Winter climbing and chimneys seem to be one of those combinations that just works. For some reason unbeknownst to me or anybody else I've climbed with, there abundance on routes seems to be a hugely understated fact. For most people the thought of placing yourself in such vertical incarceration, with escape only achieved by a disproportionate amount of effort for every inch gained is perhaps distasteful. However for me its this very struggle that best defines what winter climbing is all about, with success hanging in the balance right to the very end! So it was with much excitement that Sol and I donned our ambition and made the slog-of-a-walk-in up to Church Door Buttress on Bidean nam Bian in Glen Coe in search of some suffering.

Other than the obscene amount of snow we had to negotiate on the walk up, conditions were pretty much perfect with the weather being cool and crisp and everything frozen from the bottom of the valley up. After what felt like an age of galloping through deep fresh powder Church Door Buttress eventually came into view. First impressions were most definitely that the crag was well named, with the entire right hand side of the crag leaning out away from the main rock face, creating corners and voids filled with snow and shadows. An eery looking place, made all the more intimidating by the fact that it was these very ominous crevices which we'd be venturing into. 

Church Door Buttress up on the north west face of Bidean nam Bian. Crypt Route (V,6) takes the obvious chimney line up between the two walls before diving into and up the back of the buttress, emerging just below the huge set of overhangs high above

Moving through the steep lower chimney. This section of the climb (technically pitch 2 but we linked it as 1) is perhaps the steepest part of the whole route, but is thankfully adorned with both gear and amazing hooks for your axes. 

Looking down at Sol seconding the steepest part of the lower chimney. After one or two more moves you dive into the back of the chimney and emerge at a belay on top of a giant chockstone

Crypt Route (graded V,6) basically climbs the back of the open door up a huge chimney system, before plunging into the bowls of crag through a series of smaller, hanging chimneys, emerging through a blow hole style opening just below the main barrage of overhangs. It is the section just before the squeeze which proves the crux where skidding feet and burning arms are the order of the day. Once at the squeeze all gear must be removed at a small ledge inside the face. Once through you can reach back through and retrieve all your gear which you can hang from a chock. Its at this point, on a good ledge under the shelter of the overhangs soaring above that you can take stock, and have a jolly good chuckle at your second as they tussle and curse their way upwards.

Sol on what is probably the crux squeeze on pitch 3. You can just see the ledge high on the left where you need to take off all your gear before squeezing through the "blow hole"

Sol mid-squeeze looking very relaxed. Then again he is a caver! 

Looking down at the hanging grooves from a belay you take high the overhangs above the chimney sections

From here on in its considerably less claustrophobic, with a long hanging groove pitch sneaking through the overhangs onto the buttress above allowing you to join the last few pitches of West Chimney (IV,6) just before the notorious Raeburn's Chimney pitch. Perhaps not as hard as the lower pitches of Crypt Route, however it can feel pretty taxing considering the amount of gut busting and squeezing and gurning and fighting you've already done up to this point. Thankfully the last pitch was icy grooves with not a chimney in sight. Although for us the weather by this point had significantly deteriorated and we were loosing the light, so not much was in sight anyway! 

Crypt route is an archetypal winter route, with some hard bits, some easy bits and some uncomfortable bits. Perhaps its best attribute is the strength of its line, exploring and conquering the most obvious feature on the buttress. Its a route for any masochistic chimney lover and shouldn't be missed!

Things finally started to get a bit cooler again last week. It only took a slight change in wind direction for that blocking high pressure system that was plaguing us with all that warm air to be flipped on its head and instead bring crisp and icy conditions across much of the UK. For any normal person weather like this can be a total blight, but for me there is nothing more exciting than having to have the heating on all the time and de-ice the car every day for a whole week! The cold snap couldn't have been timed better with that very next weekend being a planned winter trip with Sol.

Although its been cold, its not been overly snowy which kind of restricted our choice of possible venues. This is because cold is great for freezing turf, but that lack of snow means that ice is less abundant as there is no melt or other water source. With that in mind we decided to head for the northern Coirres just because of its reliability and thankfully we weren't disappointed.

Looking up a well iced Mess of Pottage with a team just starting up the first pitch of The Message (IV,6)

The first route we opted for was The Message (IV,6) on the Mess of Pottage, a Sneachda classic and by all accounts a bit of a trade route for any aspiring mixed climber so it had to be done really. The route climbs a series of interconnecting corners and grooves right up the middle of the buttress in as many as 4 or 5 pitches. In the end we opted for 3, with the second pitch being linked to do the crux groove pitch and the hanging corner in one go. With huge exposure, great hooks and gear everywhere The Message certainly lived up to the hype and was made even better by the freezing cold and windless weather we'd found ourselves enjoying. 

