Ogwen to Capel Curig via Bwlch Tryfan

Paul Shorrock

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Most mountain walks follow a familiar pattern. You go to a start point, walk from there following a circular route and eventually arrive back to where you started from. I blame the car! The circular route has evolved from our need to get back to wherever we have parked our mechanical friend. In the days before cars became 'essential', walks were freed from this constraint and could actually start and finish in different places.

This route is a linear route; you start and finish at different locations and follow what is, in effect, a journey. Freed from the tyranny of car parking, you can walk with a purpose, travelling from Point A to Point B, or in this case from Ogwen to Capel Curig. There are, of course, problems of logistics when you start at one place and finish at another, but there is a neat solution in the walk description.

This is very much a walk of two halves. The first half climbs up from Ogwen to the bwlch (col) between Tryfan and Glyder Fach, passing through dramatic mountain scenery on the way. The route allows you to get 'up close and personal' with Tryfan, without the heroics needed to follow the route over the summit (see Walk 4375 for that option). The walk then follows the old Miners Track to Pen y Gwryd, to reach the high ridge leading to the Glyders.

If mention of the word 'ridge' brings you out in a cold sweat, then you need have no fear – this ridge is more of a wide plateau, with big skies and long views. The short, sharp ascent to the col at Bwlch Tryfan and the traverse of the Miners Track is followed by a long, steady wander down grassy slopes to Capel Curig.

Some say that this walk was once done by Charles Darwin before he wrote his theory of evolution. He wasn't concerned with getting back to his car and for once neither need you, just enjoy the journey.

Wales - North Wales - Gwynedd - Snowdonia