"Professionally we're definitely in this together" - Rebekah Brooks
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| The alpinesque 'Adam Rib' |
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| Craig Cwm Du |
The intention was to scramble up a route called ‘Bear
Buttress’, but we ended up on a climb on
Fluted Buttress with only a stripped down scrambling rack. Our approach shoes
would have been useful for scrambling on ‘Bear Buttress’, but for climbing on
Fluted Buttress they were useless. With imaginary belays, vertical heather, and
loose rock that was merely glued together with lichen, we clawed our way
through unchartered terrain when it was safe to do so. Ben got the biggest medal
for a memorable lead on pitch four. On a positive note, near the top of our
climb, we did manage to get a nice view of the surrounding area, as well as a
good view of ‘Adam Rib’, which lies adjacent to Fluted Buttress. Back at base
camp, over a brew, it became apparent from reading the guidebook (Cwm Silyn
& Cwellyn), that there is only one recorded climb on Fluted Buttress, that
being the Knight’s Move Climb. After
reading the description for Knight’s Move
Climb, it became further apparent that we hadn’t climbed Knight’s Move Climb. Thus, from
something that started off so benign, a scramble on ‘Bear Buttress’, it had turned
into a loose mountaineering excursion of considerable character. The route that
we climbed is so ungradable that it will not be featuring in the new guidebook.
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| Ben Ryle on the memorable fourth pitch |
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| Fluted Buttress |
