know where we were - here is a clue
Looking back to Tryfan - a fantastic mountain that has everything
The ornate gate leading down to Idwal
Pen Yr Olwen