Tryfan. April. Sunburn. Not three words that you’d usually associate with one another, but yesterday was a great day to be out and about on the hills. No wind, plenty of sun, and James, Heather and I went for a bimble up Nor’ Nor’ Buttress Variant on the east face of Tryfan.

The route is a Grade 3 scramble (**), and follows the buttress to the right of Nor’ Nor’ Gully, with a slight diversion into the gully at a difficult bit. We started from the layby near Gwern Gôf Uchaf, went up Tryfan Bach on the way, and then tackled the buttress. I had stripped my rucksack down to save weight, which worked well as it remained comfortable even without all the fancy back bits. It was also the first time James and Heather had used double ropes, but we managed to pull it off without anybody becoming hopelessly tangled up anywhere, so success on that front too.

On the way from the car to Heather Terrace, we’d only seen one group of five people. The route pops out on the North Ridge, by which point we had seen only seen one other team climbing on Tryfan, and by the time we reached the summit there were a grand total of three people there. All this on a Sunday afternoon with not a cloud in the sky! We legged it down the Miners’ path and drove home over the moors to regain our strength with a burger-stop at Rhug – highly recommended!

A few observations about the route:
Like Bastow Buttress, it’s quite broken up, with good rock pitches being interspersed with shallow heathery sections. If you’re planning on doing this route, please be extra careful in the first 15m or so – the loose blocks which Ashton warns about are still there and are extremely loose. There are a couple of very big ones poised to make a rapid descent on to Heather Terrace very soon, so pay close attention to what you’re using for holds / not squashing people behind or below you! They don’t just sound hollow, they are physically moving and ready to go. The small detour into the gully higher up is actually reasonably pleasant, although a little loose, and you meet up nicely with the North Ridge path. Be sure to pay attention to the guide and not be tempted to take the lower of the two North Ridge paths – continue up a final pitch right to within a couple of metres of the crest of the Ridge, on the higher of the two paths. This was my favourite pitch of the whole day, and it would be a real shame to miss it out.