Cneifion Arete (Diff, 140m), Snowdonia
Many a weekend trip to Snowdonia start with the intention of getting the winter tools out and having fun on iced up rock, banked out snow gullies or even ice falls. More often than not however the mild British maritime climate coupled with the moderate height of British “mountains” forces a change of plan.
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| Approaching Idwal Slabs - No snow in sight |
On this occasion the weather was blue skies and sun though the lack of snow and ice made us settle for a rock climb. The Cneifion Arete (VD) is a short fin of rock high in the Nameless Cwm that gives an all too short ridge of great quality. We pitched the the first few meters as we feared verglas on the route, however once further up we packed the ropes and soloed high on the edge with some decent exposure. The climbing section is very short however with a map in hand there are plenty of options to continue the day out once on the Glyder plateau.
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| Topo of our ascent |
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The route continues up Y Gribin Ridge to the summit of Glyder Fawer. Once on the plateau we chose a long high level walk in good weather.
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The following day we headed south on the way back to London and stopped by Cadir Idris, a great Snowdonia outlier. Our intention was to climb Cyfrwy Arete (Diff) but a heavy frost and wintry showers all morning forced us to rethink. We planned on soloing the route and in icy conditions it would have been lethal. We headed for home….
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