Y Garn and Elidir Fawr
An eye-opening adventure across Snowdonia’s Cinderella peaks.
To get the full mountain experience, it sometimes pays to turn your back on the hills that shine: the favoured ones, those that always draw your eye when you enter an area. There’s nothing wrong with climbing the attractive peaks. Indeed, the visual element is a key part of what draws most of us into the hills. It’s just worth remembering every now and again that it pays to consider those peaks that don’t look that impressive from the valley. Often you will find that once you gain height, these less attractive peaks start to display a whole new set of characteristics. Features that look unimpressive from below suddenly take on dramatic forms. Edges that look bland might in fact be narrow crests. Uniform mountain flanks reveal deep, wild corries. And rounded, boring summits turn out to be exposed rocky crests with views that go on forever.
Y Garn and Elidir Fawr are two such peaks. They get far less attention than Tryfan, Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr, yet the experience of walking over them is equivalent if not better in many respects. They form a relatively compact range situated between their neighbouring peaks and the coastal plain. The advantage of their position might not at first be obvious, but walk along their main crest and you will soon see what it is.
All the main peaks can be comfortably climbed in a single day’s walk, and each summit has its own unique characteristic. Carnedd y Filiast is a bit out on a limb, but there’s precious little height lost in gaining it so it’s a must-do addition to the loop. Exploring these peaks is an adventure of contrasts. To experience them at their best, the main ridge should be tackled from the Llanberis side rather than the Ogwen side. This way you can pop out onto the crest and feel the full awe of looking down into Cwm Idwal. Doing it this way, you will arrive at the last summit of the day – Elidir Fawr – as the sun is low in the sky, and the early evening colours wash the watery horizon.
SH606582 The opening part 1 of the day doesn’t give much away. It starts with a road walk to Gwastadnant and care is needed, as it can be busy.
SH614576 The next stage 2 up Cwm Las lifts the tempo slightly. It’s a long climb but the gradient isn’t excessive and the south-facing cwm is a pleasant place to be with everimproving views of Snowdon as height is gained.
SH636585 Llyn y Cw^ n is idyllic 3 and is a great place to stop and have a bite to eat. It is also a great spot for a bit of photography if conditions are clear. From here the final climb of the day starts. Walk to the north end of Llyn y Cw^ n, then as the path splits take the left fork and follow it north up the broad, stony slopes of Y Garn. The path climbs to the lip of the crags of Cwm Clyd then turns north-west to make the final ascent to Y Garn’s distinct
“Rounded, boring summits turn out to be exposed rocky crests with views that go on forever”
summit. There are two paths above the lip of Cwm Clyd: under snow cover, or for those who do not appreciate exposure, the higher of the two would be a better choice.
4 SH630595 Head north-west from the summit, skirting the crags of Cwm Cywion down to the col on the north-west side of Y Garn. From the col make the easy climb north across the rounded summits of Foel-goch.
5 SH628612 A short, sharp descent north-west then leads to a markedly wild and remote-feeling col overlooking Cwm Bual. From here continue north along the main path, but stick with it for only about 300m, after which you should leave it and climb the grassy slopes north-west to Mynydd Perfedd.
6 SH622618 From here an easy out-and-back walk over grass leads north then north-northwest to Carnedd y Filiast. This is definitely worth doing firstly for the views down the cliffs of Cwm Graiganog, and secondly for the views across Marchlyn Mawr to try to spot the massive but rather elusive Pillar of Elidir, which if the western afternoon light is bright enough you should be able to spot among the black crags of Craig Cwrwgl. Re-trace your steps back to Mynydd Perfedd then descend south-west to Bwlch y Marchlyn.
7 SH619615 The only bit of real exposure on the whole route is when you cross Bwlch y Marchlyn from the main ridge onto Elidir Fawr. When the wind blows it can whip through at a fair old rate, so in those conditions it’s not worth lingering. If it’s calm though, you can peek though the gap and grab an alternate view of the Pillar of Elidir. A distinct path west up the crest then leads dramatically to the rocky summit of Elidir Fawr.
8 SH612613 The summit of Elidir Fawr feels like a real bonus, because due to the destruction caused by the slate quarries and hydroelectric scheme you tend not to have a particularly high expectation. So when you make it to the top it feels like a bit of a stolen experience. It lies at the boundary between mountains and coast, and the views all round are breathtaking. The descent off Elidir Fawr is south-west along the summit crest for about 500m then south-east directly down the slopes of Cwm Dudodyn. The slopes look unremitting but actually when you get going they are not so bad and they deliver you with little fuss to Afon Dudodyn. At the bottom cross the stream and join the path on the other side. You then follow this down to a track and road just beyond Fron. Finally, follow the road back to Nant Peris.
“Make the easy climb north across the rounded summits of Foel-goch”