The Brass Monkey Repeated

Posted on January 7, 2014 by Simon Richardson
Andy Inglis climbing the third pitch of The Brass Monkey on Ben Nevis during the second winter ascent. “Pitch three was the crux, but pitch four was just really awkward!” Neil commented afterwards. (Photo Neil Adams)

Andy Inglis climbing the third pitch of The Brass Monkey (VII,8) on Ben Nevis during the second winter ascent. “Pitch three was the crux, but pitch four was just really awkward!” Neil commented afterwards. (Photo Neil Adams)

Neil Adams and Andy Inglis pulled off an important second ascent on Ben Nevis January 1, when they repeated The Brass Monkey (VII,8) on the east side of Tower Ridge. This imposing corner which bounds the right side of Echo Wall is a rarely climbed summer HVS, and was first climbed in winter by Pete Davies and Tim Marsh in December 2008. The first ascent turned into something of an epic when Pete fell off seconding after dropping his headtorch. Tim heroically prussicked the last pitch in total darkness dragging both rucksacks behind him, and the descent of Tower Ridge under heavy powder with only one torch between them, understandably took some time. They eventually reached the car park at 12.30am after a 19-hour round trip.

Neil and Andy, who have made an impressive start to their season with a string of powerful ascents, had a more mellow time. “It’s a good route and deserves more traffic, Neil told me. “It’s not too hard for the grade but probably graded right at VII,8. We ran the first two pitches together, which makes sense on 60m ropes as it’s easy climbing. [Interestingly, on the first winter ascent, Pete and Tim found these pitches quite tricky, with powder-covered rock and some committing moves on thin ice]. We had decent weather on the route but the winds really picked up during the day so the descent down Tower Ridge was in a full-on blizzard and fading light, which was probably the spiciest bit of the day!”

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A Dog’s Life

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Simon Richardson
Susan Jensen leading the steep groove up towards the ice column through the roof on the new Direct Start (V,5) to K9 on Lurcher’s Crag. This increasingly popular crag, situated in the Cairn Gorm side of the The Lairig Ghru, has been a good choice in the prevailing weather systems of strong westerly winds. ((Photo Andy Nisbet)

Susan Jensen leading the steep groove up towards the ice column through the roof on the new Direct Start (V,5) to K9 on Lurcher’s Crag. This increasingly popular crag, situated in the Cairn Gorm side of the The Lairig Ghru, has been a good choice in the prevailing weather systems of strong westerly winds. ((Photo Andy Nisbet)

“When it’s been raining cats and dogs, where else to go but Lurchers Crag,” Andy Nisbet suggests. “In fact the idea was born when Matt Griffin sent me a photo of the K9 area in order to ask if a line he and Adrian Dye had done by accident was in fact new. And it was, a line up the ribbed area left of the depression of K9 and now called Far from the Madding Crowd, was III,4.

While happy to help him, I was more interested in various icefalls around where I thought K9 went, wrongly as it later turned out. Jonathan Preston and I went in on a horrible New Year’s Day, with the wind and spindrift howling down the Lairig Ghru. It was another day where both of us wanted to turn back at various points, but never simultaneously, and the weaker one always conceded. In fact the wind was east of south, and when we reached the base of an ice column left of the main K9 fault, it was relatively sheltered and both of us were happy to be there.

I hadn’t climbed ice this season and my picks were blunt, so I was happy when Jonathan volunteered to lead. I found the vertical ice very strenuous but found the icy ramp above much more enjoyable, although the booming, obviously detached, crusty ice was clearly better when seconding. But I had recovered enough to lead a bigger but less steep icefall leading out left from the upper depression. The route was IV,5.

A thaw delayed a return and Jonathan was working, but a forecast of freezing brought Susan Jensen into the fray on January 4; the icicle through the roof above K9 was the obvious temptation. Of course forecasts aren’t always right, and it did seem very warm when we left the car. The lightest of crusts on the snow tempted us on but even when we arrived below the route, the crust was still on the thin side. Susan was keen to lead the steep bit so I teetered up the mushy snow fortunately to a good belay below a steepening groove. This gave Susan a precarious lead with fortunately a more solid exit. Her suggestion that a fall would only have led to a slide down the snow, wouldn’t have given me much comfort if I’d been up there. But the ice improved a lot above the groove and good ice screw runners led up to a short column through the left end of the roof system. From there we finished straight up the main depression on lower angled ice with the occasional bulge to reach the now icy hillside above. V,5 seemed the right grade.

