Feature
Climb Scotland Winter 2003/04
By Guy Robertson
Starting this issue we will be doing a twice yearly look back at what new routes have been done, by who and where—who are the movers and shakers of the modern Scottish climbing scene!
Few people would argue that the Scottish winter season isn’t what it used to be. The last few seasons have been characterised by very short, but often severe Arctic blasts interspersed with dry, warm interludes, bringing some crags into excellent condition in an instant, but never really laying down the foundations required for good build-up of snow and ice. It’s perhaps not surprising then that the end of the 2004/05 season saw the internet chat rooms full of frustrated winter climbers proclaiming yet another “worst season ever”. But this certainly wasn’t the case, and most areas came into good condition at some point, although often not for long. And therein lies the rub – if you want to catch good conditions these days, you’ve got to stay constantly ‘tuned in’, and be quick off the mark when the signs are right. This is less of a problem for us well-informed ‘locals’ based north of the border, but it’s no doubt causing increasing frustration amongst our southern counterparts. I wonder what Fowler would make of it all?
Looking back over last winter’s activity, it’s fair to say that we live in exciting times. First ascents and repeats in the highest grades have been many and varied, with both the ‘classic’ long, on-sight adventure and the modern, single-pitch test-piece both making the news. Despite the overly fickle conditions, all the usual suspects have been in on the action, and a few new tigers to boot. It seems frustrated winter climbers are like caged gorillas - give them the slightest chance of escape and they’re out there ripping it up! This report is neither comprehensive nor chronological; it’s merely a summary of some of the highlights – those interested in fuller details across the grades should refer to the New Routes section of the SMCJ.
The North West Highlands
There was significant activity in the frozen frontiers of the North West. Starting way up north on the rarely visited Ben Loyal (near Tongue) Guy Robertson and Pete Benson put two and two together and came up trumps with the first winter ascent of the awe-inspiring South West Buttress of Sgor a’ Cleirich. The pair were totally unprepared for the sheer scale and quality of the winter challenge that presented itself upon their arrival at the base of the cliff - this must surely be one of the most impressive bits of rock on the British mainland. The subsequent eleven-hour, on-sight ascent of Marathon Corner Direct (VIII,8) was rated by both as perhaps their finest and most committing new route to date, featuring a heady cocktail of turf, rock and ice. Unfortunately, this wonderful natural winter line was climbed marginally too late to make it into the new Northern Highlands North guide. But not to worry - for anyone who’s interested, the line is pretty obvious!
Further south in Coigach, Alistair Robertson and Paul ‘Stork’ Thorburn bought their lottery ticket and walked in to try the mighty Fiddler Nose Direct (VII,7). The pair did well, reaching pitch 8 with daylight to spare, but disaster struck when Thorburn did what he does best, taking flight and crashing down 40 feet towards the belay. Badly bruised, shaken and unable to continue, they embarked on a long and laborious retreat well into the night. It’s a long way down from up there, but more importantly for Robertson perhaps, it could be some time before he gets back up there with a willing and able partner.
Nearby on Stac Pollaidh, Eric ‘The Viking’ Brunskill and Dafyd Morris made the first winter breach of the imposing South Face of East Buttress. Their ascent of the steep and icy Underground Resistance provided five pitches at V,6 and sounds like a fine addition to this mountain’s growing portfolio of quality winter routes.
Moving on down to Torridon and Applecross, there were more exciting events. In Beinn Eighe’s Coire Mhic Fearchair, the truly frightening West Central Wall came under attack. Andy Nesbit’s neo-classic Blood, Sweat & Frozen Tears (VII,8) received its fifth recorded ascent courtesy of an on-form Sam Chinnery and Neil Crampton. Sam quite simply couldn’t contain his enthusiasm for the route, which is now arguably the most popular route at this level of difficulty in the North West Highlands. For those willing to abseil into a yawning abyss first thing on a winter’s morning, trust me – you won’t be disappointed! Still in this coire, but over on Sail Mhor, Es Tressider and Guy Robertson made the first ascent of Expanding Universe (VI,5), a quality thin ice line up the left wall of Morrison’s Gully.
Slightly further south on Beinn Damph, Andy Nesbit and Jonathan Preston and the first winter ascent of Aquila (VI,7), giving seven sustained pitches. Andy is clearly making a return to form after a nasty fall a while back, and has climbed a whole stack of other easier stuff in remote corners of the north and west – just when you thought your ‘last great line’ was safe.
