UKC

Continuing his theme of bold mountain routes protected by skyhooks, James McHaffie makes the first ascent of a The Cumbrian Face at Clogwyn D'ur Arddu

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In reply to UKC News:

Amazing ascent and great write-up.

Minor correction: Clogwyn du'r arddu. Du = black.

In reply to Alun:

Noooooooo, you're right!!

You can't imagine how embarrassed I am by this, having lived in Wales for 10 years, knowing the correct spelling, and having more than 3 editions of the guidebook within 2.5m of where I was sitting when I wrote it; however, in a fit of trade-show fatigue clearly fluffed it...

Spelling aside I really enjoyed putting together this report, not least because I infrequently put together anything news related (that's Natalie + Nick's domain, but they're otherwise occupied currently), but also because Caff's insight and honesty is always quite refreshing - as is Dan's for that matter.

For those that haven't read Caff's blog on the FA of Moonlight Kingdom it's worth checking out: http://www.jamesmchaffie.com/caffs-blog/moonrise-kingdom

In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:




Moonlight ?

In reply to lithos:

I'll get my coat...

In reply to UKC News:

Did I read that right, he placed a piton on this route?

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:


Sounds like a hand-placed piton, which is generally accepted.

In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

Nothing to add here, that was hillarious

In reply to Coel Hellier:


I'd have thought Dan would have pulled it out when he followed up if it were hand-placed. I think Caff's approach of leaving it in for the summer for other people to use is entirely sensible. Martin Crocker sometimes puts pegs in his routes (hammered) and removes them afterwards whilst mentioning the placement and peg needed in the route description. This results in a cliff without rotting fixed gear, yet little problems for subsequent ascentionists. If people place and remove pegs correctly the placement wears to take normal trad gear anyway.
Question for Caff - did you consider using a ballnut instead of a peg?

In reply to Toerag:
Do you think a ballnut would go in to a "thin shallow knifeblade" slot? There isn't really much / any crossover between knifeblades and the smallest ballnut.

In reply to Toerag:


If we don't care about damaging the rock why not just stick a bolt in there?

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

He hand placed trad gear, blade peg in trad route, non issue. If you think a bolt and a poor peg are the same thing then you need your head testing.
As for Damaging the rock it won't damage it any more than cleaning a nut placement.

In reply to Andy Peak 1:

Look, I'm all for trad routes staying trad routes but if someone thinks it's fine to use pegs until the rock is damaged enough to take a nut, then why should you get a say how I damage the rock? People get all high and mighty about bolts whilst simultaneously blowing out flakes with cams, polishing holds to mirrors, and creating peg scars (apparently thats fine now?).

I don't have a problem with cam hooks, or someone passively placing a knifeblade, but if we can wear out the rock until our trad gear fits...


...then maybe we should just stick a bolt in it. I'm not pro-bolting, I just don't see the logic in your argument.

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:
It's E8 7a on cloggy I don't think anything will be getting worn out any time soon.

The route has bean created if you want to step up and do it with a bolt by all means do! im the last person to tell anyone how they should climb and in what style.

Overused quote but true all climbing damages the rock. if you can't cope with that it's probably time to stop.

In reply to Rob Greenwood - UKClimbing:

In future Rob, just blame it on 'NB'

In reply to purplemonkeyelephant:

Andy said: "As for damaging the rock it won't damage it any more than cleaning a nut placement." Again, this is hand-placed gear and is not going to cause a crack to widen (unless the rock around it was loose anyway).

In reply to Sean Kelly:

I think the new route is over by Llithrig so a long way left (and out of sight) of the route in your photo. I'd say you were right with Troach, or maybe Purrspire?