Phil and I marched into upper Cwm Glas yesterday morning, in the hope of climbing The Ramp (II,*). The presence of large volumes of cloud meant that we didn't even try to find the route, which meanders across the length of the cwm. Instead we headed for Parsley Fern Left-Hand (II,**), a more well-defined line which turned out to be a fantastic climb. Great snow, a nice steep angle without getting silly, and a couple of nice icy steps.
Phil on Parsley Fern Left-Hand (II,**). Copyright Haydn Williams 2010.
Moving solo proved to be very efficient; we'd topped out by 10:00 and were back at the car at midday having come down the Pyg Track. Not wanting to waste the afternoon, we drove around to Ogwen to tick off another climb which has been on my "To Do" list for a while. At 250m long, Banana Gully (I,**) is a big route for Snowdonia, and takes a striking line up the front of Y Garn. Another efficient raid meant we'd topped out on Y Garn less than two hours later. The snow was marginally less solid than on Clogwyn y Ddysgyl, but on easy ground it didn't take away from the enjoyment of such a relatively long route.
At the top of the Pyg Track zig-zags. Copyright Haydn Williams 2010.
The rigours of yesterday took their toll and neither of us were particularly energetic this morning. We headed around to Cwm Fynnon Lloer, a location I'd not climbed in before, and proceeded to wander around in thick cloud for twenty minutes, trying to decide where our potential routes were. With the recent good weather there were footprints everywhere, which didn't help, and (having missed everything else) we eventually found ourselves at The Headwall (I). Another 250m route, this developed from patchy snow cover low down to plenty of thick stuff higher up, albeit not properly consolidated. I've never climbed a winter route without crampons before, but the nature of the snow meant that kicking steps was easy and secure; we started walking up a shallow slope and just continued to the top without ever needing anything more pointy than an axe.
Banana Gully (I,**), the snowy line to the right of the summit, gets its name from... well, you can figure it out. Copyright Haydn Williams 2010.
We descended the East Ridge of Pen yr Ole Wen in good time, and I was pretty chuffed to spot the wild Carneddau ponies on the way down; despite having been up on the range many times, I've never seen them before. The traditional stop at Rhug for a burger on the way home finished a great weekend off nicely.
