Moel Siabod by the Daear Ddu ridge
| Distance | 10.5 km |
|---|---|
| Ascent | 760 m |
| Time | 5 h 10 min, with stops |
| Start | Pont Cyfyng, east of Capel Curig |
| Map | OS Explorer OL17 |
Conditions
Cloud base around 650 m all morning and never really lifted. Light south-westerly, maybe 20 mph on the ridge, a fine drizzle that wasn’t quite rain but soaked everything anyway. About 9° at the car, closer to 5° on top with the wind. The rock on Daear Ddu was wet but the rhyolite grips well even then; the grassy ledges between the slabs were the slippery part.
Route
Over the little bridge at Pont Cyfyng and up the lane past the cottages, then onto the old quarry track heading south-west. The track is easy to follow and climbs steadily past the flooded quarry pit, which was black and still this morning, with the spoil heaps disappearing into grey above it.
Beyond the quarry the path gets boggy and less obvious. I kept the stream on my right and aimed for the low point of the cwm, and Llyn y Foel appeared quite suddenly out of the murk at about 550 m. Round the left (east) side of the lake on stepping stones and soft ground to the foot of the ridge.
Daear Ddu is a grade 1 scramble at most, and in the dry you can walk nearly all of it. In the wet I took the easier line on the left where there was one, and used hands on three or four short steps. The crest is well defined, so there is no route-finding trouble even in cloud: you just keep going up until there is no more up. The trig point and the stone shelter are about 50 m apart on the summit ridge at 872 m.
Ate lunch in the shelter with my back to the wind. For about two minutes the cloud tore open to the south-east and I could see straight down to Llyn y Foel, which felt like a reward. Then it shut again.
Down the broad north-east ridge on a bearing of roughly 50°, because the path splits into several sheep trods on the upper part. Lower down it bends north and drops back to the quarry track. Easy walk out to Pont Cyfyng, and a pot of tea in Capel Curig.
Next time
Do it on a clear day, the view of the Snowdon horseshoe from the top is supposed to be one of the best in the park and I have now been up twice and seen nothing. Also: take the bearing for the descent before leaving the shelter, not in the wind on the ridge.