Broad Gully Ridge/Broad Gully (Pen yr Ole Wen)

Touching Centauri · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 91 Location: Bangor/St Helens

Firstly, has anyone done this route? I was out today but was unsure of the start. I thought this was it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mikepeacock/509378066/

And secondly, I know Broad Gully is an easy winter route but is it possible in summer? I reckoned we got about halfway up today and it wasn't a scramble really (wet slime, grass and rock) but quite entertaining.

kidsan · Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 23 Location: corwen, n. wales

i've not even heard of it TC...is it in ashton's book? i seem to think that the only scrambles on pen in his book are the main ridge (grade 1) and the braich ty du. John may know it....i'll ask him later

Touching Centauri · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 91 Location: Bangor/St Helens

Yeah, it is in Ashton's book. Which edition do you have? There were a lot of new ones added in the most recent version (1992?). There's also a grade 2/3 on Craig Lloer next to Broad Gully but apparently it's a bit hairy!

Anyway, with regards to the gully itself this suggests it is climbable:
http://www.peakware.com/logs.html?log=17055
Sounds fun Very Happy

kidsan · Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 23 Location: corwen, n. wales

a damp gully full of debris eh? hmm, think i might leave that one for now Smile

johnwakeman · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 31

Yeah, I tried to find this once - ended up scrambling / scrabbling way up nasty chossy gully & only found a place to get up onto proper rock just as it petered out onto hillside. So obviously missed 'the' way onto the rock. However, the gully in your picture doesn't look like the gully I ascended!

Touching Centauri · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 91 Location: Bangor/St Helens

Broad Gully is right at the back, next to Craig Lloer. There's another gully to the left called (I think) Hourglass Gully. The book really needs a digram for this one!

Managed to get out again yesterday up the False Gribin which is a nice under-rated route, Saturday I'll be on Crib Goch, then Monday I'm attempting South Gully on Tryfan. Ah, sweet freedom Smile

johnwakeman · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 31

Today went up Cwm Lloer and 'had a look' at the grade 2/3 up there - Craig Lloer Spur, Ashton calls it. The first part is nice, grade 2, very enjoyable, but when we got to the exposed slab we 'made our excuses and left' ... it looked do-able, probably relatively easy, but without a rope I wasn't going to go into such an exposed situation. And as far as I'm concerend, that section is too short to be worth carrying rope and gear up there. Nevertheless, it can be easily by-passed and rejoined just above the steep bit, where there is a bit more grade 1 scrambling to be had, then an easy traverse onto the ridge to Carnedd Dafydd, or back to the top of Pen yr Ole Wen.

Touching Centauri · Joined: 06 Mar 2007 Posts: 91 Location: Bangor/St Helens

Sounds good, maybe I'll try and get up there sometime. Pete (the guy who was with me in South Gully the other day) had an investigation there a while back on his own but also backed off from the exposed traverse.

milktrayguy · Joined: 17 Jul 2007 Posts: 9

Well I'd actually done the the traverse and was only a couple of moves from hitting the top of the slabby section when the situation hit me and was on the verge of being cragfast! It was a warm day and I was getting a bad case of disco-leg! It didn't help that I was soloing it and had been encouraged onto the route by the original edition of Ashton's guide plus another that listed it as grade 2 only! I now know better!