In Applecross, the great vegetated cliffs of Beinn Bhan saw the addition of three very notable new routes. In the dizzying Coire Na Fhamair, James Edwards added two new lines to the area of cliff immediately left of Genesis. The first route, Revelations (VII,6), was climbed with Sam Barron, and takes the most obvious line just left of the big arête. The second, Biblical Knowledge (VI,6), climbed with Gareth Hughes, is based on the big arête itself and turned out to be slightly easier. Both lines sound like somewhat daunting prospects up very steep ground, with James noting rather worryingly that “the belays were excellent, and there was at least one good runner on every pitch”. If you can deal with poor protection, the climbing sounds fantastic – steep, icy and turfy – although according to James a good botanical knowledge was useful in locating the best pick placements!
Still on Beinn Bhan, but over in the vertical vastness of neighbouring Coire Na Poite, the productive partnership of Malcom Bass and SimonYearsely finally plugged the ‘gap’ between March Hare’s and Mad Hatter Gullies. Not so much of a gap, more of an obvious and very impressive modern winter line, the ascent of which certainly raised the eyebrows of those who thought they were ‘in the know’. The route appears to have proved more amenable than its appearance suggests, giving 8 long pitches at an overall VI,6. The first four pitches provide the crux of the route, and there’s little doubt this is a top quality adventure, perhaps even a candidate for best mixed route in the coire. Further right on this cliff, and by way of a note for those who thought this was a bad season for ice, Silver Tear (V,5) was climbed in superb, fat conditions during the last week of February.
Still in the north west, but moving slightly eastwards, Lord John MacKenzie has been busy, adding a clutch of routes to the North Face of Sgurr na Muice. The highlight of his explorations was A Wee Cracker (III,4), described enthusiastically as “a route with attitude”. This beautiful venue now hosts a good selection of routes in the lower and middle grades, which should become popular when the new guidebook comes out. Climbing mainly with Dave Allan and Allan Dennis, Mackenzie also added a number of other easy routes around this area, but his finest hour came with Dennis over on Ben Wyvis with the first ascent of The Temptress (V,5) in Coire Mor. This three star route gave varied, exposed and adequately protected climbing, providing what is possibly now the best route on the cliff.
Ben Nevis, Glencoe and the South West
Big news from the Ben was the impressive on-sight first ascent of Arthur (VIII,8), an unrepeated HVS summer line up the left flank of No. 3 Gully Buttress, by local guides Bruce Poll and Tony Sheperd. This is the first winter ascent to penetrate the main body of this very steep and intimidating piece of rock. Bruce and Tony came up with the goods just after New Year, clearly demonstrating the number of extremely fit and talented but perhaps less well-known activists ready to strike. The climbing is reported to be very steep and technically sustained, and for a description of the crux pitch, I’ll pass you over to Bruce himself “Pitch 3 was just out of this world; steep bulge followed by steep bulge, each slightly harder, steeperand longer than the last, gear was sporadic but some good placements”. This was clearly a very fine on-sight first ascent, and one of only a handful made to date at this grade. Perhaps Poll and Sheperd’s ascent will spur other teams on to attempt some of the equally impressive possibilities for hard mixed hereabouts.
Glencoe saw some determined climbing as usual during the winter months, but there was relatively little in the way of new routes or first ascents. The exception was Andy Nelson and Donald King’s winter ascent of the awesome-looking summer line of The Crook (HVS) high up on Bishop Buttress on Bidean Nam Bian. Success came on their second foray onto the route, which sounds very hard indeed given King’s comment that it was harder than any previous VII’s he’s climbed, and certainly not as well protected. Would-be suitors, you have been warned…
Not a million miles away, in the quirkily named Coire Chat on Ben Cruachan, the ever ready team of Chris Cartwright and Simon Richardson unearthed a rather splendid-sounding new 100 metre crag - yes, you heard me right, a whole new crag ! This apparent gem of a coire has provided a whole stack of excellent routes up to grade VII so far. Simon assures me that Chris gets the credit here, both for finding the place and for making the most demanding leads (now we know what you get up to in summer Chris). Amongst the highlights from their efforts were Goldfinger (VII,7) - a continuously sustained route with three difficult pitches up the centre of the main wall;Dr Noe (VI,6) - the stepped ramp-line to the right; and Tainted Elixir (V,6) - a superb corner-line further left. Coire Chat is clearly an excellent find and being high, north facing and quick to come into condition, we may well see some swift repeats of these early routes.
