North West Face Route, Glyder Fawr ^{Grade 2}

This is the easiest of the three scrambles that ascend Glyder Fawr from Cwm Idwal.

The short walk in is from Ogwen Cottage, taking the path to the left of the lake until you reach the Idwal Slabs. High up on the cliffs is a large horizontal band of quartz.

The scramble crosses this in its final section. Carry on past the main cliff and past the dark gully of the Idwal Staircase until by the stream flowing down into the lake.
Here the buttress is split by a runnel of heather. Ascend the runnel with an impressive drop to the right. After some distance a gully is reached. This is followed a few metres to reach the top of the first section.

The next objective is a small rock buttress that stands alone to the right. This can be bypassed but offers a few entertaining tricky moves.

After this, walk across the slope aiming for the buttress to the right of a couloir. Scramble up on steep rock, which is supplied with excllent holds. A choice of line and difficulty are available. As height is gained aim slightly right to step out onto the large quartz ledge seen from below. Walk across this ledge. Although safe, the ledge is slanted left toward a large drop making it very interesting.

Beyond the ledge, scramble diagonally left along terraces and up rock steps.

The guidebook suggests this part has tricky route finding, but in good visibility it is vastly enjoyable. Soon, the route ends against Seniors Ridge which can be followed to the summit.