Monthly Archives: January 2010

The Great Corner on Ben Nevis

On Sunday January 24th, Iain Small and I teamed up to make an attempt on the huge vertical square-cut corner on the right flank of Raeburn’s Buttress. Climbers have stared at this fantastic feature for decades and at over 90m … Continue reading

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Scotland’s Finest Ice Cliff?

The vertical basalt cliffs of Coire Scamadal on the north side of The Storr in Skye are dripping wet most of the year but have the potential to be a natural ice trap. Facing north-east, and easily visible from the … Continue reading

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The Hardest Ice Route in Scotland?

Dave MacLeod has had a productive week in Glen Coe coming away with five difficult new ice climbs. On January 8 he visited the crag right of Chancellor Gully low down on the south side of the Aonach Eagach and … Continue reading

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Major New Route on the Fhidhleir

On Friday January 8 Martin Moran, Pete Macpherson and Guy Robertson made a big addition to the Fhidhleir. Bow Direct (VII,8) takes the full length of the huge arching right-facing corner that dominates the 300m-high south-east face. The wall was … Continue reading

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First Winter Ascent of The Great Prow

Iain Small and I were very fortunate to visit Skye last Sunday January 10. The Cuillins looked magnificent in their winter garb, but travel looked difficult with feet of snow and plumes of spindrift on the Ridge. We ploughed up … Continue reading

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Oui Oui Direct

The big freeze has brought many ice routes into condition for the first time in many years. With access to the hills difficult due to deep snow, low-level icefalls are the obvious choice. Several new ice routes have been climbed, … Continue reading

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The Long March

Saturday, January 9 saw the first ascent of a new VIII,8 on Foinaven by the indomitable team of Simon Yearsley and Malcolm Bass. When this pair made the first winter ascent of Pobble on Lord Reay’s Seat back in March … Continue reading

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Scotland’s Wild West

During the deep freeze of  February 1986 I had a fantastic winter weekend climbing on Ladhar Bheinn in Knoydart with Roger Everett. On the Saturday we made an early ascent of the mythical Tir na Og up the centre of … Continue reading

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All Go in Applecross

The cold weather over the Christmas holiday has seen two big additions in the Applecross mountains. First up on Christmas Eve was Martin Moran climbing with his son Alex, who made the adventurous first ascent of big cliff low on … Continue reading

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