Monthly Archives: March 2010

Second Ascent of Pic’n Mix

On Monday March 29, Guy Robertson and Greg Boswell made the second ascent of Pic’n Mix in the Northern Corries. This fierce (IX,9) was first climbed by Ian Parnell and Tim Emmett in April 2006. The route starts up Never … Continue reading

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Ben Nevis – Ship of Fools Repeated

Yesterday March 27, Iain Parnell and Greg Boswell made the second ascent of Ship of Fools (VIII,7), high up on Indicator Wall. This quintessential thin ice route takes a series of very thin ice grooves (30 cm wide in places) … Continue reading

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Another Way up Orion Face

On Sunday March 21, Tony Stone, Iain Small and I linked together a series of grooves up the right side of Orion Face before finishing up the very steep headwall between Orion Directissima and Slav Route.  We climbed the first … Continue reading

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Redemption, Lochnagar

Guy Robertson and Pete MacPherson made the second ascent of Redemption (VIII,7) on Tuesday March 16. Heavily hoared conditions on The Stack meant it was more like Patagonia than Scotland! They found four runners on the entire route. The rime … Continue reading

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Another New Route on the Minus Face

Yesterday March 13, Roger Webb and I went up to the Minus Face to take advantage of the unusually good ice conditions at mid-height on the Ben. Unfortunately the thaw had set in which spoiled our chances of climbing Minus … Continue reading

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Minus One Direct

On Wednesday March 10, Guy Robertson, Pete Benson and Nick Bullock made a stunning winter addition to the Minus Face by following a line approximating to the four star summer E1 classic Minus One Direct. The trio followed the footsteps … Continue reading

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Lonely Road to Seana Braigh

I was a little surprised when we met Malcolm Bass and Simon Yearsley in the North Face car park on Sunday night to see a couple of mountain bikes strapped to the back of Simon’s camper van. Clearly this prolific … Continue reading

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Minus One Buttress at Last!

I got home at 3.30am on Monday morning after an amazing journey up Minus One Buttress on Sunday March 7. Iain Small and I climbed the first four pitches of the summer route North-Eastern Grooves (VS) and then continued up … Continue reading

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Fear of the Cold and Dark

Iain Small and Pete MacPherson are on a roll. On Tuesday March 2 they visited the Eastern Ramparts on Beinn Eighe and came away with a new VIII,8 – Fear of the Cold and Dark. They started up the summer … Continue reading

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Mainreachan Adventures

A long standing problem in the North-West was put to bed yesterday (March 3) when Guy Robertson and Iain Small made the first winter ascent of Sherlock on Fuar Tholl’s Mainreachan Buttress. This steep HVS line on the vertical right … Continue reading

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