I was about to write the route descriptions when Allen Fyffe (who did the first ascent of K9) got in touch about a rockfall in George, the classic Grade III in Coire Dubh Mor of Liathach. It now has an extra pitch and is a bit harder (see UKC), but I happened to mention about a direct on K9, which puzzled Allen. The original description mentioned a mixed traverse so I put two and two together and assumed it traversed back. But Allen soon confirmed that in fact it went left and climbed the icefall which Jonathan and I had finished up. So now I’ve two half routes to write up, and little idea what to say. Conditions were surprisingly good, not that it helps the route description, but the popular North and Central Gullies looked quite poor – too much water and not enough cold I assume.”

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Sword of Damocles – Second Winter Ascent

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Simon Richardson
Doug Hawthorn climbing the crux pitch of Sword of Damocles on Creag an Dubh Loch during the second ascent. The route was climbed in 11 hours car to car, a remarkably fast time for a cliff that is over eight kilometres from the road. (Photo Uisdean Hawthorn)

Doug Hawthorn climbing the crux pitch of Sword of Damocles on Creag an Dubh Loch during the second ascent. The route was climbed in 11 hours car to car, a remarkably fast time for a cliff that is over eight kilometres from the road. (Photo Uisdean Hawthorn)

The inspirational first winter ascent of The Giant on Creag an Dubh Loch last week, prompted a number of repeat attempts over the weekend of January 4-5. A predicted cold and calmer spell of weather was awkwardly sandwiched between a thaw on Friday and a storm on Sunday afternoon, so Saturday promised to be the best day.

Two strong teams probed the first moves of The Giant early on Saturday morning, but the ice was still soft from the thaw the day before, so both pairs rapidly backed off. Ian Parnell and Ben Wilkinson then made the best of their day by climbing the classic Vertigo Wall (VII,6) in conditions described as ‘mush’.

Team Hawthorn (Doug and Uisdean) were also at the crag that day, but wisely decided to save their energy for Sunday morning when they made the second ascent of Sword of Damocles on Broad Terrace Wall. Doug had made the first winter ascent of the E2 chimney-line in excellent mixed conditions with Iain Small in February 2010. The crux pitch, which had defeated several strong teams in the past, put up a fierce fight and the route was graded VIII,9.

This time Sword of Damocles gave a completely different experience, and the route was climbed all on ice at a more amenable grade of VII,7.

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New Line in Coire na Banachdaich

Posted on January 5, 2014 by Simon Richardson
Jim following the new IV,5 gully in Coirena Banachdaich n the Cuillin. The route was climbed with a minimal rack of two slings and a single nut as the pair were not expecting to find any worthwhile climbing conditions that day. (Photo Mike Lates)

Jim Wylie following a new IV,5 gully in Coire na Banachdaich in the Cuillin. The route was climbed with a minimal rack of two slings and a single nut as the pair were not expecting to find any worthwhile climbing conditions that day. (Photo Mike Lates)

It’s interesting how different days have yielded better conditions in different parts of the country throughout this prolonged series of storms. On Skye for example, New Year’s Day was the only one with easterly winds forecast, so Mike Lates and Jim Wylie decided to head for a section of the Ridge and hopefully get a view of the Inaccessible Pinnacle.

“New Year’s day had the best forecast over the festive period, so my initial plan was just to take in as many views on the Ridge,” Mike explained.

“Instead we ended up with a cracking new route in Coire na Banachdaich at about 650m level. An 80m-long ‘should be alright with a single axe’ gully with three massive chockstones suspended above, winked at me. Equipped with half a rope, a 240cm and 480cm sling and my lucky nut, we did it in three short pitches (it is hard to throw two axes far!). With two manufactured prussic placements to protect the final 10m of vertical powder, it gave a highly recommended IV,5 that remains unnamed for now.

The crest of the Ridge turned out to be in A1 nick, so aspirant Traversers should keep an eye out for a good window!”

Postscript 9 January 2014: It turns out that Tom Davy, Tam McTavish and Ric Hines climbed this line in January 2012 on the annual St Andrews University Mountaineering Club Burns meet. Given its close proximity to the path and relatively low base, they presumed the line had been climbed before, even though it wasn’t recorded in any guidebooks. Cuillin guidebook author Mike Lates says that he is not at all surprised that such a prominent line had been climbed before, and makes some useful observations on skyeguides.co.uk about the recording of new routes from a guidebook writer’s perspective.

