The summit of Glyder Fach is one of the most extraordinary places in Wales: a chaos of tilted rock slabs and jagged spires at 994 metres, dominated by the Cantilever Stone — a massive horizontal slab projecting over thin air from the plateau edge, balanced there since the last ice age. The tradition of photographing people standing on its unsupported end has been observed since Victorian times. This is Experience #20 of the Snowdonia 100.
Reaching the Summit
| Best approach | From Ogwen via Tryfan and Bwlch Tryfan (Grade 1 scramble) |
| Alternative | From Cwm Idwal via Devil's Kitchen and Glyder Fawr |
| Distance (from Ogwen) | 10km circular via Tryfan and both Glyderau |
| Time | 6–7 hours for full Tryfan–Glyderau day |
The Cantilever
The Cantilever Stone projects approximately 3 metres over the drop below the summit. It has been photographed continuously since the 1860s, and the tradition of standing on it for a photograph has made it one of the most-visited specific rock features in Welsh mountaineering. Geologists have noted that it shows no sign of movement. The boulder balances on a single fulcrum point in the rock, apparently permanent but feeling, from below, impossibly precarious.
Castell y Gwynt
Between Glyder Fach and Glyder Fawr lies Castell y Gwynt — the Castle of the Winds — a row of jagged rock towers that must be traversed or bypassed to cross the plateau. The traverse involves easy but exposed scrambling between the towers. In mist, Castell y Gwynt is genuinely disorienting: a maze of rock in a featureless white world. In clear conditions it is one of the great mountain spectacles in Eryri — architecture created by frost and ice rather than human hands.
Experience #20 of 100 — Routes and Ridges category.
Independently written — Snowdon.com