Scottishwinter.com

Pete Macpherson on the second ascent of Steam Train (VII,7) on Ben Nevis. This striking line takes the big corner between Orient Express and Newbigging’s 80-Minute Route on the First Platform. (Photo Guy Robertson)

On April 26, Guy Robertson and Pete Macpherson visited Ben Nevis. They had their eye on an objective higher up the mountain, but with the big routes buried under thick unstable snow, they opted for a safer low level option and made the second ascent of Steam Train which they thought weighed in at about VII,7

Steam Train was first climbed as a summer route by Doug Hawthorn and Noel Williams in July 1984 and graded HVS. Dave MacLeod and visiting US climber Alicia Hudson made the first winter ascent in 2007 and graded the route VI,7.

“It looks like Dave started up The Ramp and missed the first pitch of Steam Train,” Guy told me. “This was a notch harder than the top corner, so the grades make sense. It’s definitely a quality wee route and a good option when the weather and/or snow are conditions unfriendly!”

Doug Scott below The Smear (V) on Sgurr a’Mhadaidh just before the first ascent in 1979. The route was not climbed again for 34 years until Andy Huntington and Mike Lates repeated it this April. Scott later wrote that this was his hardest new route on ice. (Photo Jim Duff)

Mike Lates and Andy Huntington rounded off an exceptional 2013 winter season on Skye with the second ascent of The Smear (V) on the North Face of Sgurr a’Mhadaidh.

“Mick Fowler once told me that he’d only ever seen it touching down in the mega winter of 1986,” Mike told me. “I never thought it would happen again, but I watched it grow considerably over the first two weeks of April. Andy’s sailing to Oz this summer so needed very little encouragement to drop everything before the thaw arrived. Some pressure built with a text from Blair Fyffe asking if Icicle Factory was in nick, which I just had to duck and hope he didn’t interpret my silence as a yes – sorry Blair!

Heavy rain overnight luckily cleared by the morning (April 12) and we reached the freezing level just below the climb. After studying the B&W shot of Doug Scott beneath it (on the first ascent in 1979) Andy had rehearsed the committing start in his head. I was blown away by quite how rapidly he went for it and very relieved when he finally placed a screw after 20m. One swing explained Andy’s speed – the ice was perfect with first time placements virtually all the way. Having worried whether my arms would make it to the belay I found myself, instead, looking forward to leading the second pitch. Even a crampon coming off couldn’t distract from the fun, which was over far too soon.

Looking at the B&W shot again, Doug and Jim had far less ice than us – in fact it doesn’t even appear to be touching down. They must have been wearing wings that day!”

Iain Small approaching the crux of Suburban Spaceman (VII,8), a new start to Urban Spaceman (VII,7) on the Orion Face. Climbing the collapsing snow to reach the thinly iced overhang proved to be as testing as pulling through the thinly iced roof above. (Photo Iain Small Collection)

Iain Small and Doug Hawthorn had a superb run of routes on Ben Nevis at the end of March with ascents of Pointless (VII,6), Space Invaders (VI,5), and Journey into Space (VII,5). On March 30 they were joined by Robin Clothier for the second ascent of Urban Spaceman (VII,6), a mythical line that was first climbed by Arthur Paul and a young Doug Hawthorn way back in 1983.

“We climbed the route almost exactly 30 years after the first ascent,” Iain told me, “although Doug couldn’t remember a thing, claiming he was just a young 18-year old at the time. We did an alternate start as the Great Slab Rib was bare, and followed the gully with the cul de sac to the right. This gave a pretty fierce and weird pitch, which involved climbing 80 degree slightly consolidated crusty snow to under a roof with an ominous fang hanging from it. You could only progress up the snow by punching to a full arms length and forming a ‘T’ with arm and axe, hoping the section below wouldn’t collapse when stepping up. I can only guess that the roof above causes the blowing snow to eddy and accumulate under it forming this meringue-like section.

