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| Clogwyn Du'r Arddu (Cloggy) |
After a busy week working, I decided to end the week with a walk up to Clogwyn Du’r Arddu (Cloggy). It is the epitome of rock architecture.
Having only scrambled up the Eastern Terrace once before, it was good to survey Cloggy from a viewpoint. In particular, I was looking for the winter route of Black Cleft VII ***, a summer E2 5c, which lies on the left edge of West Buttress.
Black Cleft features on the front cover of 'Welsh Winter Climbs'. Paul 'Tut' Braithwaite soloed Black Cleft VII in the winter of 1982. On that same day he also went on to solo Central Gully V (Grochan) and Crown of Thorns IV (Craig Ddu). “Not a bad day!” to quote Tut.
Apparently, Black Cleft rarely comes into condition, and when it does, described as a striking candle of ice, there is rarely enough ice at the top, so it becomes mixed climbing, to give a tenuous exit.
Anyhow, it was good to take some photographs of the architectonic masterpiece itself, Clogwyn Du’r Arddu (Cloggy).
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| East Buttress. Black Cleft takes the deep vertical groove on the far right-hand side of the photograph |
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| Clogwyn Du'r Arddu (Cloggy) |
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| East Buttress (Center), West Buttress (right-of-center) |