Slioch Adventure

Roger Webb approaching the foot of Slioch's Main Buttress at dawn. The eight-pitch Katabasis (VI,6) takes grooves near the left skyline. The front face of the buttress is climbed by The Sea, The Sea, Xenophon and Skyline Highway. Main Buttress follows the blunt shadowed right edge and Slioch Slim Plan ascends the face by a right-slanting line at two-thirds height. (Photo Simon Richardson)

Roger Webb and I made the long haul into the north face of Slioch on Tuesday February 15. We added an eight-pitch route folowing a line of grooves near the left edge of the 200m-high Main Buttress. Katabasis (VI,6) kept us guessing all the way and we emerged on the summit after climbing the 150m-high continuation ridge in the teeth of a southerly gale. We finally made it back to the car after a 16-hour day.

With a four-hour approach, and a descent of similar length, and all on rough uneven ground, any route on Slioch is a big undertaking. Roger, who has pioneered all the winter climbing on Main Buttress to date, was suitably chuffed – “This is the first time I’ve arrived back at the car the same day that I set off!”