The magnificent second half of the winter continues unabated, at least in terms of vast quantities of snow. The Highlands are looking their very best at the moment with creamy white tops and lots of alpine sunshine. Although it’s not been outstanding for ice, recent reports suggest reasonable nick on the Ben with just about all the classics receiving ascents, including the likes of Orion, Minus Two, Smiths, Point Five, Hadrians, Comb and Green etc.


Rosie Goolden above the bad step on the final crest of Dorsal Arete – one of the few safe remaining routes left to go at recently.
Photo: copyright Cubby Images 2006

After the thaw on the weekend of the 15th April and subsequent high winds and fresh snow, it’s been a bit messy for mixed routes, being warmer on the buttresses than the ambient temperature would suggest. I was up on Aonach Mor on Weds (19th) and Stob Coire in the Coe on Fri (21st), where it was very unconsolidated with lots of impressive cornice collapse and avalanche activity witnessed so beware.


Heavily saturated cornices take out SC Gully – a gentle reminder. Stob Coire nan Lochan, Glencoe.
Photo: copyright Cubby Images 2006

Everyone’s mind set is evidently focused on spring rock for the mountains are uncannily quiet. Consequently there’s not a huge amount to report this time round, although some quality stuff has been done by the usual die-hards.

A few noteworthy climbs always slip through the net and our last report was no exception. I was especially intrigued to hear of Es Tresidder’s ascent of the Original Route on the Fiddler’s Nose (VII,8) in the North West, significantly with his dad! I’ll not report publicly how Es described the day other than that it was long, hard and tiring! To commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first ascent of Green Gully, John Lyall and Hamish Irvine go retro, donning there tweeds and chopped steps in the wake of its creator Harold Raeburn. Could this be the start of a new trend?


John Lyall has never been the same since assuming the role as John MacKenzie – Collie’s Cullin guide and friend (during the making of the Edge series for BBC 2 in 1996). Step cutting could really muck up the grading system!
Photo: copyright Cubby Images 2006


Others however never really change - Alan Kimber as Collie (I’m really only joking Alan, but let me know if you want to see more!)
Photo: copyright Cubby Images 2006

Guy Robertson’s and Pete Benson’s twelve hour sprint on the winter Steeple sounds very impressive and undoubtedly one of this winter’s highlights. Dave MacLeod made space between attempts on Rhapsody and climbed a highly improbable new line next to Messiah on Ben Dorain. Full marks to Ian Parnell who would appear to be on fine form having recently made second ascents of Tut Braithwaite’s test piece - Longlands Route on Cloggy, and Great White Fright on Dover chalk (without recourse to sitting on axes). One could say that Ian has matured in respect of his acquired taste for Highland mixed, enduring several Fowler-esque sorties north of the Border and completing a brace of newsworthy first ascents.


The Mess of Pottage – on the left of the photo - a party treads where nobody else would dare think about!
Photo: copyright Cubby Images 2006

CAIRNGORMS
The Northern Coires
In the Lochain, Ian Parnell and Tim Emmett spent their Easter weekend on Nevermind – the impressive slender pillar between No.3 and No.4 buttresses, a route that has denied several concerted efforts by other leading activists and a route that proved to be as tough as its reputation. Starting up Grumbling Grooves to where that line goes left into the big continuation, Tim led straight up into a narrow groove just left of the front of the pillar which was under a uniform coat of icy hoar, 12-18 inches thick. At a roof the groove blanks out, forcing a rightwards traverse across a blank wall to a short wide crack leading to a stance on the right arête of the pillar and was only completed only after a 25 footer! The way ahead was now obscured by hoar reminiscent of the summit mushroom on Cerro Torre and proved to be exceptionally hard work for Ian who had now taken over the lead. Nevermind would appear to take the left side of the pillar at this point. So swinging right, an overhanging groove was laybacked strenuously, culminating in a 30 foot fall when Ian’s crampons popped on the characteristically bevelled granite. He pulled the ropes and gave it another go and digging for glory, reached a flake/groove on the sidewall overlooking the ramps of Headhunter. Another sizeable fall at a blank slab guarding the remaining six feet of climbing, ended any further attempts that day. The route was finally led clean on Easter Sunday to provide Pick n Mix (IX,9). Grading is always something of a contentious issue but Ian was of the opinion that despite the route being quite short, it is very hard and modern in concept, harder than Happy Tyroleans and Open Heart (Ventriloquist variation), the latter being his hardest ever Scottish lead.


