North Buttress Variant ^{Grade 2}

This is another route on the East Face of Tryfan.

Unlike most of the scrambles on the face, this one ignores the main gullies and weaves across the North Buttress. This can therefore make route finding tricky, and this route is best left for a clear day.

Note that in winter sheets of ice often coat the top of the first runnel (and beyond) making this route an unwise choice in snow.

The scramble begins on the Heather Terrace. This is gained by two ways.

One option is to follow the path past the climbing crag of Little Tryfan. Cross the stile and turn 90 degrees right, looking for a scree fan that descends the hillside. Climb this to a path at the top. Turn left here and follow the path onto the terrace.

The other option is to follow the North Ridge path to the shoulder of Tryfan. Here leave the path and contour left to pick up a faint track which leads round to the top of the scree fan. Navigationally-wise, this is probably the more confusing of the two approaches.
Once on the Heather Terrace follow the path past the major gullies of Bastow Gully and Nor Nor Gully. Next is Green Gully which ends at the terrace and has a grass bed. About 30m beyond this is the start; a vague path runs up to a steep V-shaped runnel. Make sure you've correctly identified this place before beginning. Climb the runnel, which is steep but covered in good holds. Higher up, the gradient relents in front of an ugly-looking step.
Here, move right and scramble up a rib. Although heather intrudes, the rock is generally sound.

The next part is crucial; instead of climbing further up in the runnel move left along a ramp in an exposed position. This ends below a large rock wall. The wall can be climbed direct but handholds are scare at the base.
An easier option is to traverse left (still exposed) on a tiny ledge and step over the edge of the wall to gain a large level area of heather high up on the face. The hardest section is now over.

Several wide small walls can be seen above. These can be easily climbed towards their left ends. Above these the huge near-vertical expanse of The Terrace Wall looms offering the finale to many rock climbs, but thankfully not this scramble! Instead, head left along the base of the wall to where rock staircases allow upward progress to be made. Although not difficult, there are some impressive drops down into North Gully on the left.

The final obstacle is a short, awkward chimney. Beyond this is the scree amphitheatre below the summit. There are now several options to continue. The easiest is to take the path heading left up to the main summit. A slightly more exciting route heads up the last short section of North Gully to reach the North Ridge. However, the course of action most inkeeping with the rest of the route is to scramble directly up to the North Summit/North Ridge. Some searching may be needed to find a line that will go, but there are several ways up to the right of North Gully.

Once on the summit ridge, the easiest option is to descend the South Ridge. Although paths do exist they are quite vague and some steep steps may involve detours to get round them. Once at the bottom take the right-hand path leading into Cwm Bochlwyd and down to Ogwen Cottage.