UKC

Two Days at Cloggy in 2013

© Dave Evans

Dave Evans recounts two days at Cloggy in 2013 with climbing partner Emma Twyford, the epics that ensued and the ascents of a rather famous E9.


I don't remember us deciding to go and play climbing groupies to the event. I do remember us agreeing that the weather and conditions were perfect for climbing in the mountains, and that our good buddy James "Caff" McHaffie was going up to Cloggy, and that it'd be nice to see him. I'm pretty sure we knew what he had in mind that beautiful July day, but maybe didn't really want to dwell too much on it!

photo
Cloggy catching the first rays of sunshine on an early morning approach walk.
© Alan James, Aug 1983

I think it was one of Emma's first visits to the Black Cliff, brooding and menacing as it is, sitting in austere grandeur, tinder dry after weeks without rain, above the dark mirror of Llyn Du'r Arddu. As we approached we could see James slowly abseiling down the right hand side of Great Wall, stopping here and there to brush and chalk some holds, and inspect the lack of protection closely. Even by Caff's standards, he was climbing well that season, and we both knew it was pretty likely he would want to lead it that day.

photo
James McHaffie Top Trump
© UKClimbing.com
The Indian Face. Just the name strikes fear into the hearts of most dedicated climbers around the UK and being around to witness a close friend make an ascent of this route was both an exciting and highly alarming proposition, featuring as it does, hard insecure climbing in a position of the utmost seriousness, where one small error could likely lead to paying the ultimate price. James is, however, one of the best climbers in the world on this kind of terrain, and when we met him at the bottom of the crag and readied ourselves for our day's climbing, he was very positive about the route.

He disappeared off to have few minutes to himself to reflect, and Emma and I headed over to West Buttress to climb the classic E3, West Buttress Eliminate. The climbing on Cloggy is very much of the traditional mountain style. Booming and slightly hollow flakes, and rattly, friable holds, are the order of the day here. Care and judgement are required to progress safely and are of more use than any specific strength or sport climbing fitness. The first pitch of our route embodied this perfectly, and rapidly I found myself engrossed in the journey, searching for the line, for usable holds, and scanning the rock for possible weaknesses for gear; the essence of British adventure climbing.

I arrived at the ledge at the top of the pitch, and carefully built a solid belay, at which point I relaxed and was able to take in the scene as it unfolded across on Great Wall. When Emma reached me she clipped in and watched, in silence, as the person who had introduced her to trad climbing, climbed one of the most famous and lethal routes on British rock. In true Caff style, he proceeded to apparently walk across the crux traverse, and then charge into the exit groove, at which point a ripple of applause and cheers crossed the crag. It was as if the whole crag breathed a sigh of relief as he placed the good protection at the top, and everyone knew he was now safe and on much easier ground.

Emma and I continued, with a much greater sense of ease now Caff was up. I had told Em that there was a chimney groove on our route, that might be a bit dirty, but she had chosen to wear her brand new, pristine white, Prana bouldering trousers. Watching her back and footing up Walsh's Groove is still one of my fondest memories of our climbing together. She is normally so composed and calm, but as she got higher up the pitch, the groove got dirtier, and the jams in the corner got wetter, Emma's language became fouler and louder, exponentially it seemed, with the amount of the orange slime increasingly coating her once white Prana pants. I must admit I was shocked!

Once she had calmed down and accepted the trousers would probably never be the same again, we agreed that in fact, this route was brilliant and in Emma's words, was the reason she'd recently moved to Wales. She led us up the final pitch, a wild flying groove above the exit of White Slab. We then scrambled out and up to the top of the Pinnacle, with the intention of abseiling in to climb the classic E4, The Axe. We passed our friends Niels and Olly, on their way down having just climbed the route themselves, and were raving about its quality and exposure. This got us really psyched, and as the day turned to evening, we rigged our ropes and abseiled into the wildly positioned bilberry ledge at the base of the route.

photo
Nico Favresse high on The Axe.
alex
© Alex Messenger

I won the toss for first go at the lead and set off, being reminded instantly that I was in for a really exciting time, as the exposure up here was massive right from the outset. The rock, I remember noting, was very boomy and hollow. This feature of Welsh mountain rock, and Cloggy particularly, can be especially unnerving to the uninitiated and was still unnerving to me at that moment. You are hanging on your arms from the word go here, pulling over a roof with only marginal protection, and instantly have to commit to a traverse leftwards, to the cold comfort of the wildly steep arete which the route then climbs in its entirety. I remember looking back at Emma, who was smiling away, giving me all positive vibes from the belay. I don't remember much about the following 20 minutes except total flow and focus, running the ropes out between islands of good protection interspersed with some long moves between good holds, and topping out at the end of 50 full metres of awesome climbing, back into the sunshine.

Emma cruised up the route after me, and we both agreed it was one of the best either of us had ever done. We scrambled down the descent and walked out into a beautiful sunset, already thinking of coming back in a couple of days.

