The pace was good and everybody seemed to be enjoying it.We stopped to watch the climbers on Tryfan Bach for a while before carrying on and heading for the fence.When we reached the fence we turned right and followed it to the north ridge,i told Sooz to put her trekking poles away as we were going to be scrambling now.The weather when we set off was overcast but the clouds started to break up and the sun came out and as we were sheltered from the wind it was very warm and the layers were coming off,so we were having plenty of stops which enabled plenty of photo opportunities.
Below,Pen yr Ole Wen across the valley.
Great sky colour.
I kept the route as simple as i could as it was Brian's and the girls first scramble,but they were doing very well and the smiles on their faces told me they were enjoying it.Julian was taking a more difficult route,there seemed to be 3 of him,everytime i looked up at him scrambling above us he was there but then i would put my head down,i would look up again a few seconds later and he would be in a different area of the mountain.We soon reached the Cannon and the newbies scrambled up it for their photo.
We continued up to the "Nose" where we split up.I took Brian,Sioban and Sooz along the "rat run" whilst Julian took the young ones up the tougher scramble of the Nose.They would appear periodically above us on the sky line as we made our way along the easier route.Sooz said she needed some food so we stopped a short distance away from the north gully for lunch and Julian and the girls scrambled down the gully to join us.Below they are exiting the gully.
Whilst we were eating a gang of lads passed above taking a stupidly hard route up and were getting into a bit of difficulty having to come back down to find an easier route.It started to cloud over and looked like rain as a woman in her late fifties,her dreadlocked son,30 ish,and a slightly overweight golden retriever passed us and we watched them contour around the rat run.They got to a climb of about 10 feet,the son went over it but the dog couldn't make it,the son had to climb half way down it and grab his collar to haul him up,not a good sign.As we were packing up to make the final push for the summit it started to rain and the cloud came down and we lost our distant views but we could still see the summit of Tryfan above us.We made our way around to the last difficult scramble before the summit,a 20 foot rock face above a massive drop and were dismayed to find that the dog was stuck again,the son had climbed up but the dog wouldn't/couldn't go and was at the bottom with the woman virtually blocking everybody.Julian,Brian and the young girls bypassed them and continued up but Sooz,who has vertigo,couldn't get past.The son tried to come down but he couldn't so went back to the top of this rock face,he called the dog but it wasn't for moving.I realised that they were in trouble so i asked the woman to move and i climbed a short way up this rock face,there was no hand holds and very steep and wet,i got hold of the dogs collar and pulled him up and past me but he couldn't make it,i thought if this dog slips or makes a stupid sudden movement he could fall and take me with him,i was very,very worried for my own safety.I lowered the dog and came back down myself and said to the son that he would have to come down to grab the dog whilst i push him up.The son came down a few feet and i went up again,i called the dog and hauled him up by his collar and pushed him above my head and the son grabbed him and pulled him up.I was relieved he got up but was fuming that they had brought the dog this way.My drama hadn't finished,the mother couldn't get around and up to join her son,the scramble proving too difficult for her so again i had to ask her to move,we changed positions and i helped her,Sooz and Sioban around this last difficult bit.They did thank me but i was still fuming.We made the short climb up to the summit after putting our wet gear on and grabbed a quick photo.
It was really cold up here so i suggested making our way down to Bwlch Tryfan where we could stop for another break.As we made our way down the rain stopped and the cloud lifted and we got our views back.It was quite windy on the west side of Tryfan and it was a cold wind and when we reached the wall we climbed over to shelter out of it and had another food stop.I had made a lemon drizzle and we ate that here.Julian had plans to continue up and over Bristly Ridge and we were to continue over Y Foel Goch and Gallt Yr Ogof and meet him later but we changed our plans as it was getting late and decided to stick together and descend via the Braich y Ddeugwm ridge,which i hadn't done.Leaving the bwlch we contoured around the Miners Path and up to Llyn Caseg-fraith.
From the lake you get a great view of Tryfan.Unfortunately i cannot post any more photo's as i've again used all my space up ?.From the lake we followed the ridge down and crossed the Nant Gwern y Gof to pick up the paved path below Heather Terrace.Me and Julian took a detour to the top of Tryfan Bach to watch the climbers below us before back tracking to the path where we walked back to the camp site.We all then drove to Cobdens Hotel for a beer and to recap on a great day on my favourite mountain,this was my 32nd visit.Although we only walked 4.5 miles it had taken us 8 hours,the ascent was 2,500 feet.
MILEAGE WALKED 346
ASCENT 90,300
TOPS 79.