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Coire Garbhlach

Posted on January 1, 2014 by Simon Richardson
Susan Jensen on the first ascent of Willow Ridge (IV,4) in Coire Garbhlach. This rarely visited corrie is approached from Glen Feshie. (Photo Andy Nisbet)

Susan Jensen on the first ascent of Willow Ridge (IV,4) in Coire Garbhlach. This rarely visited corrie on the south-western edge of the Cairngorms massif, lies near the head of Glen Feshie. (Photo Andy Nisbet)

“The name Coire Garbhlach, meaning a rough place, is remarkably well suited,” Andy Nisbet writes. “There used to be a path of sorts but a big thunderstorm perhaps in the early 90s, washed it all away and just left a mixture of rubble and deep heather in the valley bottom. This might have been a bonus for keen local climbers, finding a place where almost no climbers go, yet offering new lines on distinct features (all done now!). The crags are mostly schist and thoroughly rotten in summer, hence the deeply eroded valley and vegetated cliffs (water from schist is much less acidic than from granite; both plants and therefore winter climbers like this).

At the end of November, Jonathan Preston and I were looking for somewhere different from the Norries. Upper Coire Garbhlach is a bit lower but we were hoping it would be frozen, particularly as it was ahead of the recent big insulating dump of snow. I knew from an old picture that the best remaining line was the ridge left of a gully line called Deep Freeze. The gully was climbed by Steve Aisthorpe and John Lyall, as were a number of ice lines in the corrie, but due to a vague (but definitely exaggerated) report in the 1978 SMC Journal about six long ice routes having been climbed, John wrote it up but didn’t claim it. When Jonathan and I arrived, the turf was frozen but the intended ridge line was a bit too bare. The ridge to the right was snowier and much better defined than on my photo, so we Chilled Out and climbed it at Grade III. The nice thing about Coire Garbhlach is that the descent is much easier than the approach.

A couple of days ago (December 29) was a rare good day in an awful spell of weather. Susan Jensen was up to climb, and walking conditions seemed grim, so we needed somewhere fairly accessible. Roping in Jonathan and going to the unclimbed ridge seemed to fit the conditions. Having been irritated once too often by the car park near Achlean being unreasonably far from the road end, we decided to cycle and take advantage of a new section of path. Whether it saved much time is doubtful but it was fun! The snow level was quite high so we made quick time to start but things slowed down as we approached the route, which looked good in its very snowy garb.

Attempts to dig out a direct start only revealed unfrozen ground and a poised block higher up suggested we ought to sneak up the gully for a few metres before gaining the ridge. The ridge held a steep corner line, better frozen except for moves on to ledges piled with snow, which were worryingly delicate when the protection was well below. A nominal warthog could be pulled out by hand; is it worrying when it does push you on even when you know it’s psychological? At least a pinnacle belay was big enough to need tying on with the rope instead of a sling.

That left Susan with a very fine sharp horizontal arête leading to easier ground; pity it wasn’t longer. When we reached the land rover track for the descent, the spindrift from the forthcoming storm was just starting. A mad rush for the Inchriach cafe, which shut at 4pm, failed by 3 days, as it had just closed for the winter. But overall, it was a fine day considering how few there have been. Willow Ridge was 120m IV,4.”

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The Giant – First Winter Ascent

Posted on December 31, 2013 by Simon Richardson
Looking up the line of The Giant on Creag an Dubh Loch from Central Gully. Doug Hawthorn (in blue) is belaying son Uisdean (out of sight) as he approaches the great rockfall scar. The summer crux bulges can be seen in the lower art of the picture. (Photo Robin Clothier)

Looking up the line of The Giant on Creag an Dubh Loch from Central Gully. Doug Hawthorn (in blue) is belaying son Uisdean as he approaches the great rockfall scar. The summer crux bulges can be seen in the lower part of the picture. (Photo Robin Clothier)

The weather this December (from a winter climber’s point of view) has been the worst anyone can remember. The first half of the month started very warm and the last two weeks have seen the country battered by a series of deep Atlantic lows. Almost continuous gale force winds, heavy snowfalls and rapidly changing temperatures have made mountain travel very difficult, and climbing conditions almost impossible to predict. As a result Scottishwinter.com has been remarkably quiet, quite simply, because there has been little to report.