Cloggy in the evening light  © Rob Greenwood - UKC
Cloggy in the evening light
© Rob Greenwood - UKC

We agreed that we would go back on Friday as we both had the day off together. Again, I am not sure we had planned to be there for what was about to unfold. The Indian's busiest week ever! Our friends Calum Muskett and George Ullrich had been showing interest and had been on the cliff during the week trying Indian Face on a top rope; practising the moves and debating if they really wanted to do it. As we arrived we were met by a characteristically excited Calum, who promptly asked if I would mind giving him "a quick belay". Now this young man had been a friend of mine for some time, and holding someone's ropes on this route was not a small responsibility. I consequently declined, as firstly, it wouldn't be that quick, and secondly, I decided I liked him too much!

Emma and I wandered round to the foot of the classic E2, Troach, to theoretically complete as a warm up for something a bit harder later on. We heard Calum ask a climber from the Peak to give him a "quick belay", and he agreed, at which point Calum pulled his top-rope down and started tying in for the lead. The poor guy suddenly realised what Cal was about to do, but by this time was tied in at the bottom, and Calum had already started up. This was an entirely different ascent to the one we had witnessed two days earlier. At the time, Calum was a young and very dynamic climber. He sprinted up the lower part of the route and arrived at the resting foothold incredibly quickly.

Dave Evans: The ultimate Indian Face groupie  © Dave Evans
Dave Evans: The ultimate Indian Face groupie
© Dave Evans

Emma and I were now on the belay on Troach, level with Calum, and watched in awe and horror as he climbed the crux in a blur of hands and feet that seemed to defy the laws of physics. There was a point at which I actually thought he might fall off, a truly horrific proposition from that height, but in true Calum style, he just seemed to levitate up, and into the easy final groove. It was with great relief that I led off the Troach belay, as Calum abseiled back to the ground and removed his gear.

We continued to the top of our route, pleased with another Cloggy classic ticked, and a Hard Rock route too! What was about to happen next was truly mind-blowing. As we rounded the corner of the Eastern terrace and Great Wall came back into view, George was just setting off up Indian Face. This was the second lead of the route today, the third in three days! When you consider it had only been climbed four times in the previous 27 years, it puts this week of Welsh climbing into perspective.

George's ascent was very different again to the two we'd previously witnessed. He is an incredibly precise and deliberate climber, and moved slowly and carefully, taking time to place the gear, and never making a single rushed move. He stopped on the resting foothold for a very long time, and actually took his t-shirt off, throwing it down, a clear demonstration of the impact of gravity from that tenuous position. The tension really mounted while he hung out on that ledge. Our good friend Sam was belaying, and we passed occasional quiet comments to each other as George prepared himself for the crux. It was a strange position to be in, watching a friend on a route like that. Willing them to succeed, wanting to witness something so massively impressive, but also uncomfortable because we knew the likely outcome of a mistake. George climbed through the crux slowly, carefully and smoothly, and floated up the finishing groove, to another round of applause and finally, a genuine sense of elation from all those around, as we all knew this was probably going to be the last ascent for a while.

Caff, George and Callum  © Emma Twyford
Caff, George and Callum
© Emma Twyford

Emma and I were so drained from watching these ascents, that we decided to change plan from our intended route on Great Wall and decided instead to go and do a route on The Boulder, called the Boldest. I'm not sure exactly why we made that call, the name speaking volumes of the route's character, but it was on a different bit of the cliff, and that seemed to be the most important thing at the time. The route is an absolute classic of its kind, and really exemplifies the style of the time it was first climbed. Very bold in concept, it was climbed by Pete Crew, contentiously, with a bolt, in '63. It was then Soloed by Al Rouse in '70, and the bolt finally removed in '73. It was once described by my friend Jack Geldard as "Indian Face for E4 climbers". I didn't know that when we walked over to it!

Emma opted to lead the main pitch, and at E4 we assumed it would be an exciting but enjoyable route for us. She set off in her usual fluid and smooth style, placing occasional gear, but as she gained height up the initial corner, she began to make negative comments about rock quality, poor protection and friable holds. She ground to a halt at the point of full commitment at the top of the corner where a move must be made onto the right arete, then a couple more to gain the half height roof. She placed a sling on the booming spike on the arete and quickly engaged reverse thrusters. With no reliable gear, she reversed the whole lower part of the route to the ground. She looked at me after untying from the ropes, and, with no sense of disappointment, told me she wasn't really into it and that it was more my kind of thing!

This left me in a tricky position. Emma had recently climbed an E9 and was generally climbing very well. I had belayed her on routes I couldn't even hope to climb in a single push on numerous occasions in the previous year. It was, however, a route I had always aspired to climb; a sought-after route of its time and an Extreme Rock tick. This made it, as she rightly pointed out, maybe a bit more my cup of tea.

