UKH

Spring time next year I will attempt some grade 1 scrambles in England and Wales, continuing on from what I've done in Switzerland having been on placement there this past year. I have Llech Ddu Spur and Tryfan's North & Bristly Ridges first on my radar. I did Crib Goch mid-November and found the scrambling element was a great fun and I wanted to do more! I wondered if anyone could give a comparison of these other scrambles to Crib Goch?

Additionally, I'm going to try a few in the Lake District too, and I would welcome any input on how these compare too e.g. Striding Edge (I've heard this is very popular), Sharp Edge, Needle Ridge (this one looks more technical though)? Anything that requires hands but falls short of being a real "rock climb" with equipment!

If you enjoyed Crib Coch you'll enjoy the others. All of the ones you mention (except needle ridge I've not done that) compare well technically to Crib Goch but with less exposure.  

They all go well as nice evening scrambles. If you didn't find crib goch stressful id say crack  I on.

Lawrence

Which ones feel harder or easier will probably depend a lot on your individual strengths and experience, but if you got on okay with Crib Goch then those are all reasonable objectives. The only one I can’t comment on is Needle Ridge as I’ve not done it. 

Important to use your own judgement on the day depending on conditions though. No shame in coming back another day if it doesn’t feel right; far preferable to not coming back at all. 

Needle Ridge is rock climbing territory rather than a scramble, and is way more serious than Sharp Edge etc. An easy and very enjoyable rock climb in a magnificent setting, but a rock climb, none the less.

Striding Edge is wonderful, and is about as easy as scrambling comes, certainly easier than Crib Goch - we took our spaniel along there last year! Sharp Edge is somewhat more difficult, not spaniel territory, but I doubt that it would cause you problems if you have been over Crib Goch.

Regarding Tryfan and the Bristly Ridge - I used to live in Snowdonia years ago, and enjoyed many an evening scramble on Tryfan, a wonderful playground. The North Ridge shouIdn't give you any problems, as long as you don't go seriously off route.

I do remember someone dislodging a barrowload of stones from the top of a chimney when climbing the Bristly Ridge back in the 1980's, but other than that, I can't remember it being difficult - hopefully all of the loose rock has been dislodged over the intervening decades!

The Y Gribin Ridge on Glyder Fawr is a worthwhile easy scramble, as is the Halls Fell Ridge on Blencathra. Swirral Edge on Helvellyn is barely worthwhile, in my opinion, but it does make a good descent route after Striding Edge.

All good. The only thing I'd add is Sharp Edge is best avoided if wet as the nature of the rock makes it very slippery

I'd put Bristly Ridge as a step up from Crib Goch - much shorter but with some quite exposed and harder moves getting round a pinnacle.

For Needle Ridge (I'm assuming you mean the one on Great Gable), as others have said, that's a rock climb but maybe the nearby Sphinx Ridge could be an option once you've done some of the others. It's grade II but - and this was a long time ago and on a notably dry and still summer's day - I don't remember it feeling much harder than the other easy scrambles I'd done. 

This is very true and well worth bearing in mind..

It's also worth mentioning that it's in two parts that abut on to one another - the narrow ridge leading to the notch (which people try and avoid and then get into trouble in "the usual gully"), and the steep Foule Crag slope which is easier if you drift right a bit in ascent. I did the whole thing in descent on a wet day in October 1985 and can attest to it being a bit alarming (but we survived).

Re Striding Edge, it's easy enough in either direction but markedly easier if done the non-standard way, ie up Swirral (assuming you're coming from that side), over Helvellyn, then down Striding. This sees you tackle the only awkward chimney in ascent, and it's pretty juggy that way. There's a long history of people falling down the chimney when trying to descend it - there have been several such episodes recently and on a dry/sunny day in 2008 I sat for a couple of hours with someone who had done exactly that and ended up being helicoptered off.

Ah nice, thanks for the suggestions, Y Gribin and Halls Fell seem quite interesting, I'll have a think about maximising the scrambles I can do in the area while reducing my time driving between them.

And that's certainly something I've noticed hiking up mountains - that the well-trodden routes have very little loose rock. I hope that's the case still for North/Bristly ridges

Yeah really want to watch the weather with these, I'm planning on doing them after a couple of dry days (if that's even possible in Spring in North Wales!), it's surprising how much traversing dry vs wet terrain can affect stability

Oh wow, I hope they were okay afterwards. Thanks for the pointers, it's good to know the "easier" route isn't always the best! I'll do more research on this and the area before attempting anything, but thanks again for the advice. Impressive that you got over the ridge in the wet!

Hm, good to know RE Bristly Ridge. I'll be sure to take care then, should be good experience. Will have a think about Sphinx Ridge too then, if it can be done without equipment (I'll probs have a helmet at most) then maybe worth me researching it a bit more. Thanks!

I haven't done Llech Ddu Spu since the 1980's. I seem to remember the tower at the top is very exposed. You can easily avoid it by traversing around the side. 

Regarding Halls Fell Ridge - you could climb this and the drop down from the summit of Blencathra to Scales Tarn to climb Sharp Edge. A good day on the hill!