All this changed last night when news broke that the father and son team of Doug and Uisdan Hawthorn had made the first winter ascent of The Giant on Creag an Dubh Loch on December 29. This 200m-high vertical corner on Central Gully Wall has been stared at by winter climbers as a futuristic winter possibility for decades, but it was clear that any successful ascent would rely on ice. The route, a difficult E3 in summer (some reckon E4 if the pre-placed protection peg is in a poor state), is so long and steep that it is difficult to imagine enough ice ever forming over the crux bulges on the second pitch. Remarkably however, the exceptionally poor weather over the last two weeks has produced the perfect ice factory for The Giant – a fluctuating freezing level centred around 750m fed by a huge bank of snow sitting at the top of the cliff.

The SMC guidebook to the Cairngorms warns that ‘prediction of prime conditions [on Creag an Dubh Loch] has perplexed even the closest of observers. A spell of very cold weather freezes the springs at source and even a day’s thaw can strip the cliffs bare.’ One of the remarkable aspects of Doug and Uisdean’s ascent is that they predicted the conditions correctly, and were in the right place at the right time to make this landmark ascent.

Details about the climb are a little brief at present, but the first winter ascent of The Giant is without doubt the finest route of the winter so far, and one of the most important winter ascents in Cairngorms climbing history.

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Boxing Day on Aonach Beag

Posted on December 27, 2013 by Simon Richardson
Susan Jensen on the crux section of North Groove on the West Face of Aonach Beag. This route lies just left of North Buttress that saw its first ascent courtesy of Messers Nisbet and McGimpsey earlier in the month. (Photo Andy Nisbet)

Susan Jensen on the crux section of North Groove on the West Face of Aonach Beag. This route lies just left of North Buttress that saw its first ascent courtesy of Messers Nisbet and McGimpsey earlier in the month. (Photo Andy Nisbet)

“Where to go on Boxing Day?” Andy Nisbet asks. “There had been several storms from the west with nearly continuous gales for a couple of weeks. Some had been cold, and some briefly warm, but in general there was loads of snow; walking was going to be difficult but we were itching to get out. Susan Jensen noted the red colours on the avalanche reports for north to east faces so it had to be a west or south-facing cliff. It had to be somewhere quite high as the last couple of days had been warmer and turf would be insulated except where blown clear. Stag Rocks was suggested but the ski road had been shut for at least 3 days so I guessed it might not be open until mid-morning at least. And to find a new line, with an easier option if the route wasn’t frozen, or of course, if we couldn’t do it.

That left only one option, the lower west face of Aonach Beag. Webcams had shown the west face of Aonach Mor to be blown clear; in fact the cliffs might be too bare. In retrospect I’m not convinced they were current pictures despite what the caption said. We agreed to meet at Laggan rather too early, and an hour later would have worked (isn’t retrospect wonderful), so when we arrived at the top of Glen Nevis, it was lashing rain and we were the only car there. I suggested we waited five minutes and Susan, never mellow about such things, asked what we would do if it was still raining after five minutes. I said we’d set off anyway, but I looked outside and quietly knew it wouldn’t happen, so we didn’t. After ten minutes the rain was easing and Susan’s nougat from Chamonix was finished, so we did set off. Everywhere was incredibly wet, but what would conditions be like?

As we arrived at the Bealach Cumhann in deep sludgy snow with sleet starting, things didn’t look good. The crag was in mist and there was a lot more snow than I was expecting. It was quite a wade down to the stream below the final slope but then things improved. The crag came out of the mist and the snow became more consolidated, not exactly neve though. The plan was for a line Dave and I saw on the last visit, a groove with a steep section on the left side of North Buttress. Conditions then were less snowy and the steep section was a groove with a prominent crack on its right wall. So we had taken a big rack of nuts and cams expecting a technical tussle hopefully with overhead gear. The line was hidden on the approach and even from where we geared up, so it was a major shock to find the groove iced up. Actually it completely threw me and I visualised being stuck under the capping wide crack unable to get back down. Susan saw me hesitating and immediately volunteered to lead it. I’m not sure what her preconceptions were but she thought ‘it didn’t look that bad’.

We soloed up to the groove, quite steep and insecure but with a soft landing. After digging around for a belay and finding nothing, it was obvious the crack would have to be dug out. It took about 5 minutes just to get a good nut placement, and without any ice or turf gear, I tied on to my axes as a back-up. Susan still seemed happy to set off and pulled over the first bulge on good placements, then made good progress. Soon the ice began to thin out and there was little chance of digging out gear on such steep ground. But she managed to bridge out and reach a blob of turf on the left. This allowed further bridging until thick turf helped a big pull out left to avoid the wide crack. There was a belay soon above but even 10m without any runners is a long way! Last time the upper groove had been full of low angled ice but this time it was full of snow, so a quick 60m gained the top.

