Overall trip time:
about 6 hours including stops.
The guide time for the scramble is 1 hour but we did it comfortably
in around 45 mins in good conditions.
Despite a less than promising forecast from MWIS, I headed
to Ogwen to Mike for a mountain day including some steep ground up the Lech Ddu
Spur. As I left the A55 and drove along
the A5 towards Bethesda it was apparent that for the moment anyway, MWIS had
been a little pessimistic and we had pretty good conditions ; all but the very
tops were visible and there seemed no sign of the drizzle forecast, in fact
sunshine seemed more likely – fingers crossed!
After picking Mike up, we headed back to Bethesda and the
most stressful part of the day – driving up to Gerlan on very narrow roads and
finding a space to park which wouldn’t antagonise the locals. We were lucky – one last space which met the
criteria! Gear packed and already
feeling over dressed in my soft shell as the sun poked warily through, we set
off up the road and then up a very pleasant and easy path across open ground with
the Afon Llafar to our left and the Mynydd Du ridge down from Dafydd on our
right. As we headed up into the Cwm we were presented with the cliff of Crib
Lem ahead and slightly right - quartz boulders marking the start of our route clearly
visible on the top - and the smaller cwm of Cwmglas Bach to our right. A steep
section now heading up right, into Cwmglas Bach under the cliff brought us to
an upper tier and an easy to spot grass ramp leading back left onto the top of
Crib Lem. We gained a little more height then worked left and picked up a
fairly well trodden path up this ramp to a small grass and bilberry terrace and
the quartz boulders we had spotted earlier.
This is a wonderful spot in reasonable weather with great views down the
valley at twisting Afon Llafar and across to Yr Elen – and to this point we had
not come across another soul.
Following a quick food/drink/view stop, Mike lead us off up the
Spur on gloriously grippy volcanic rock up a couple of terraces until we
reached the reported crux – a downward sloping slab with an awkward exit at the
far end and pretty steep on the right.
In the dry conditions and great rock it was easy enough but would give
more pause for thought in the wet, though the slab was clean and rough so I
think would remain nicely grippy. The slab is avoidable to the left for anyone
particularly nervous about it. We
carried on up as the ridge narrowed, tackling the steeper sections of rock head
on, though again they could all be avoided by well worn tracks to either left
or right and all too soon it was over, the ridge merging with the upper scree
slopes of Dafydd.
On reaching the plateau we stopped for refreshments and to
drink in the magnificent scenery. The
hills in general are looking magnificent at the moment, very green and vibrant
even high up and I was particularly taken with a superb view of Tryfan. At this point we met out first humans, two
chaps completing the 3000m challenge after camping overnight in Ogwen who, by all
accounts, had suffered torrid conditions on the first leg including a very wet
and murky Crib Goch. They were a little
perturbed to see us wearing helmets as they weren’t expecting tricky ground but
relaxed once we explained !
The remainder of the day passed by quietly and pleasantly as
we walked across the plateau up Llywelyn and over to Yr Elen, now passing
people here and there but still very quiet compared to the honeypot areas of
Snowdon and the Glyders. The views from Yr Elen into Cwm Caseg and across the remote northern section of the Carneddau to the sea were magnificent, demanding a short pause to fully appreciate this wilderness. From Yr Elen, we
made a fairly rapid descent down her west ridge. This is initially quite steep down a scree
and boulder path but then levels to a nice grassy terrace before a couple more
smaller drops. Once near the toe of the ridge we cut south west to meet and
cross the river just before the fencing started and follow our ascent path back
to arrive at the car just as the weather started to turn - the tops were now hidden and everything looked considerably darker - a little foot sore (I'd worn stiff B2 boots) but very pleased with our day out.
I did manage a few pics which I've uploaded to Flickr here (unfortunately the one on the actual spur were blurred) : http://www.flickr.com/photos/shandyd05/sets/72157634427729012/
