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Thursday 10 March 2016

Mynydd Moel & Gau Graig

Walk summary
Looking down on Llyn y Gadair from near top of Foxes Path,
Braich Ddu [Craig Cwm-llwyd] beyond
Expected to summit the five easterly Nuttalls of Cadair Idris in today's planned 10.99 mile route with over 1400m of ascent. However only managed Mynydd Moel & Gau Graig. After taking 2½ hours to cover 2.35 miles ascending 680m to gain the col between Cadair Idris and Mynydd Moel incuding 300m of snow covered scree up Foxes Path decided to turn left for Mynydd Moel & Gau Graig first rather than going for the nearby Cadair Idris and two nearby Nuttalls.
I did not want to leave these two isolated peaks if too tired after going to Craig Cwm Amarch & Cyfrwy at same time as Cadair Idris. Well it was 2 miles to Gau Graig and of course 2 miles back not to mention the 220m of reascent back up Mynydd Moel. Too much for me today, so headed down along NE ridge of Gau Graig.
There was a good path albeit a bit scrambly (not a lot) not shown on the map. If I had known about this path I would have taken this as the ascent route giving me a good chance to do Cadair Idris and the other two Nuttalls before descending down Foxes Path.
Still does mean I have not left these two isolated Nuttalls but think will be a good effort to manage remaining five westerly Nuttalls on Cadair Idris massive.13.25 miles with 1430m of ascent. Route for a day with fresh legs.
As it turned out I did manage Cadair Idris and the two westerly Nuttall outliers from YHA Kings in one day just two days later, making me realise it could well be possible to do all seven by ascending Gau Graig then using the same descent route down to Ffordd Ddu from the bwlch between Craig-las [Tyrrau Mawr] and Craig-y-llyn.

Peaks visited
Nuttalls (189W - 443E&W)
Mynydd Moel (101W - 354E &W)
Gau Graig
 (102W - 355E &W)
Hewitts (138W - 317E&W)
Mynydd Moel (72W - 251E &W)
Marilyns (175E - 1556E,W&S)
NONE
Deweys (181E - 422EW&S)
NONE
HuMPs (444E - 2975EW&S)
NONE
Historic County Tops (49E - 93E,W&S)
NONE
W: Wales. 
E,W&S:England,Wales & Scotland

Other walks on this trip
2016
March
09th Cadair Idris Nuttalls east of A487
10th Mynydd Moel & Gau Graig
11th Craig y Castell
12th Cadair Idris + two outliers to the west from YHA Kings
14th Cwm Cywarch ring from Glasgwm to Pen yr Allt Uchaf


Walk Statistics
Walk Date -10 March 2016
Walkers - Steve Smith

Accommodation - YHA Kings
Start Point- Gwernan Lake Hotel car park (SH 70434 15941)
Start Time - 11:31am

Finish Point Gwernan Lake Hotel car park (SH 70434 15941)Finish Time - 17:07
Total Duration - 5hrs 36mins 
Overall Average pace - 1.58mph
Total Distance Walked - 8.86 miles
Total Height Ascended - 901.65 metres


Route
GPX can be downloaded from www.shareyouradventure.com
More Photographs
Looking east towards Moel Mynydd beyond 796m spot height from 852m spot height
Click on photograph to view slide-show