However my luck was in, as there appeared atop the snow, a ledge with enough space to crawl onto behind the fang and under the roof. Lying on my back I could get some gear then extricate myself and tackle the roof, which involved undercutting out to stick the ice on the lip then grabbing the axe with both hands to launch out. The well-bonded thin ice above was a relief. The snow below had supported my weight but, (to put it bluntly), the rest of the team are built more substantially than me, so I found a good belay at the junction with Smith-Holt route. It’s only a variation start, but a burly pitch at tech 8, although not really changing the front-end grade. I quite fancy calling it the Suburban Spaceman start.

The team reassembled and then followed icy grooves for two rope lengths to the steep upper wall and a superb airy stance on an arête. Robin repeated the thin rising line across a slab taken by Shooting Star, and then we followed what we assumed was the ‘ice-choked chimney overlooking the Basin’ mentioned in the route description. We ended in bright sunshine on North-East Buttress after a memorable outing that still left us wondering where the original line actually went, and did it really matter. At least our photos might jog Doug’s memory in another 30 years time!”

Conditions on the harder thin face routes on Ben Nevis were very good in late March. Richard Bentley and Jon MacRobert had an excellent couple of days climbing Point Blank (VII,6) and Galactic Hitchhiker (VI,5). The revered Point Blank almost became a trade route during this period with at least another two repeats!”

Simon Yearsley on the first ascent of ‘Left-Hand Amigo (tech 5/6), with the icefall of Central Amigo (tech 5/6) and Right-Hand Amigo (tech 5/6) to the right. (Photo Chris Pasteur)

“Chris Pasteur and I made a quick dash into Eilde Canyon on March 27, inspired by tales of ice-encrusted Glen Coe,” Simon Yearsley writes. “The canyon was in superb condition, with some of the icefalls we’d seen part-formed in previous years looking very climbable. We were fairly short of time (we had to get back to Perth at a sensible time), so we walked into the base of the canyon and nipped up the right-hand sister line of ‘El Mini’ which gave ‘El Micro’ (III) – possibly the shortest recorded ice route at a massive 8m… but worth recording as it is really obvious and well-positioned in the canyon.

We then walked up the Grotto Icefalls area where ‘Hongos’ looked in superb condition. This had been climbed in January 2011 by Simon Davidson and Neil Carnegie, and looked far too tempting to walk past. It gave a superb 30m of steep ice, which definitely merited the technical grade of 5. I’m beginning to think that overall grades are a bit irrelevant in Eilde, as most of the routes are single pitch ice lines with usually 25 to 40m of continuous ice, so it’s probably more relevant to focus on the technical grade and then describe any significant issues to do with sustainability in the description. Anyway, after the repeat of Hongos we were keen to see what the centrepiece of the canyon – ‘The Three Amigos’ – were looking like. They are the impressive vertical ice pillars on the western side of the canyon, the central one we climbed in the first wave of the Eilde exploration in December 2010, but as far as I was aware, the left and right-hand were still unclimbed. Until now that was! We chose ‘Left Hand Amigo’, as it looked the steepest, and it certainly was… an initial vertical 4m wall, then a slabby section to a rest under the imposing headwall. I must admit to hanging around for quite a long time, summoning the courage to launch onto the steep upper section. A good screw placement, a deep breath, a quick shout of ‘OK, watch me here, Chris’ (shouted as casually as I could of course…) and then up I went. Chris’s belaying was spot on, despite being distracted by a wee scuttling mouse that was ploughing furrows under the snow all around him… obviously hungry! Anyway, back on the route, the plumb vertical section went on for what seemed like ages (in reality about 5m), then the angle kicked back to 85 degrees for a several metres before a gradual easing towards the top. It was a beautiful and superb pitch, with the ice pretty amenable and chewy. For its technical grade we thought very very very top end 5, or more realistically tech 6.

We popped back to the abseil to retrieve our sacks, but I couldn’t resist a quick solo up the easier angle ice-flow opposite the abseil point to give ‘Raton Rapido’ (II), named in honour of the scuttling mouse.

