Elanco Walking and Mountaineering Club: Saturday 4th March 2017

We plan to revisit another of our favourite Snowdonia walks here. The Ogwen Valley has absolutely spectacular scenery and fabulous geology. This is a short-ish walk well suited to the time of year at only 4 ½ miles and 644m ascent. However, quite a lot of it is steep and if the weather is cold we can expect some sheet ice at the top of the Devil’s kitchen and around the summit. If there’s snow the ridge on the descent it does tend to form cornices, so best not to get too close to the edge.

Meet at 9:30AM in the car park next to Idwal Cottage Youth Hostel, Nant Ffrancon, Bethesda (postcode LL57 3LZ) by the side of Llyn Ogwen on the A5 (GR SH 649 603). Parking here (if the pay and display is working) is £5 for the day, but if you arrive early there is plenty of free parking in the laybys along the road. They have smartened up the toilets here to include heating, hot water and plenty of changing space. The brew shack is also now quite a smart café serving hot drinks, cakes and pies.

From the car park, the walk takes us via easy stone paths around Llyn Idwal with views of the Idwal slabs beloved of climbers, then we ascend the steep rocky path by the side of the waterfall at the Devil’s Kitchen to Llyn y Cwn. From the lake it is a bit of a slog up to the summit, but with luck worth it for the views over Snowdonia and out to sea. If we don’t get a view there’s always the chance of a fossil seashell or two around here.
The descent is via a ridge (with stunning views in good weather of Llyn Ogwen, Pen Yr Ole Wen and the Carneddau), then down to Llyn Idwal again and back to the start point.
We suggest this walk is not doggable at this time of year.