Tony Stone on the final corners of Angels with Dirty Faces (VIII,8) on Creag Coire na Ciste, Ben Nevis. The first ropelength of this three-pitch route would make an excellent start to Avenging Angel and provide a direct line up the huge recessed corner to the right of Darth Vader. (Photo Tony Stone Collection)
Iain Small and Tony Stone are not only two of the most talented climbers on the Scottish winter scene today, but they are also amongst the most modest. Take yesterday for example. Iain and I were headed for Carn Dearg on the Ben and popped into the CIC hut for a brew. As usual, I had a quick look in the Climbs book, and there was a note from Iain about a new Grade VIII he had climbed with Tony the previous weekend.
“Hey Iain, you never told me that you climbed a new route last weekend!”
“Oh it was nothing much, I just hadn’t got around to telling you yet…”
The new climb in question is the very impressive line of corners and offwidths in line with Avenging Angel on Creag Coire na Ciste. Above, the route follows steep crack and corners left of the finish of Archangel. Angels with Dirty Faces (VIII,8) was climbed on Saturday February 12 and was so named because they both became rather mucky clearing out the impending cracks for the gear placements!