It was great to get Eilde canyon in such good conditions, and pleasing that its’ not just a product of the ‘uber-winter ‘ of 2010/11. We weren’t able to get out for a few more days, but knowing the canyon was in good condition and the weather should be cold enough for three or four more days at least, we did do the selfless act of posting on UKC about how good the conditions were. Neil Carnegie and Scott Elliot saw the post and nipped in on March 30 and repeated Central Amigo, enjoying the steep climbing on good plastic ice and finding it quite ‘goey’ for the grade. They finished by climbing the last of the remaining 3 Amigos: Right Hand Amigo. This went at about the same technical grade as the other centre-piece pillars, i.e. very top end tech 5, or tech 6. It gave another excellent quality steep ice route which Neil described as ‘a really good steep pillar, after a cracking and very featured groove lower down. Really nice to climb fresh ice for a change!’

With the warmer weather upon us, Eilde is off the agenda now, but it does remain an excellent and easy accessible pure ice venue. It requires a good freeze, but is pretty resistant to thaws, and may well be in condition fairly often – probably a good indicator is Beinn Udlaidh… if Udlaidh is ‘in’, then Eilde Canyon is worth a visit! I’ve updated the topo to show the new lines done this winter, plus to update the grading to just technical grades. The topo is available to download at http://www.bigtreecampervans.com/eilde-canyon.”

Harry Holmes leading the crux pitch of Raven’s Edge on Buachaille Etive Mor. This excellent route was first ascended in winter by Aberdeen climbers Rick Allen and Brian Sprunt during the great January storm in 1984. They avoided the crux open book corner by taking the rib to the right. The summer route was first climbed in its entirety by Rab Anderson and Rob Milne in March 1996. (Photo Harry Homes Collection)

Harry Holmes, Helen Rennard and partner made a rare repeat of Raven’s Edge (VII,7) in Glen Coe on March 26. The superb route takes the narrow buttress to the right of Raven’s Gully

“We had the mountain pretty much to ourselves,” Harry told me. “There were two other cars in the car park but we didn’t see anyone else all day. We found there to be two quite hard pitches, those being the second and third. The second pitch is a thin traverse and the third is a long sustained corner. The off-width horror show I was expecting at the top never seemed to really materialise.

I think VII,8 might be a fair grade as it felt harder than any  tech 7 I’ve done before, and was reasonably sustained. Conditions on the Buachaille were looking really good and even Ravens Gully looked nicely iced!”

“It was a great route,” Helen confirmed.” Harry did really well leading. There was quite a lot of loose rock (a big rock came off when he was leading the crux). We climbed up a very icy Great Gully to get to the route – quite an approach!”

Susan Jensen leading the upper corner of The Sting (V,6) on Creag an Socach in the Southern Highlands during an early repeat in December 2010. (Archive Photo Iain Small)

I received the following email from Michael Barnard yesterday:

“Thought I’d join the general discussion from a while back about The Sting on Ben Dorain, having climbed it (more or less) yesterday [March 24] with Andy Wilson. I’d note that the line drawn on the photo-diagram in Scottish Winter Climbs is incorrect – it shows the route going up left of the right-slanting groove (pitch 2).

We weren’t sure of the exact line on pitch 1, and not liking the slabby nature of a couple of ways tried, ended up just coming in from the right (as for Promised Land etc). The right-slanting groove is a good pitch and the corner above a real joy and well-deserving of all the praise bestowed on it. We thought V,6 fair for both – protection is fine where it matters on the groove and of course brilliant on the corner which we found very positive and certainly not tech 7 (unless you get it verglassed I suppose). Modern axes without adzes weren’t a problem as much was solved by some good old-fashioned hand jamming!