Motivation is a funny thing. I pulled the ropes down, tied on, and set off with a sense of excitement and some trepidation. I reached the roof where Emma had reversed, and made the next couple of moves, committing to the route, and managed to get a couple of cams in the horizontal break under it. Pulling over into the shallow scoop above, the route's character really shows. There was a stuck nut in a shallow flake, the only runner available, and I also placed a single Skyhook on a long extender clipped down to the wire to hold it in place. From this poor nest of protection, I gazed up at the sea of nothing above and began working out where the line would take me from here; to the security of the break above, where the belay was. The slab is set at about 70 degrees. It is also blessed with amazing friction. Remembering that this was my friend I committed again, trusting feet to smears, and fingers to slopey edges. No further protection arrived until I got to the horizontal break after eight or ten metres of sustained climbing.

Jack Geldard on the Boldest - "The Indian Face for E4 climbers"  © Jack Geldard Collection
Jack Geldard on the Boldest - "The Indian Face for E4 climbers"
© Jack Geldard Collection

I built the anchor, tied in, and began to calm down. After the ringside seat we had experienced earlier, it had proved to be a pretty taxing route and I was now feeling fairly fatigued. Emma climbed the route easily on second, we swapped over, and she carried on to the top. We scrambled back to the base of the crag and sat soaking up the evening atmosphere of the majestic place, agreeing that the climbing here was a truly acquired taste and that you definitely had to be in the right mood for it.

I particularly remember the discussion around psyche and motivation. The more committing, bold end of traditional climbing is definitely something people need to be in the correct headspace for. These are not climbs to "have a go" at. You need to be prepared to go on the journey and accept that you have the confidence and skills to believe you can do it, and that the risk is worth the reward. That day Emma, a significantly stronger climber than me, had backed off a route well within her ability because she wasn't in that place. My respect for her as a partner for this kind of climbing had only grown. I remember being so impressed that she showed no signs of self-criticism for backing off, or being in any way upset with herself due to any kind of ego. She simply, quite matter-of-factly, said she really wasn't into it. We had watched three ascents of one of Britain's most famous and dangerous rock climbs in the last two days at the crag and I am sure this had an impact on both of us.

Emma has gone on to become one of Britain's most accomplished rock climbers. In the last 12 months alone she has climbed E9 and become the first British female to climb 9a with the third ascent of Big Bang at LPT. She is also one of a very small number of climbers operating in the UK at the moment, who genuinely has both the mental and physical capacity to climb the Indian Face. It is interesting then, after discussing this on a few occasions recently, that she genuinely seems uninterested because, in her words, she loves climbing too much. I hope we continue to have trad adventures together, where we end up backing off stuff because we're not in the mood. Climbing is great, but being there next week is more important. There is always another time.

Emma Twyford on Great Wall a couple of years later  © Dave Evans
Emma Twyford on Great Wall a couple of years later
© Dave Evans

Dave Evans at Nesscliffe  © Dave Evans Collection

Dave is a Climber, Mountaineer and Skier who's been at it since he was a kid. He's climbed all over the UK Summer and Winter, Europe and elsewhere. He's been Coaching and Instructing since 1997 and has been working at Plas y Brenin since 2002. He currently lives in North Wales and is finding all this perfect sunny weather in Lockdown quite frustrating since hanging out on belays on Welsh mountain crags and sea cliffs is still his idea of heaven!




Absolutely amazing Dave, please write for us more often!

Troach is unbelievable for E2 isn't it, what was Hugh Banner thinking?!? It's still bold today! Then there's The Boldest, which is also unbelievable, and - as you rightly say - still an undertaking today. In fact, if someone soloed it in present day - let alone the 1970 - I'd still look at them as if they were mad. What was Al Rouse thinking?!? I

On that note, what were any of them thinking: Caff, Calum and George?!? They're all crazy...

(potentially us included)

29 Apr, 2020

Great article. As it makes clear, these are very special routes indeed, ones you'll always remember.

Re The Boldest, I believe that Will Perrin soloed it on a dreich day, with the mist swirling round, when he was the only person on the crag.

Mick

29 Apr, 2020

I haven't done The Troach (E2 5b) sadly, but agree that was a good lead for the time - can you believe the first ascent was more than 60 years ago, in October 1959

29 Apr, 2020

A day of days! I was up there that day as well watching George on Indian Face from Longlands with two very nervous seconds. It was their first time on Cloggy and were suitably intimidated on the walk in, particularly as we crossed under the Great Wall and saw the ropes in place. The scramble to the start of our route unnerved one of the guys enough to admit, after, that if could have walked off at that point he would have!

I think we paused on the 2nd or 3rd belay to watch George climb the Indian Face before continuing on with our own adventure.

Still one of the best days I’ve had in the mountains, climbing an old fashioned classic on a big cliff with two friends, whilst having a ringside seat to witness ‘history’!

Great write up from Dave, took me right back to that day.

29 Apr, 2020

It really doesn't really matter what route or grade you climb on Cloggy, it will always be a memorable experience to be savored. My absolute all time favourite crag. If only it had the weather, but then again that is part of the attraction. In some ways similar to winter climbing on the Ben. You go there whatever for the full mountain trad experience. Bolted routes on the Costas don't even come close!

Good read David.

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