Aware of the lack of wild camping experience in my Mountain Leader logbook apart from the night ascent and wild camp on the summit of Helvellyn last year and having left Cadair Idris interested in exploring the ranges outside the main 3 in Snowdonia (so not Snowdon/Glyders/Carneddau), I came up with a plan to check out Moel Siabod (although initially we intended on scrambling in the dark and camping lower with another route the next day…). Hastily arranged after days off and weather looked okay, we were off to North Wales with guide books and kit strewn through the car.

At the top of the Daear Ddu ridge on Moel Siabod

Arriving at the Bryn Glo car park on the A5 before Capel Curig at just after 8pm, there was still plenty of light as we set off out of the car park to the right briefly before turning left over a bridge and up a lane. The second right is taken, I think it’s even signed for Moel Siabod, and a steady climb starts up a tarmacked single lane road. After a while a diversion is directed to avoid the farm which is at the end of the lane, this briefly winds up before rejoining the road beyond the farm. Over a stile the route passes through several fields (full of sheep/lambs at this time of year). It was around now the light steadily started to fade and light rain began to fall.

Steady ascent through fields in light rain and fading light

After a little while we came to an obvious ridge line down off Moel Siabod, from which we would later descend, that we avoided and continued on the trail to the first of the lakes on the route. As we reached the end of this first lake, the rain became stronger, we moved up into the clouds and with this the light went completely, head torches were switched on, waterproofs were put on and we started ascending again.

With several sections of boggy ground and now thick cloud (made worse by the torches) the route became difficult in places to follow, and with only about half a mile to the ridge we found ourselves unable to follow the path further and switched to a compass to guide us down towards the lake (that we almost walked into… whoops!), where we knew another path should be that would lead us more directly to the base of the ridge. By this point the topic of trying to find decent place to pitch the tents was high on the agenda, with the ground incredibly boggy by the lake and strong winds making setting up on higher more exposed grounds a bad idea, we decided to go a in between and look for some shelter just higher off the ridge.

After around 15 minutes of walking together in a line around the base of the ridge we found a suitable spot, with some shelter from the wind offered by a rocky outcrop. After “a couple” drinks we tried to get some sleep. It was now I really regretted throwing the Thermarest out to keep my pack weight low, the ground was freezing and it took quite some time to get comfortable, I’ll not be making that mistake for a while.

Tents pitched at the base of the Daear Ddu ridge

Waking up fairly late after a surprisingly good night sleep we packed up and looked up the ridge to the summit. The first section was really simple stuff although there were a few options we picked that were noticeably harder than the main route up, and more so with heavy packs on that made balance difficult. But it’s mainly good fun and quite a lot simpler/less sustained than other grade 1 scrambles nearby, confirming it as an introduction to scrambling which I’d read on the Internet/in guide books prior. After about 1/3 of the ridge is complete, things open up and the scrambling fades into a trail that snakes its way up through scattered rock, with some spots you could climb a little if you really tried.

The summit is a small rocky outcrop on the Western corner of a plateau, by now there were other groups with us, so we quickly walked up to the trig point, turned on our heels and looked for the way down. Down from the summit you follow the obvious broad ridge down to the East over rocky undulating ground. We moved fairly quickly at first and then I stopped to talk to a group of other walkers, one of whom struck up conversation about my pack/trousers, who turned out to be from Snow + Rock on a long weekend testing gear, who kindly gave me a Mammut baseball cap… result! Back with the other two we continued over the ridge and downward over easy ground.

There’s quite a few rocky steps, as is usual for a route like this, and on one about half way down my knee emitted a loud crack, I winced and hoped it was nothing. The rest of the descent was uncomfortable and my knee continued to hurt on the rocky steps, guess I’m getting a little older! Anyhow, there’s nothing tricky coming down and soon the ridge becomes more grassy until it descends down towards a broken up rock wall which you pass aiming diagonally right, to meet the path we’d taken in and walk back out.

The route taken is well worth taking, but our walk in at night in thick cloud without prior knowledge of where to pitch was far from ideal, we learnt plenty that night! I’d definitely suggest going light and completing the route quickly as the guide books suggest instead of the more leisurely way we came at this. The scramble is, as most guides suggest, really simple and would make sense as an introduction to scrambling. Given the fantastic grade 1s close by (Snowdon Horseshoe, Tryfan North Ridge, Bristly Ridge, Crib Lem Spur) I’d be hard pressed to advise on Daear Ddu ridge first unless you’re keen on taking things slowly and getting a feel for scrambling. However, the ridge itself is fun, there’s less crowds on here the the other well known routes nearby and you still get that fantastic setting, that’s usual for North Wales. On the practical side, I can add another wild camp to the list and learnt plenty from approaching this too casually in changeable conditions. From a light-hearted point of view we’re still laughing about seeing each other sink in the boggy ground in the dark/rain and then pulling each out.

There’s a full set of images from the Moel Siabod wild camp/walk available on my Flickr.

Next up will depend on the weather but a longer route in the Lake District or climbing in the Peak District look fairly promising. I’ve also nearly become “comfortable” in my new pair of climbing shoes so I’ll do a bit of a review in the coming weeks as to how they’re getting on.