It was above this point (as might have been expected given the name!) that we found the main difficulties. Andy decided the big groove on the right looked more amenable (it’s suggested in the guide as an alternative), but found it capped at the top by a steep slabby wall, so he downclimbed a bit then moved up and left to belay. The only line of weakness I could see above was a narrow groove up the headwall, which was a bit heart-in-mouth – few reliable placements and very little gear. It felt like a VI,5 pitch but was tech 6 climbing so bold VI,6 I guess? There was an in-situ peg at Andy’s belay so presumably someone may have finished this way before. Does Golgotha go up here?”

It’s a long time since I’ve climbed on Creag an Socach, but I do remember that Golgotha finishes well right of Second Coming. (In fact, Defenders of the Faith finishes up Golgotha). If anyone has any idea where Michael and Andy may have finished, please leave a comment.

Looking up to Point Five Gully on Ben Nevis, with the sinuous line of Point Blank (VII,6) to the right. Uisdean Hawthorn can be seen leading the first pitch with Robin Clothier and Doug Hawthorn belaying below. (Photo Simon Richardson)

Saturday March 16 was a landmark day on Observatory Buttress with two repeats of the legendary Point Blank (VII,6) and two new routes on the buttress itself.

Point Blank, which takes the steep rib bounding the right side of Point Five Gully and was first climbed by Mal Duff and Rick Nowack in February 1988, has a colourful history. Mal first spotted the line from a picture in Cold Climbs, and attempted the route with Jon Tinker in March 1984. They almost succeeded except for a short section in Point Five Gully that avoided the crux groove. Although it was written up as a route in the SMC Journal, a comment by New Routes Editor Andy Nisbet that the ‘purity of their route had been spoiled by the traverse in and out Point Five’ pricked Duff’s ego, and he was determined to straighten out the line.

Duff and Tinker planned to return to the route in the winters of 1985 and 1986, but conditions were unfavourable. Conditions looked better during the 1987, but Duff injured his knee and was out of action for most of the season. Instead, Tinker conscripted the very strong Aberdeen-based climber Colin MacLean to straighten out the line. The climb was going well, but when MacLean was belayed from the hanging stance at the top of the second pitch, a peg pulled out as Tinker was climbing and they both fell. Fortunately they were held by a protection peg left from the 1984 attempt. The ever-competitive Duff admitted later that he was secretly delighted when he heard the news. Finally, the following season, Duff returned with Nowack and completed the line. Despite numerous attempts, the route went 22 years before it was eventually repeated by Iain Small and Owen Samuels in February 2010.

Robin Clothier had made various determined attempts over the years, so it was fitting that he should make the third ascent with long-term partner Doug Hawthorn and Doug’s son Uidean. The trio were only just in time however, because hot on their heels were Tim Neill and Donald King. Tim said afterwards that the second pitch was a big step up from any Ben experiences he’d had before – quite something for a man who has logged thousands and thousands of metres of high standard ice climbing on the mountain this year.

Greg Boswell pulling through the crux roof of Mort (IX,9) on Lochnagar during the second ascent. “After some huffing and puffing and some woeful whimpering… ‘I don’t know if I can do this,’ and ‘I’m all idea-ed out,’ I eventually unlocked a crazy sequence that allowed me to cross over the huge prominent fin that defines this route.” (Photo Nick Bullock)

On February 22, Greg Boswell, Guy Robertson and Nick Bullock pulled off one of Scotland’s the most prized winter repeats with the second winter ascent of Mort (IX,9) on the Tough-Brown Face of Lochnagar. The 1995 SMC guidebook to the cliff described Mort as a challenge for the next generation, but it was the old guard in the shape of Brian Davison, Andy Nisbet and Dave McGimpsey who claimed one of the mountain’s greatest winter prizes in January 2000.

