
Dave McGimpsey on the first ascent of Thrills and Spills (V,4) on the South Buttress of Garbh Choire on Ben Alder. This remote crag has seen twelve new additions so far this season. (Photo Andy Nisbet)
Andy Nisbet has made four visits to Ben Alder this season. Here, he takes up the story of his last three trips:
“There aren’t many big crags with so few routes but I guess 24km from the road is still enough. If it wasn’t the A9, it might still be unclimbed. But I took some summer photos a few years ago and planned to return. Maybe I was slow but it was the biggest surprise to find footsteps and a cut stance (see Sixteen Years then Two Come at Once!) The only good thing is that they hadn’t climbed up the centre of the face, but then again, neither did we. I’m easily intimidated these days if there’s an easier line or two to do, but soon get brave again when I’m back at home.
So a return visit with Dave McGimpsey (January 28) was soon planned, and this time the bike had new brake blocks, all the nuts were tightened and various bits oiled. Bits of the bike, that is, although it is a long trip for me too. Again there was another team, but we took a slight short cut on the west side of the corrie loch and reached the crag first. However this time it was Ross and Karen Heyburn, who had been attracted by the unclimbed left branch of Raeburn’s Gully, which we watched them climb at Grade II. Meanwhile we edged in towards the centre of the buttress and got out thrills from a scary thin iced slab before sneaking off left to an obvious right-slanting fault. This was Thrills and Spills (V,4), with potential spills waiting for the cycle ride out. There was more ice than on the previous visit and as we descended under a smaller right extension of the cliff, we both stopped simultaneously to look at a big ice smear in its centre. I was happy to go home, but Dave persuaded me not to miss the chance. It looked about 60m high but we did have a 60m rope, and the lack of ice screws could have been a worry but then the ice was too thin, and it was 2pm and dark at 5pm but I did have brand new axes and crampons. As it turned out, the ice was still wet and didn’t fracture, and 59m wouldn’t have done but 60m did. It was like The Curtain, but better of course, so The Alder Curtain was born (V,4 on the day).
The centre of the buttress still remained and other options were running out. Three days later (January 31) Sandy Allan was keen and somehow we managed to get in on a windy cold day. The ice was even thicker on the extension wall but the centre of the main buttress remained. A big corner was blocked by a substantial overhang so a devious line was taken on the left before returning to a deep chimney which turned out to be an excellent back and foot width, taming its overhanging top and providing Roadhog (V,5). This time it was Sandy who was keen and the iced corner on the right end of the extension became Steptoe (IV,4).
The thicker ice was a big temptation, so despite Sandy having to drop out and a freezing level of 2000m arriving, the bike was out again 10 days later (February 9). This time with no rope, no ice screws and no excuse, I arrived a bit quicker on road and ground still frozen. The easiest looking line was a parallel ice smear to The Alder Curtain which soon became Struan (IV,4). Then I though I ought to try the steepest before the courage ran out. This was a line of short vertical steps left of an obvious groove at the left end of the extension. The axes were distinctly overdriven and it was a relief to finish Catkins (IV,5). Things were getting pretty wet and the groove itself was filled with unreasonably steep snow. But it had to be done, and there turned out to be good ice under the snow (Grockles Groove, III). Maybe a bit stiff for III but it wasn’t any less steep than Y-Gully Left Branch in Coire an Lochain which gets a modest II. I was about to go, but this time I persuaded myself to climb what I presumed to be the existing route, taking a frozen watercourse in a gully down the crag. With the grade being fair at IV,4, I’m sure it is the route Thick Lip. I should have been on a high for the cycle out but the frozen track had turned to glue and it was a very tired and muddy person who reached the car with leaden legs.”