Tim Emmett and Ian Parnell on the first ascent of Pick’n Mix.
Photo: copyright and thanks to Rich Heap 2006

Also in the Lochain, Ian had some unfinished business to attend to with Open Heart, 100m, VIII,9. This is a very strenuous link utilising Ventricle pitch one to the crux of Ventriloquist. A line that has inadvertently spanked numerous parties including one by Ian himself which resulted in his partner taking a twenty-footer onto his head! With Ian taking over the lead, he managed to scrape through an on-off and poorly protected section before pumping out on the much steeper though better protected overhanging finish, which culminated in his first winter fall! On the successful day, this time climbing with Guy Robertson, pitch one of Ventricle was followed to a belay, then steps left from the second pitch of Ventricle to climb the groove, ultimately joining Ventriloquist at the big ledge and following that route to finish. Although only one independent pitch, in Guy’s opinion the line offered some of the best climbing he’s done in the ‘Norries’ and the hardest.


Mark Diggins of the Scottish Avalanche Service at work on the south side of Cairngorm in late March.
Photo: copyright Cubby Images 2006


Sweet dreams…..a back country skier enjoys superb conditions above Loch Avon, Cairngorms.
Photo: copyright Cubby Images 2006

Shelterstone
Guy Robertson and Pete Benson have made an impressive second ascent of winter Steeple in a rapid twelve hour push, starting an hour after first light and topping out as the sun went down. There are nine pitches in all with each successively harder than the last, getting steeper and more exposed the higher you climb. Guy said that Pete pulled out a great effort on the big corner leading the whole thing in one monster 45m pitch, no falls no submissions. According to Guy, the only flaw in their ascent was of Guy having something of a magic moment trying to mantle onto two feet of semi consolidated crud on the slab at the top of the final 5a cracks. “I had both knees on the ledge, and was trying to retrieve a jammed left axe when the right one (and my knees) ripped, leaving me dangling by the emergency leash of the stuck axe and, being attached to a wee sling round my neck, I started to asphyxiate! You can imagine I was pretty quick to grab the good axe, and with a flurry of knees and elbows and a good old fashioned belly roll, the beggar was in the bag. Well, almost. In a strangely fitting way, the final slabs and granite mushrooms proved somewhat cryptic under heavy rime and in the gathering gloom, forcing a butt-clenching, protectionless traverse left to find a way through. Tremendous stuff!”

Winter Steeple was first climbed by Alan Mullin and Steve Paget on the 20th November 1999 on their third attempt. The route courted a degree of controversy largely due to what some climbers considered (including eye witnesses who by co-incidence were in the area) to have been climbed both too early in the season and in lean conditions, not to mention the use of some aid. Their ascent was named the Dusk Till Dawn Variation and involved a continuous 24 hour push climbing mainly in the dark. Starting up the initial corners, their winter line shared a considerable percentage of the summer route and was graded IX,9. Guy and Pete’s chosen line would appear to contain slightly less in common with the summer line, avoiding the initial corner via Postern to the right and taking in the Needle above the terrace. While I’m not here to decry either ascent it does raise the question of winter logic versus the true summer line. Both Needle and Steeple are magnificent winter diretissimas, but the crux’s of both climbs are avoided. The main reason is that they are less likely to be in acceptable winter condition, nevertheless the summer crux’s will also provide the hardest climbing on both routes. Scottish winter mixed climbing by its very nature defies logic and one tends to look back to the future for an answer, to the early days and even more recently in the 60,70’s and 80’s when the exact summer line was as a whole followed religiously. Crowberry Ridge direct by Alex Small in the 30’s is a very good example (and remarkably futuristic). Another good example can be found in the first winter ascent of Chimney Route in Stob Coire in Glencoe by Dave Knowles. Dave stuck to the summer line without deviation avoiding the much more obvious chimney feature to its left which on subsequent more recent ascents was often followed in mistake of the less obvious line. One can conclude and with all due respect that both The Steeple and The Needle still await their first complete winter ascents.

Lochnagar
On the 8th April, Ian Parnell and Guy Robertson added Scarface Wall, 140m VIII,8. An exposed and very sustained climb (with three of its five pitches graded technical 8), taking a leftwards curving line across the right wall of Raeburns Gully and finishing up Straight Jacket, which is believed to be the second ascent of the crux section of that route.

ORCHY HILLS
Ben Dorain, Creag an Socach
Defenders of The Faith, 85m, IX,9 was the work of Dave MacLeod and Fiona Murray and was climbed on the 16th March. The line takes a very exposed, overhanging wall to the left of Messiah. The main difficulties are sustained, initially quite serious and culminating in a pull though a roof onto the final headwall which provides the technical crux and was climbed in one huge sixty metre pitch. Dave comments “we thought the climbing was quite hard, about M8+ ish and harder than the likes of Logical Progression and Happy Tyroleans. The quality is fantastic – classic southern Highlands, some nice bits of turf to race for in some remarkably steep places”.

NORTH WEST
Quinag
Raeburn’s Direct route received its probable second ascent by Guy Robertson and Vivian Scott. Guy described the climb as really nice, maybe VII,7 than VI,8 but a pleasure just to have the chance to climb up there “a rare thing indeed”.