Mort, which takes a prominent line through the centre of the damp and vegetated overlapping boiler-plate walls of the Tough-Brown Face, was first climbed by Mike Forbes and Mike Rennie in 1967. They used ten points of aid, but the route was free climbed by Dougie Dinwoodie and Bob Smith nine years later and graded E1. Nowadays it sees no more than one or two ascents each summer and is thought to be at the upper end of its grade. As the most prominent line through the Tough-Brown Face it was an obvious, if futuristic winter challenge, and was first tried by Colin MacLean, Nisbet and Davison in January 1985. The date is significant as the only route of comparable difficult at the time was Guerdon Grooves on Buachaille Etive Mor, which had been climbed, by Arthur Paul and Dave Cuthbertson the previous winter. MacLean led the first hard pitch, using two rest points above the big roof, which is the summer crux, and reached the belay ledge after five hours. Nisbet and Davison were too cold to lead through, so MacLean continued in the lead but he reached a blank section about 15m from easy ground and retreated. Although they had failed, the attempt was an eye-opener and Nisbet and MacLean were quick to capitalise on their experience. Over the following weeks they made the first winter ascents of Unicorn in Glen Coe and Winter Needle on the Shelter Stone.

All three climbers returned to Mort during the following winters. Davison estimates that he visited Lochnagar 18 times with MacLean to try the route, but it was rarely in condition. In March 1992, Davison and Nisbet made an attempt which ended after Davison took a 20m fall over the crux roof, which he had just free climbed, landing at Nisbet’s feet. As the number of people climbing high standard mixed routes was increasing, it became clear that the route was not going to hold out forever. In December 1999, Alan Mullin made a spirited attempt with Guy Robertson. Climbing on sight in difficult powder conditions, Mullin regained almost regained MacLean’s 1985 highpoint on the third pitch, but was again stopped by the blank nature of the rock.

Just after New Year 2000, Lochnagar came into superb condition. Most importantly for an ascent of Mort, there was a thin smear of ice above the blank section, which had stopped MacLean and Mullin on their previous attempts. Early on Saturday January 15, Nisbet climbed up to the first stance and Davison led through on the critical second pitch. Onlookers were highly impressed as Davison pulled swiftly through the roof, and stepped left around a rib into a vertical groove. The only protection on this section was a warthog and a poor tied-off blade peg and Davison reached the belay ledge after two hours in the lead. On the third pitch, Nisbet took a couple of 5m falls at the blank section, before handing the lead to Davison who managed to place a poor peg and reach a small turf placement and the ice smear above. The ice was thin and almost vertical, but after 15m Davison reached the belay ledge. Nisbet and McGimpsey came up in the dark, and it was then a formality for Nisbet to lead the final pitch to easy ground.

Mort was graded IX,9 and was rated by Nisbet as the hardest route he had ever climbed, both from a technical and seriousness aspect. The ascent was met with delight through the Scottish climbing scene. It was felt to be entirely appropriate that Davison and Nisbet, who had been associated with the route for so long, should finally climb the route.

The story of the second ascent last Friday is not mine to tell, so I recommend reading Greg’s graphic first-hand account on his blog. In summary, Guy led the first pitch, with Greg taking the honours with a superb lead of the crux pitch. Unfortunately Greg took a fall when a block came out below the roof, but he completed the pitch cleanly on his second attempt. Guy then completed the route with a smooth lead of the third pitch, which although still being solid Grade VIII, turned out to be more reasonable than its reputation may have suggested.

It was brilliant to hear Guy confirm afterwards that Mort fully deserved both its Grade IX rating and its place as one of the landmarks in the history of Scottish winter climbing.

Donald King approaching the crux section of The Good Groove (VII,7) on Ben Nevis. This may be the only second time this route has been repeated since the route was first climbed in March 1993. On the first ascent (in similar icy conditions), Roger Everett belayed from the spike with the sling at the bottom of the photo. (Photo Tim Neill)

Every season I receive an exciting email or two from Tim Neill recounting his latest adventures in the Scottish Highlands. It’s always a long list of impressive new routes and repeats, which is very fitting, because Tim’s enthusiasm for winter climbing is legendary. It’s no surprise to learn that he’s only had one rest day in the last month!

