Great Wall | E4 Trad climb at Clogwyn Du'r Arddu

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First ascent. 3 points of aid.

At the same time Pete made the first ascent of Great Wall on the East Buttress. Baz was going to follow Pete but heavy rain meant an early end to the day of climbing. Great Wall had been unofficially known as Master’s Wall and had been attempted several times by Joe Brown.

Tony Smythe writes of the ascent in Rock Climbers in Action in Snowdonia: ‘The climb is just about the ultimate in difficulty and entails a 200-foot run-out using only three pitons for aid. A great controversy was waged over Pete Crew’s ascent. He abseiled down the wall, cleared out the crack and inserted all the necessary chockstones, thus preparing the route beforehand. But this technique is accepted and had been used before on the cliff’.

References

[1] https://www.climber.co.uk/people/peter-crew-the-climbing-years/

First free ascent.

Although climbing ground-up, and hence on-sight, John used chalk and to some that was unforgivable at the time!

References

[1] https://www.climber.co.uk/news/john-allen-god-of-grit-the-legend/

Fifth ascent.

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/ed_drummond_1945-2019_-_a_retrospective-11940