Further south on The Cobbler, and young Dave MacLeod has made the headlines once more. This time he has upped the technical ante with the first ascent of the huge roof crack sprouting from the arching cave at the base of Cobbler’s Centre Peak. In the best tradition, Dave had previously tried this exceptionally steep line ground-up on-sight, but after a very short time – mostly spent upside down – he realised this just wasn’t going to happen. Instead, he worked some of the moves, resting on gear, and made the decision to return for a complete free ascent at a later date. This he did at the end of January, and succeeded, placing all the gear on lead, to create The Cathedral (X,11). The route continued above the roof crack for a short way before lowering off, creating a single 30 metre pitch. It would seem that the ability to sustain repeated horizontal ‘tin opener’ moves and overhead foot jams, not to mention more than a little brute strength, are prerequisites for success on what is undoubtedly one of Scotland’s most technically and physically demanding traditional winter routes.
Although Dave’s ascent in itself has been widely lauded as truly groundbreaking by the Scottish winter climbing community, and the technical grade doubted by few, his overall grading of X has fuelled an already vigorous debate over interpretation of the current two-tiered winter system. The main bone of contention is whether any short piece of rock that could ultimately be quickly and easily aided should represent the cutting edge of what is essentially a mountaineering discipline (it used to be that any route shorter than 500ft - no matter how hard – could only ever get grade IV!). However, the times, as they say, are changing, and to be fair to Dave, he is simply extrapolating the grade from the hard routes he has done to date - the majority of which have been short and easily accessible. What we really want to see though is a line that presents the technicalities of The Cathedral, but 6 pitches up a totally committing mega-route!
Central Highlands and Cairngorms
With Dave McGimpsey and Jonathan Preston, Nesbit made some more short additions to Stob Coire na Laoigh, but the biggest news was further south, in the Aguilles de Cairngorms. Starting in the Norries, no new routes to report, but a few very impressive repeats. At the very start of the season, and after a previous failed attempt due to loose rock, Ben Wilkinson and partner made the second free ascent of the summer line of Daddy Longlegs (VII,9). Ben’s ascent of the crux top pitch was the first on-sight lead to date, and a very fine effort indeed (Pete Benson made a previous free ascent, but on his second attempt). The pair originally felt the route to be worth VIII overall, but finally settled on VII after a bit of discussion. I can see where they were coming from, the route being harder than some current VIII’s in the coire, but it’s still essentially very short and very safe. Also in the Lochain, Prore (VIII,8) was repeated, as was the original line of big Daddy (VIII,8), and I heard a rumour that Wilkinson also came close to the first on-sight of Happy Tyroleans (IX,10) but didn’t quite make it.
Over the back in the Loch Avon basin, Guy Robertson and Jason Currie made the first ‘all-free-in-a-day’ ascent of The Needle (VIII,8) on Shelter Stone Crag. Starting up the initial corner at the back of 5am, and following the same line as that taken during the first ascent, the pair topped out in time to catch the sunset, adding a slice of warmth and beauty to a memorable day out. Conditions were perfect, with the top two-thirds of the crag well plastered, and plenty of snow and frozen turf on the entry pitches low down. They felt the grade about right – the climbing sustained but well protected – with the eighth pitch, the Needle Crack, providing a fitting and spectacular crux. James Edwards visited The Stone as well during February, and was rewarded for his efforts with an ascent of the classic Citadel (VII,8).
And finally to the quiet solitude of Beinn a Bhuird. The Cartwright and Richardson duo were active here and got fifth time lucky with the first ascent of Nipped in the Bud (V,6), the prominent buttress between Crocus Gully and Snowdrop. Previous attempts had foundered due to atrocious weather or poor conditions – now that’s dedication for you. But the most notable effort from the same team here was their on-sight ascent of a hard new line in Coire na Ciche between Hot Toddy and Pigs on the Wing. Their as yet unnamed VII,8 is reputedly a superb natural winter, with the crux in Simon’s words requiring more in the way of “cunning rather than brute strength”. This line had been looked at but shied away from by Richardson for ten years, so it’s ascent is sure to have brought a smile to the old man’s face. There’s hardly a season goes by nowadays when these guys don’t pick another plum.
And that’s pretty much it, but don’t worry, no need to hang up your tools folks – I hear there’s some fantastic adventure to be had down in Newtyle Quarry…