“Just read the post about Raven’s Gully… beautiful photo!” Tim writes. “We had an amazing day on the climb, and capped it off with Hamish autographing my Coe guidebook in the cafe next morning. We put a little album up on our staff facebook page. It’s got to be one of the most memorable classic outings we’ve all done!

On a more recent note, yesterday (February 15) Keith Ball, Donald King and I did your Good Groove on The Comb… mega! What did you belay on at the foot of the crux groove? This threw Keith as he couldn’t find anything nearly good enough, (and made us think it needed more ice). He ran the two pitches together to the platform and luckily a couple of decent runners appeared in the crux section. Perhaps you might describe it as a 50m pitch in the next guidebook? Each of our three pitches seemed to just have one or two runners and plenty of airy climbing. Wanted to do this one for years.

Matt Stygall and Keith also did The Secret last weekend in ‘turbo rime’ conditions. Matt did the original version climbing the full length of the crack like Andy [Turner] did. This was because it was too white to see where you could traverse in. Alas he took a whipper high up… he was gutted, but totally made up all the same.

I read your post about Tony and Rich’s line out of Green Gully. I never got back to you with a line on the photo you sent… I think I failed with the IT skills needed. Anyway, our line starts about 15m higher than theirs. It’s really obvious in the picture of Green Gully in Cold Climbs. It’s the first line of ice after the narrows in the middle of Green, heading out left to belay below the centre of the triangular headwall. The last pitch climbs right of the obvious dark wall on the crest of the comb, linking the snow patches first a little to the right then leftwards up a hidden gully to the big boulder on the crest of the comb. We called it Uranus (between Mercury and Venus) and graded it IV,4.

Keith and Dave Rudkin also had a great few days up in the North-West. As well as West Buttress Directissma on Ben Eighe and Genesis on Beinn Bhan they climbed a few routes on Meall Gorm, including straightening out Rattlesnake.

It’s not all been too crazy though. When I messaged you about Clough’s Chimney, I let my clients have a sandwich below the narrows in Comb Gully while I nipped out left to check… just wanted to make sure!

Getting out climbing most days (one day off in the last month… after Raven’s Direct), but all local to Coe, Bridge of Orchy and the Ben, so got a good idea on conditions. Did Pigott’s on the Comb today…. obviously a bit gloopy, but awesome ice!”

Crag Jones on the spectacular fourth pitch of Raven’s Gully (V,6) on Buachaille Etive Mor. There are two finishes to the standard line – either climb the chimney on the right (awkward in lean conditions), or traverse left and finish up icy grooves, both gained via this traverse left from the foot of the Direct Finish. (Photo Stephen Reid)

I was intrigued last week, by a brief mention on UK Climbing that a team had made a rare ascent of Raven’s Gully with the Direct Finish in Glen Coe on February 8. It turned out it was Plas y Brenin instructors Keith Ball, Tim Neill and Dave Rudkin, who thoroughly enjoyed this classic outing with its intimidating Direct Finish (VI,6) first climbed by Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins in February 1970. For many years this was the most impressive winter ascent ever achieved by a visiting overseas team, and it has had very few repeats since.

It struck me that the classic Raven’s Gully (V,6) does not see much traffic nowadays, so I was delighted to receive the following email from Stephen Reid, which may provide some impetus for some more ascents (once the weather cools down again).

“Just thought I’d let you know that myself and Crag Jones climbed Raven’s on Tuesday (February 12). It’s got to be the hardest Grade V I’ve ever done! I was spurred on by mention on UK Climbing that the Direct had been climbed the previous week – I now know from Andy Nisbet that this was by a Plas y Brenin team making a very rare ascent. Indeed we tried to climb the Direct but couldn’t work out the last pitch (the description in the winter guide is not very helpful!) and so abbed back down and finished via the right-hand version of the original way which was tremendous and required combined tactics on the final little sting in the tail chimney. We also found the route lengths out in the guide. Raven’s is over 200m long and the Direct is at least 75m – I’ve told Andy. Got back to Lagangarbh at 1am!”