The highest of the Glyderau in Eryri, a 1,001-metre summit crowned with strange shattered rock spikes
Open accesson open access land, where the right to roam applies
The top of Glyder Fawr looks like nowhere else in Wales. Instead of a neat cairn, the 1,001-metre summit is a chaos of shattered rock, with fins and spikes of stone jutting up out of the ground at all angles, the kind of place that feels more like the moon than a mountain in Eryri. It is the highest of the Glyderau, the range that rises between the Ogwen and Llanberis valleys, and its near neighbour Glyder Fach has the same wild scattering of rock.
Most walkers climb it as part of a bigger day from the Ogwen valley, often coming up past Llyn Idwal and the bowl-shaped valley of Cwm Idwal and Devil’s Kitchen, a route that is steep and rough near the top. Along the way the ground is littered with landmarks worth seeking out: the balanced slab of the Cantilever Stone and the rock tower of Castell y Gwynt, whose name means castle of the winds. The pointed peak of Tryfan rises just to the north-east and is often linked in.
This is high, boulder-strewn ground where paths are hard to follow in cloud and the weather can close in fast, so good navigation, warm layers and a settled forecast all matter here. Take your time crossing the summit rocks, especially when they are wet, and don’t count on being able to see the way down if the mist comes in.
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