Because
of my recent Lakeland-centric wanderings to complete the Wainwrights and
Outlying Fells, it had been quite a few years since I had stayed at my climbing
club’s hut in Llanberis. The Christmas
meet provided an ideal opportunity to bag a couple of Nuttalls – the list that
I’ll be mostly concentrating on.
I
have always been keen to walk up Mynydd Mawr, having been captivated by this
picture by Ginger Cain. A fellow Scouser,
Ginger has produced some magnificent mountain art, and his Llanberis gallery of
the same name is well worth a visit.
Six
of us set off for Nant-y-Betws near Betws Garmon and a short road walk led to a
bridge over Afon Gwyrfai to woodland where the climb started. We emerged below Cwm Du and followed the path
westwards to the base of the north-west ridge.
The path upwards was soon found and we followed it steadily to the
mist-covered summit. The lack of a view,
combined with a breeze and rain made this a place not to linger so we headed down,
along the top of the Craig y Bera cliffs.
One of our senior members entertained us with past stories of loose rock
on the well-known Sentries Ridge as we gazed through the mist down the gullies
to the narrow arêtes.
The
steep descent led to some shelter at the top of the forest where we stopped for
lunch before finding the vegetated path at the bottom of the forest. A quick road walk past the Snowdon Ranger led
back to the cars and a quick refreshment visit to the Cwellyn Arms before
driving back to the hut for an epic Christmas Dinner.
Following
the previous night’s festivities, no firm plans were being made and nobody
expressed any interest in joining me on a foray on to the most northern tops of
the Carneddau. Starting from the parking
area below Bwlch y Ddeufaen, a path ran alongside the wall to the west ridge of
Foel Lwyd and then followed the north side of the wall, slightly avoiding the
true summit of this WASHIS classified hill.
By now the wind had gained quite some speed, making the climbing of the
wall a little awkward. The summit cairn
was found easily as well as the alternative summit mound. Once I’d found the throughstones in the wall,
regaining the path was easier than leaving it.
I
dropped down to the col and was quickly at the rebuilt trig pillar of the Nuttall
summit of Tal y Fan. The breeze helped
with the decision to leave quickly and regaining the col led to the good path
down to the road.
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