I’m hoping to go for a bit of a hike on Sunday and was looking at tryfan. Is it do able to non climbers without risking life and limb? And can anyone recommend any good walks/hikes around the area please

Its more of a scramble than a climb, ok unless you’re scared of heights , there are bits where you have a fair amount of fresh air under your ass but its not technically difficult and it is a hoot, especially playing on the cloisters .

Tryfan via the north ridge is an excellent day out. It’s a grade 1 scramble I believe, but isn’t very exposed for most of it. Definitely the route I go for again and again. Decent via the South Col, and then you can see where you fancy going next.

(P.S. You need to do the jump between Adam & Eve at the summit – Proper scary!)

the leap of faith is optional

Tryfan north ridge is superb.
No climbing skills needed – def a lot of hands-on though.
Only done twice but great day out on both occasions, especially coupled Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr – from the col head up Sinister Gully and onto Bristly Ridge on G Fach – descend to Ogwen Cottage via the Devil’s Kitchen.

Doing the North Ridge with a Lab who’s scared of heights is “fun” especially when you are lifting him up one of the steps and his legs go into full lock and push mode 😆

In reality the north ridge is straightforward, it’s pretty broad rather than knife-edge, it’s not Striding or even Swirrel Edge for example

If you don’t want to do the obvious and excellent North Ridge, you can always go up the south side – the usual descent – from the col between Tryfan and Bristly Ridge. The north side isn’t difficult, but it’s jumbled and route-finding can be ‘interesting’.

A nice day out would be up the North Ridge of Tryfan, down the south side then – if you want to scramble – over Bristly Ridge onto the Glyders, turn right along the Glyder plateau – down into the dip between the two – back up then drop down to the head of the Devil’s Kitchen path and down into Cwm Idwal. Or, if you’re feeling perky, up over Y Garn then drop down the shoulder from there to Idwal. It’s all obvious on the map.

If you don’t like scrambling, then up Tryfan – out and back – by the South Ridge and there’s a steep scree-ish path to the left of Bristly Ridge that takes you to the same point. There are other ways down too, but that’s a pretty obvious, classic day out.

ps; the North Ridge is a pain in the butt in descent, just hard to pick out the most straightforward line. Best done upwards.

Virtually all of the North Ridge route has easy options, for the most part you have to seek out the scrambly bits. I’ve taken complete walking novices up it with no issues. Finding exactly where it starts though is part of the trick. If you just want to go up Tryfan though then the South Col route (between Tryfan and the Glyders is easy.

Tryfan is great but route finding, especially in low cloud, can be very difficult. It’s probably better to do it with people who’ve done it before. I’ve done it 15-20 times and probably never done the same route twice, as it is easy to go off-piste to have some scrambling fun!

The north ridge direct is great fun if you are confident scrambling on/over rocks. Beware that if you continue south from the summit there are a couple of exposed sections where the consequences of a fall could be fatal. (This is obviously true in many exposed places but Tryfan has a lot of these).

The Adam Eve jump is not an obligation, lots of people do it every year. Years ago my mate saw some do it very badly and they died of head injuries. So there is an inherent risk in doing it.

Best/easiest descent is due South to the Col and then down the eastern valley. Have fun & stay safe

Its more of a scramble than a climb

Er… yeah.. I took my future wife up there once.. seeing it through her eyes as we got to that cleft where you have to climb (yes, climb) down and back up was quite a learning experience. As her foot slipped and she nearly fell, I realised what a mistake I’d made.

rascal and BWD have it.

Just watch for the weather, at any time of the year, but especially now when it could be snowy / icey.

Have done it in snowy conditions without full proper kit, would not recommend.

this is worth a quick read…

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/how-to-scramble-tryfans-north-ridge

Tryfan is great but route finding, especially in low cloud, can be very difficult. It’s probably better to do it with people who’ve done it before. I’ve done it 15-20 times and probably never done the same route twice, as it is easy to go off-piste to have some scrambling fun!

Can confirm this, we did the north ridge, bristly ridge and headed along the glyders but got pretty lost in the cloud as there was no path to follow over the huge lumps of rock. Ended up bailing down the side of Y Gribbin into the Nameless Cwm.

The Scrambling is a bit more trickier in the wet given some sections are a little rounded and polished.

THIS

Junkyard – lazarus
slowoldman » Virtually all of the North Ridge route has easy options, for the most part you have to seek out the scrambly bits. I’ve taken complete walking novices up it with no issues. Finding exactly where it starts though is part of the trick. If you just want to go up Tryfan though then the South Col route (between Tryfan and the Glyders is easy.
THIS

Well it starts obviously by the road at a style and wall and then you go up from there for a distance, it’s above that were it can go off in all directions, but everything leads to the top. As long as it’s not cloud covered, it’s fairly obvious. Descent by the north ridge for a novice I wouldn’t recommend tho as already said. Continue down south ridge to col and left up scree or straight up Bristly Ridge (lefthand gully), descent down Y gribin ridge or Devils staircase.

Have a look at the OVMR site. Not to put you off but to see what a balls up some people make of it.

Think of Tryfan as a long blade of rock with “walking” routes along the blade and rock climbing routes either side of it. The S col and N ridge routes are fairly obvious going up (just keep climbing), but the N ridge, especially, can be tricky to follow coming down because there are vague paths heading in all sorts of directions; some to the tops of rock climbs. Many/most(?) of the MR call-outs on Tryfan seem to be to people who’ve tried to improvise a route off and ended up cragfast (or worse) trying to down-climb something.

So, know where you’re supposed to be heading, and *don’t* rely on following a path.

Bristly ridge can be a bit intimidating for a novice, so if in doubt take the scree path to the left of the south col stone wall.

Bristly ridge can be a bit intimidating for a novice

Indeed it can. Simply finding the correct starting point can be a problem.

so if in doubt take the scree path to the left of the south col stone wall.

Which is horrible.If you want to get from the South Col to the Glyders avoiding Bristly Ridge a much more pleasant approach is to head roughly South East to join the ridge between Y Foel Goch and Glyder Fach.

I honestly would not take a walker with no previous experience of scrambling or exposure up the North Ridge.

It’s not a nice place to be when it turns cold and wet if you’re not used to it.

There are often queues for some of the scrambly, more exposed bits which introduces pressure and gives you time to think, which aren’t great if this is all a bit new.

I had a bit of an epic on it as a youth which put me off exposure and proper scrambling for ages.
Inexperience and stupidity, but scared the gravy out of me at the time.