July 1907
Messrs Bishop, Freeman, Pearson and Puttrell, with Mr J.L.Hambly (Southport), non-member, spent several days in July at Gorphwysfa. Climbs were done on Dinas Mot, Cyrn Las and Lliwedd
The Slanting Gully Buttress, Lliwedd
The precipitous crags of Lliwedd, on Snowdon, probably the highest and grandest in Britain, form the eastern spur of the famous ‘Horse-shoe ridge,’ and are best seen by the visitor when ascending the central and dominant peak of Y Wyddfa, via the ‘Zigzag,’ or Capel Curig route.
It was a glorious summer morning when we three Sassenachs strolled out of the Gorphyswfa Hotel, situated at the head of the Llanberis Pass, the wildest and best-known pass in Wales. Only the day before we had climbed the Central Gully and Western Buttress of Lliwedd. Today we were more ambitious, in that we desired a personal acquaintance with the Slanting Gully Buttress, one of the newest and best of climbs, locally. We took the ordinary Capel Curig path as far as Llyn Llydaw, from whence our objective could be faintly discerned above two wavy lines of quartz. Here our track veered round the Cwm Dyli side of the dark Llyn.
After stopping for a delightful drink at the highest spring, we continued up hill, across grassy slopes and swamps, over aggravating stretches of loose scree, and anon by the broad base of the beetling crags, until we reached the aforementioned lines of white quartz, and a cairn, which indicated, beyond doubt, the actual commencement of the climb.
After scanning the mighty buttress as best we could from below, and uncoiling our new eighty foot A.C. rope, the writer and Messrs. Bishop (Sheffield) and Hambley (Manchester) roped up in the order named. Our impedimenta consisted merely of two short ropes in a rucksack, along with the necessary provisions for the day’s outing. Eagerly stepping off the lower quartz ledge we light heartedly commenced the ascent.
We found the first forty or fifty yards comparatively easy, though steep, the rough rock offering every assistance in the matter of handholds, etc. We then came to the right of a V-shaped recess into which we climbed. Finding the direct route however, impracticable, owing to the bulging roof, etc., we ascended the left wall via a zigzag fissure, thirty feet high, which brought us to another cavernous recess whose overhanging roof again prevented a direct advance. An exit, however, was found on our left, leading round the edge of the buttress, and thence up a smooth slab of rock. As the first man cautiously crept round the windswept corner, the second and third carefully paid out the rope which was hitched over a belay-pin, a necessary precaution against a slip by the leader. Having climbed the corner, the leader, now out of sight, pulled up and on to the steep slab, and worked to the top, a distance of several yards.
From our new position we obtained a splendid view of the Slanting Gully, with its fearsome looking cave pitch. The most striking feature, however, was its magnificent retaining wall, which, to make a local comparison, would be double the height of the Sheffield Town Hall tower, or some 360 feet high, the smooth slabs of the lower portion contrasting strongly with the more weathered rocks above. Mounting still higher to the right we reached a grassy platform, which the discoverer of the climb facetiously dubbed ‘The Pulpit,’ because (he added, wittily) “it led to higher things!”
There was certainly no doubt about the only upward route from the ‘The Pulpit,’ for rising there-from was a fifty foot buttress, which promised sport of no mean order. The best method of attack, indeed, was not obvious at first sight, for its shattered edge was weathered into peculiar shaped vertical ribs. This rock problem, however, was solved in the initial stages, at any rate with a good swing up on the fingers, and with an occasional side grip of the thin edges, a none too pleasant mode of progression in such an eerie position. Arrived at the top, we passed over a horizontal ridge of such narrow proportions that we could sit astride of it! Hereabouts, we were again face to face with the steep cliffs of the main buttress, which seemed to rear skyward to an indefinite height.
In our next movement, we struck in a westerly direction for several yards, then up a quartz-speckled arete. The technical difficulties of the climb now greatly increased as we ascended, until finally, the holds gave out on the vertical rock face. This was, indeed, the worst of the climb, a route that had not probably been attempted before, judging by the absence of the usual telltale nail marks. The situation was certainly sensational and nerve trying to a degree, as apart from the lack of satisfying handholds, etc., the rocks were so steep that the writer, when looking down at his comrades, could only see their upturned faces and shoulders! For fully twenty minutes the leader tried to force a passage, ascending several times to the ‘danger line’ and as often climbing down to a comparatively safe position. Even thus far it was no light task descending again, owing to one’s inability to readily locate the small toe scrapes and finger holds en route, and it forcibly reminded one that there is a limit even to the prehensile power of a climber’s finger tips!
Eventually, it was decided to ‘turn’ the difficulty, if possible, by traversing to the right, where we noticed a small belay for the rope. The latter, however, had to be lassoed over the pinnacle and drawn taut afterwards, it being beyond our reach. To cross the intervening space required care and delicate treatment on the climber’s part. There were no available holds, and accordingly we had to resort to counter-pressure, or cross-purchase from either side and face whilst stretching the foot over to a small sloping ledge beyond! With careful movement, however, the difficulty was mastered and the party gathered together once more near a projecting rock or boulder.
The route afterwards followed a fine rock arete for eighty feet or so. Then traversing left over a broad steep slab we crossed to the right, then westward through a quartz lined cutting to the crest of the buttress, where we were favoured with a beautiful panoramic view of the surrounding country. The writer herewith recommends this comparatively new route on the Slanting Gully Buttress to the climbing fraternity, for, from base to summit crag, it is unique in that the major part consists of good sound rock, with few intervening grass patches, etc., so distinctive a feature of the main Lliwedd Buttress climbs.
(DPC JOURNAL 1, REF: 122)
(The route was climbed in July 1907 when Puttrell and Bishop were staying at the Gorphwysfa Hotel. However, there appears no reference in new or old guide books to a route actually called Slanting Gully Buttress. The climb was possibly Ridge Route, a 700 foot Diff, climbed by the Abraham brothers in April 1904 – Librarian 2001).
Derbyshire Pennine Club 