Trinity Face Solo

Sunday morning I headed back up to Pen Y Pass and then in on Pyg Track up towards Snowdon. A lot of wet  snow was falling as I left the car park and by the time I got a to the notch below Crib Goch there a few inches of fresh snow lying on the ground. Once I passed the notch there was a noticeable increase in the amount of snow with drifts being several feet deep in places. The wind was not quite as strong as the previous day but the visibility was reduced.

Good ice forming on sections of the face.

Eventually I reached the ruins in the cwm above the Glaslyn where I took a minute to eat, drink, gear up and build a small snowman. I then headed up towards the face on the approach slopes. The snow, while still powdery in places seemed to have consolidated from the previous day to some extent and there was less evidence of the windslab we'd seen the day before also.

The iced slabs on skier's right of the gully.

Overnight a lot more ice had developed which was promising as well as some patches of snow which had turned to neve. I headed up towards Central Trinity II again, passing the chockstone where we had reached the previous day. Above the chockstone the gully narrowed, from photos I've seen this banks out usually, but being early in the season it hasn't yet and consisted of a neve runnel bounded by the rock wall on the right and the iced slabs on the left. This made for some excellent fun climbing, if a little out there for grade II.

Nearing the top of the gully and exit slopes.

The vast majority of the turf was well frozen, which was particularly evident once I topped out of the gully and climbed the exit slopes to the summit ridge. The cornices are present in places but from the ones that I observed are small and shouldn't pose an issue.

The route marked in red.

Once I topped out I visited the summit and then headed down. I was contemplating descending Crib Goch but due to the high winds on the top I decided to save it for another day. I managed to do the route car park to car park in just over 4 hours which I was quite happy with considering I wouldn't say that I'm that fit at the moment.