ABERDEEN SEA CLIFFS
On a different note, news has just filtered through of a ‘last great unclimbed’ line on the Seaward Wall of Scimitar Ridge by Tim Rankin. Substituting bolts with natural gear, Tim red-pointed (or is it pink-pointed) a very bouldery 25 degree overhanging granite wall. No details as yet but rumour has it that the climb has been graded somewhere in the region of 8a+/8b.


Lawrence Hughes soaks up some warm winter sunshine – sport climbing, North West Highland style. Remember they get the full effect of the warm Gulf Stream up there!
Photo: copyright Cubby Images 2006

That’s it folks but somehow I don’t think the winter’s over yet….arghhh!

Cubby.

other useful Scottish climbing links:

For articles and climbing & bouldering news updates visit Scottish Climbs http://www.scottishclimbs.com

For bouldering articles and latest news visit John Watson's recently redesigned site at http://www.stonecountry.co.uk

For latest winter reports and conditions visit Kimber's site at http://www.westcoast-mountainguides.co.uk

And for more Scottish winter conditions and info. - climbing and weather reports, web cams and much more, visit Winternet athttp://www.winternet-scotland.co.uk

News Flash!

Dave MacLeod has just completed what is almost certainly a contender for one of the world’s hardest rock climbs of its genre.

DUMBARTON ROCK
Dave MacLeod has climbed a desperate and very sensational new route on the Requiem headwall called Rhapsody. As is customary at Dumbarton, he has skipped a whole grade and given the new line a walloping E11 7a, that’s two full grades harder than his other Dumbi test piece – Achemine (E9 6c) which he climbed in 2002.

E11 I hear you scoff. Well sceptics should bare in mind that Dave is currently one of, if not the most qualified activist in the UK with an impressive CV of first ascents and repeats between E9 and E10 to his credit.

The idea of climbing the insipient continuation of the Requiem crack is one that has been fermenting in the back of Dave’s mind for four years. And now after some 70 days work and nine heart stopping screamers, the ordeal has at last been laid to rest – a project one could say that’s now for the jackals to grow grey over!

It’s a line that I myself would preferred to have taken in 1983 but the tactics currently in use were deemed unacceptable in those days, at least by a stubborn few such as myself. This is a line that could so easily have fallen victim to the Hilti but thank god it has remained unscathed. All due respect must go to Dave for recognising a line representative of the true spirit of cutting edge Scottish rock climbing.

Dave remarked after doing the first ascent of Achemine in 2002 that he couldn’t touch it. By 2004 he did all the moves bar two and that’s when he started to take the line more seriously. Early 2005 and he managed all the moves and by October, head pointing began. However, on his last attempt before the onslaught of winter, Dave suffered a major setback when a hold snapped which required working a new sequence. He’d been so incredibly close, falling off with his hands on top of the crag, but even more of a worry was that he was flipped upside down. The winter would prove not to be so relaxing after all.

A sprint up the soaring Requiem crack (E7 6b/c in its own right), leads to a stopping place/shake out beneath the headwall. Once embarked upon, the headwall, which is protectionless accounts for more than half of the route both in terms of its length, due to the very intricate nature of the line, and the substance of the individual moves (a Font grade of 7c+/8a has been suggested). Dave endured a total of nine elbow bent hands trawling the top of the crag, wire snapping, rope flipping, ankle-crunching screamers before finally nailing this monster in the coffin! Indeed all these points cited above and more, such as having to push out from the cliff before taking the fall and an avoiding move that prevents the rope from catching behind his knee were carefully built into the overall sequence. Psychological burdens that weighed heavily on Dave’s mind, ones with the potential to flip him upside down, the consequences of which do not bare thinking about and ultimately relate to the overall grade.


Difficult moves above the shake-out leads back right to the 7a crux.
Photo: copyright Cubby Images


The crux, approx one third of the way up the headwall.
Photo: copyright Cubby Images


Half way up and safely above the crux! The climb veers back left before aiming for the top.
Photo: copyright Cubby Images


On this occasion Dave fumbles the sequence several moves below the top.
Photo: copyright Cubby Images


Here we go again, Dave blows it well below the top so its not such a big one!
Photo: copyright Cubby Images

Dave said the conditions were perfect on the day with snow lying on the ground! But as for the ascent “I was very nervy, especially after having taken a nasty fall from the top and really hurting both my feet from an attempt only days earlier”. Dave was last seen downing the old amber nectar somewhere in the town of Dumbarton!


Portrait Dave cracks a smile between attempts.
Photo: copyright Cubby Images



Diff When is this ordeal going to end for Paul Diffley (of Hot Aches Productions), who has religiously filmed Dave on all of his head-point attempts.
Photo: copyright Cubby Images

Cubby
P/S .......The winter report will be online early next week!