BAG AN ICONIC TRIO
We’ve used a bit of creative licence by calling this ‘The Glyder Horseshoe’, because there isn’t really any such thing. But if there was, it would look like this.
When it comes to mountain walking in North Wales, Snowdon is the siren that sucks tourist hordes towards it. But a few miles to the northeast is a dark tangle of shattered volcanic peaks, creating their own mini mountain range and possibly the best British hillwalking south of the Scottish Highlands. Regular readers will know the names Tryfan and Glyder Fach (Trail 100 peaks 1 and 2), with good reason. They’re beautifully sinister mountains – all ridges, rock towers and shadowy gullies. You’ve probably heard of their most famous features too – the Cannon Stone and summit pillars of Adam & Eve on Tryfan, the Cantilever Stone and the weird prongs of Castell y Gwynt on Glyder Fach. Both mountains have committing north ridges that demand good scrambling skills and even better route-finding, and that’s how your horseshoe begins. The usual descent route from here takes you back down to your start point in the Ogwen Valley via the rocky spur of Y Gribin – but you don’t want to do that!
Now, to turn this walk into a proper peakbagging trip, and to chalk off another of our prized Trail 100 summits along the way, you’re going to keep heading west from Glyder Fach, over the otherworldly rocks crowning Glyder Fawr’s summit and down a steep, winding footpath until you’re hovering above the deliciously named Devil’s Kitchen. From here an airy green slope leads uphill again to the 947m summit of Y Garn (Trail 100 peak 3), which from the west appears like a big boring lump but to the north and east drips in character with cliffs cascading into the deep scoops of Cwms Clyd and Cywion below. The summit shelter is a fine place to sit, scoff lunch and drink in the enormity of your surroundings. You’re right in the thick of the highest peaks in Wales here, with almost every summit of the popular Welsh 3000s challenge visible in a mountain panorama that feels like a highlight reel of Snowdonia’s star names.
Your descent back to the car is one of the most enjoyable sections of the day, straight down Y Garn’s north-east ridge. It kicks off with a section of steep and fairly slippery scree, before pinching to a sharpish crest. There are no real difficulties here, it’s a walk rather than a scramble, eventually delivering you down to the shores of Llyn Idwal where you may have to dodge the picnickers who’ve made the short walk from Idwal Cottage to spend a few hours dwarfed by this awesome amphitheatre of rock.
It’s rare to find mountains with such different personalities so tightly packed together, which is part of what makes this area so special. You could explore each of them separately and never feel like you’ve missed out, but taking advantage of April’s extra hour of daylight and linking them altogether turns this into a proper multi-summit adventure.