An afternoon Scramble up Carnedd Dafydd, Snowdonia (Eryri)

Last month, My Partner (Will), Mum (Kath), Brother (Rich), and dog (Padfoot) headed to Snowdonia (Eryri), in North Wales for a week of adventuring!

We based ourselves in a gorgeous Airbnb in Llanberis so that we were right in the heart of the mountains.

After a morning walk around Dinorwic Quarry, Llanberis’ Slate Quarry, my brother Rich took Will and I on an afternoon/evening adventure.

The adventure he planned for us was a trip that started from Bethesda and went up Carnedd Dafydd via a Grade One Scramble Route called Crib Lem Scramble on the Llech Ddu Spur, along the ridge to Carnedd Fach, and Pen Yr Ole Wen and then down to the car park at Ogwen Cottage.

This route was just over 10.5 km and had over 879 meters of elevation gain.

The BMC defines a grade one as follows; “All scrambling grades require a degree of rock climbing as both hands and feet are employed, but a classic grade 1 scramble is essentially an exposed walking route.” (Please only do this route if you are an experienced hill walker).

The 4-kilometre walk to the base of the mountain was made entirely worthwhile by the stunning scenery that unfolded around us.

Once at the base of Carnedd Dafydd, we followed the waterfall, keeping it in our right, and aimed for the quartz rock to begin the Crib Lem scramble up Llech Ddu Spur.

The scramble was EPIC!

We had a LOT of fun clambering over rocks and peaking around boulders.

And if the joy of the scramble wasn’t enough, we were treated to the delights of the spectacular views of Tryfan and the Glyders.

We descended down the steep climb of Pen Yr Ole Wen, which my quads still quake at the thought of today… In retrospect, we should’ve taken the slightly longer but more gentle route down the side of Pen Yr Ole Wen, but it was an adventure nonetheless.

It was a tricky descent with scree and big steps, I felt like I was walking in a permanent squat the whole way down! Let’s just say I was happy when we got to the bottom!

Finishing at around 8:30pm, we were pleased to make it to the car park where Mum and Padfoot were waiting for us.

We also were getting very hungry and so picked up some pizzas on the drive back to Llanberis.

I really REALLY enjoyed this adventure. A core memory for sure.

What made it even better (if that’s even possible) was that, by setting off that bit later, we had the hills to ourselves. It was just us and the mountains. The only people we saw were walkers at the start returning to their cars in Bethesda and some wild campers in the distance beside Llyn Bochlwyd next to Tryfan.

I was super pleased to tick off another Grade 1 Scramble too. I’m definitely building confidence in my abilities to scramble and complete more challenging routes.

A huge thank you to Rich and Will for the adventure. And a big thanks to Mum who dropped us at the start and picked us up at the end.

Next on our itinerary for our week in Snowdonia (Eryri) was a rest day in Betws-Y-Coed where we visited several outdoor shops, had some lunch, and I had a swim in the Afon Llugwy.