Bryant’s Gulley

Rhys and I headed up to North Wales to scramble up Bryant’s Gulley earlier in the week. After 4 weeks of bone dry, sunny weather there was some rain the night before. Not loads but the guidebook starts by saying:

The route is ideal on a warm spring or summer’s day after a prolonged period of dry weather. In or following rain, expect a long and slippery epic struggle, and in such circumstances ensure a rope is packed.

Scrambles in Snowdonia

We didn’t expect the rain to have had much impact but the day was looking a little overcast and there were a few spits of rain in the air so we did indeed pack a rope and a small amount of climbing gear. If only we’d been able to go a few days before.

The drive up to Nant Peris was fine, we pulled up in a layby made sure our bags were packed and headed off alongside the road for a bit before heading up to the bottom of the gulley. According to the Guide book, ‘Despite its short approach, Braynt’s Gully is the longest route in Snowdonia and a big undertaking in anyone’s book!” We were going to be in for quite a day.

Indeed it was. I won’t go through all of the twists and turns, but the gulley was easy to follow and the obstacles were many. The rocks were indeed very slippery. We don’t know if this was due to the overnight rain or if they would have been like this anyway. The slippery nature did lead to a few more difficult moves and the use of knees now and then. We even got a little wet at times.

There was much grunting, a few puzzling situations and it was definitely a scramble rather than a walk. Hands were in constant use and we were actually hauling ourselves up the hillside using our arms as much as our legs. Most of the problems were caused by boulders or chockstones in the gulley which needed to be clambered over. There were also one or two small rock faces to negotiate.

We did use the rope at one point. This section is described in the guidebook as:

“Cunningly climb a step with a jammed boulder to enter an alcove. The trap is now sprung. However, the right wall is not quite so difficult as it first seems.”

The trap was indeed sprung and there was no way out other than up what looked like an impossibly slippery rock face. Rhys went first and made it look quite difficult. He said if he’d had the option of a rope he would have take it. I, therefore, decided to take to option of the rope! We had after all carried climbing kit this far so we may as well use it. Once Rhys had set up his belay point I attached the rope and scaled the wall. It wasn’t actually as difficult as it had looked, but that was on a rope, It would have been a different matter without it. It still wouldn’t have been difficult but the security of the rope made it much more fun. It gave me the opportunity to enjoy the physical act and moves of climbing but without the consequences.

We packed away the ropes and continued on ever upwards on what was indeed a very long and sustained route. The geology was interesting here and there with some nice exposures of columnar basalt. There were a few areas or scree to negotiate and the top section was much drier and easier going than the more well-defined gulley of the lower sections.

The weather improved all the way and by the time we got to the top we were bathed in sunshine. The views had of course been amazing all the way – this is after all Snowdonia. We’d even been treated to distant views of the Snowdon Mountain Railway puffing its way up the slopes from Llanberis to the summit. We also had plenty of sightings of peregrines that were nesting on the nearby cliff-faces, Ring Ouzel flitting around the rocks, Crows, Ravens and plenty of other birds and even some sure-footed mountain goats. Up here on the more open summit ridge there were skylarks singing in the air and of course sheep grazing on the short grass.

We headed up towards the summit of Esgair Felen and then descended to the lake Llyn y Cwn at the top of the Devil’s Kitchen. We turned left here and headed down through a lovely valley following the Afon Las as it tumbled over numerous waterfalls in the blazing sunshine.

The climb had been a somewhat sweaty affair due to the effort of hauling ourselves up the near-vertical inclines, the descent was equally, if not more, sweaty thanks to the ever-increasing temperatures. We emerged onto the road at Gwastadnant and had the sweatiest of all sections of the day as we walked up the hill in oppressive heat to the car. I did have the good sense to remotely activate the air conditioning in the car so that it was nice and cool when we arrived.

That’s another North Wales scramble successfully completed and it’s definitely not one for beginners!

Tags: HillsScrambling