A gully forming the left side of this buttress had looked very icy last time so we made the long descent round to its base. It was so full of snow that all the possible difficulties were banked out to a gentle Grade I. The next gully left was also full of snow so we down-climbed it back to the sacks. There was a lot of ice around, particularly on the buttress between the two snow gullies, so it seemed rude not to climb it. It held its own gully, and without time to rope up and still make the car in daylight, we decided to solo it. I’m not a purist so I missed out the steepest step by going on the buttress to the left whereas Susan took it direct. I was learning to be more optimistic, so a slabby section higher up had nice wedged blocks on its left although it still involved more pulling on the axes than I like without a rope.

North Groove seemed a suitable name in the traditional theme of the buttress, despite it only being north in relation to Crevassed Rib and in fact well south on the crag. As to the grade, 10m of unprotected 5 seems like VI,5 on the day, but the rest of the climb is easy and we’ve no idea if the pitch will be harder or even something like IV,6 without ice filling the crack. Or whether it forms thick ice and could be IV,5. We’re open to suggestions! The other routes don’t have names yet but the buttress between the Grade I gullies was III,4.”

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Babes in the Wood – Second Ascent

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Simon Richardson
Will Sim looking across Aladdin’s Couloir to the line of Babes in the Wood (VIII,8) after making the second winter ascent. The route breaks through a roof bottom right, before following the thin crack which peters out into a thin technical slab - the meat of the route. (Photo Greg Boswell)

Will Sim looking across Aladdin’s Couloir in Coire an t-Sneachda to the line of Babes in the Wood (VIII,8) after making the second winter ascent. The route breaks through a roof bottom centre, before following the thin diagonal crack which peters out into a thin technical slab – the meat of the route. (Photo Greg Boswell)

On Tuesday December 17, Will Sim and Greg Boswell made the second winter ascent of Babes in the Wood (VIII,8) in Coire an t-Sneachda. This 30m-long summer E2 follows a slanting crack-line on the left flank of Aladdin’s Buttress and provides a very sustained winter pitch with a thin crux at the top. The route was first climbed in winter by Dave MacLeod and Scott Muir in December 2004. It was a well-known winter problem at the time, and the pair only succeeded on their second attempt, after the first ended with a fall for Dave near the top of the route,

“We didn’t really know much about it apart from that it was grade VIII,8,” Will told me. “It was my lead yesterday and it went on sight. Fun steep moves through a roof low down led to brilliant technical climbing up a seamed slab for another 25 or so metres. The gear was just good enough, but it definitely felt bold in places. Although it’s only one pitch, we both thought it was fantastic and worth noting, as VIII,8 is a grade Sneachda doesn’t do particularly well. It’s also a great line and quick to get to!”

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Avenging Angel, Alternative Start

Posted on December 13, 2013 by Simon Richardson
Iain Small leading the new Alternative Start to Avenging Angel on Ben Nevis. This perplexing area of overhanging grooves at the left end of Creag Coire na Ciste has yielded a number of excellent routes and variations in recent seasons. (Photo Tony Stone)

Iain Small leading the new Alternative Start to Avenging Angel on Ben Nevis. This perplexing area of overhanging grooves at the left end of Creag Coire na Ciste has yielded a number of excellent routes and variations in recent seasons. (Photo Tony Stone)

Although this year’s December weather is proving to be unusually mild, there was a brief burst of cold air at the end of last week which produced a flurry of activity on Ben Nevis. Three notable ascents took place on December 6 – an early repeat of The Knuckleduster (VIII,9) on Number Three Gully Buttress by the powerhouse team of Martin Moran and Pete Macpherson, a possible second ascent of The Sorcerer (VII,8) on Creag Coire na Ciste by Keith Ball, Kenny Grant and Guy Stephen, and a new start to Avenging Angel Direct.

The Sorcerer takes an unlikely line through the steep wall below the exit gully of Lost the Place, and to the best of my knowledge, it had not been repeated. Steve Ashworth and Nils Nielsen from Norway made the first ascent during a memorable day on the 2007 International Winter Meet. They climbed Darth Vader (VII,8) in the morning, followed by The Sorcerer, before racing up Thompson’s Route to warm down!

The third important event was the addition of a new Alternative Start to Avenging Angel Direct (VIII,8) on Creag Coire na Ciste by Iain Small and Tony Stone. The sustained Tech 7+ pitch follows a parallel corner line to the left of Angels with Dirty Faces (VIII,8) – a Small-Stone addition from February 2011.

“Friday turned out a nice day,” Iain explained. “There was no wind which was a relief as it was pretty cold. We headed up to the Ben for a look, and as usual, it delivered. Unfortunately the keener (and earlier) team of Moran and Macpherson were already on Knuckleduster so we headed over to the Archangel area. After the recent interest in Avenging Angel Direct, it reignited my regrets over not continuing up that finish when we climbed Angels with Dirty Faces. So this time we started up a different lower pitch between Archangel and Angels with Dirty Faces to reach the top two pitches of Avenging Angel. It was satisfying to finish up that route eventually!

Reading your recent post, and the opinions generated, regarding the recording of lower grade routes, it left me wondering how to treat our alternative (but less direct) than the Direct Start to AA! It was a fun pitch, but perhaps left until someone can incorporate it into a line cutting through the headwall? On balance though, I feel it should it be recorded as an alternative start – I guess the same agreements and principles apply to routes at all grades in the end.”

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Aonach Beag (We Hope)

Posted on December 10, 2013 by Simon Richardson
Dave McGimpsey high on the West Face of Aonach Beag during the first winter ascent of North Buttress (III). The Mamores are in the background. (Photo Andy Nisbet)

Dave McGimpsey high on the West Face of Aonach Beag during the first winter ascent of North Buttress (III). The Mamores are in the background. (Photo Andy Nisbet)

“I never thought I’d go to Aonach Beag from Glen Nevis,” Andy Nisbet writes. “I had it in my head it was such a long way. And Simon and Helen going there the day after last year’s SMC dinner didn’t encourage me; Simon does like the long walks. But I was watching a DVD while wondering where to go with Dave McGimpsey the next day, and suddenly this helicopter flew across the cliffs of Aonach Beag, high and west facing. Just the perfect aspect after a big storm from the west had brought a sudden drop in temperatures. West facing should be frozen and east facing buried and insulated.

Only one snag, how do you reverse the DVD and stop at the right point? Now there aren’t many climbers who find this is as hard a task as finding a new line; in fact I might be unique. But I finally succeeded and the new line was quickly spotted. Now for the next problem, how to note it down. Quick thinking, or so I thought; photograph the TV screen, transfer to the computer and print it out. Later Dave said, “why didn’t you just play the DVD on the computer?”

So back to the mundane tasks, how to persuade Dave to get up at 5am, how to drive on icy roads to Glen Nevis and would we have to wade up to the crag? Much to my amazement, you can actually see the West Face of Aonach Beag when driving up Glen Nevis, and my worry that the new line might just be a walk on grass (it did look very green on the DVD) suddenly changed to how steep and rocky it looked, and would it be possible. Mental note: look at crags from a helicopter as the lines look easier.

It turned out the crag isn’t nearly as far as I thought but it is a long way up, and that equates to steep. And the buttress we’d chosen, the one left of a prominent gully, was steep too. But there was a nice deep groove with quite a lot of ice (conditions were surprisingly icy, but it had been a sudden freeze) and a big flat chockstone, which would have been awkward without the good placements in the ice. This lead on to an easy ramp out left to the crest of the buttress. Dave’s pitch had a smooth start on slabby rock but then turned easier, and soon we were on top, unexpectedly quickly and wondering how to get down for another route. We gambled on the bottom end of the crag first and that didn’t work, so it was annoyingly back up to try the top end. There was an easier slope here but it was further, even without our detour.

The next potential line was the buttress right of the prominent gully. It did look smooth at the bottom but a sneak round the corner showed up some big rock crevasses and a likely way up. It was easy to get into the crevasses, although we did have to jump into one, but not so easy to get out. Still these tricky moves weren’t exposed so we soloed up until we reached the upper slab. A crack-line on its right side proved more awkward than it looked, with a bulge and the crack closing above, so it was lucky we roped up. It was still cold and windy on top but even the Ben had cleared and we admired great views all round. And there was time to return by the longer Glen Nevis meadows and still make the car in daylight.

Now exactly what we did is not so easy, as the crag is only summarised in Simon’s Ben Nevis guidebook. There’s little doubt that the buttresses we climbed were the ones holding the original summer routes; the crevasses and the final slab of ‘Crevassed Rib’ were a giveaway. We graded North Buttress (the left route) III and Crevassed Rib IV,5; both about 100m long.”

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