Sol and I enjoying the perfectly cold and crisp weather at the top of the first pitch on The Message 

The crux corner on pitch 2 of The Message

Sol moving into the sun after long last on the top pitch of The Message

With that in the bag and not wanting to waste such a rare day we opted to do the direct start to Hidden Chimney (IV,5) which was also on the Mess of Pottage. The line climbs a shallow groove and corner to the left of the large gully of Jacobs Ladder and in the end was quite cruxy, with pulling off the ground probably being the hardest move of the whole pitch! After that the route joins the normal line of Hidden Chimney (III), which Sol lead in 2 fine pitches, the last of which climbed the 'hidden chimney', was particularly enjoyable and perhaps made even more memorable when we topped out to the sun setting in cloud filled valleys far off to the west. Days don't really get much better than that do they? 

The thin and tricky lower section of Hidden Chimney Direct (IV,5)

Sol smashing the money pitch on the fine open grove of Hidden Chimney (III)

On the Sunday we decided to take a bit of a gamble. The winds had been cold and northerly for around 5 days with the freezing level hovering between valley level and 600 m depending on aspect. On that basis some of the north facing crags a little further south could have been in a climbable conditions and so with the gear packed (as well as the optimism) we sacked off the two hour return drive to the Cairngorms and headed west to Beinn an Lochain near Arrochar. The target route was the Cold Climbs classic Monolith Groves (IV,5), which climbs the north face of the main buttress in as many as 6 pitches, through gullys, chimneys and overhangs, culminating is a spectacular top pitch which climbs a steep and exposed groove on a hanging slab. 

Beinn an Lochain with the hanging grove and slab of Monolith Grooves (IV,5) visible high on the left

Sol at the end of the difficult traverse out of the cave on pitch 3 of Monolith Grooves

Getting stuck into the tricky chimney on pitch 5 of Monolith Grooves

The superb hanging slab on pitch 6 of Monolith Grooves. A fantastic pitch. 

Sol seconding the last bit of the final pitch of Monolith Grooves

We encountered rock solid turf from the bottom of the valley up, however as we go to the base of the crag the snow got deeper and that had clearly insulted a turf a little, however where it was exposed on rock edges or on walls it was frozen solid. Thankfully once we were off the ground and up onto the buttress the turf became rock solid and was in great condition.  

A saunter on the Souter

For the last two seasons winter climbing in Scotland has kicked off as early as October. A conveyor  of bombarding icy blasts from the North Atlantic heralded the arrival of conditions perfect for snowed-up-rock and super high mixed routes. Unlike 2018, dreams of such a promising start were quickly quashed this year by a blocking high pressure bringing a continued spell of unseasonably warm air across our mountains, striping many of the peaks right back to their summer attire. I've no doubt that the old hands of Scottish winter climbing contingent will be laughing at such an optimistic outlook, as for them winter doesn't usually kick off until mid February! Anyway, to avoid upsetting them or myself by lingering on "the January that could have been", I'll instead share with you the adventure of last weekend where instead of a hopeless walk in to a soggy mountain crag, we headed for the coast in search of sun and dry rock.

Sitting eating my breakfast watching the first wisps of dawn appear through the beads of rainwater trickling down the kitchen window, the idea of a successful days rock climbing started to feel like an overoptimistic objective. Thankfully as we piled down the M80, then the Edinburgh by-pass, then the A1, the skies cleared and the ground grew drier and we started to think we might just be that lucky. Which it turns out we were!  

The Souter is a sea stack situated 30 miles east of Edinburgh on the chaotic and rugged coast around St Abbs Head. The slender sandstone stack has several routes up it with the most popular being "Ordinary Route" which climbs the seaward edge at HVS 5a. As far as routes on sea stacks go, Ordinary Route is an absorbing and entertaining line with some great (albeit a little bold) moves on mostly solid rock. The route is split by a small ledge about half height, with crux being the short corner just below, which is probably somewhere between tech 5a and 5b. Although the tricky move is protected by an old peg (which can also be backed-up by a reasonable nut) there isn't much scope for any other gear in the corner (BETA ALERT! - you can actually get reasonable yellow [size 4] BD cam in a flared slot just right of the base of the crack). Above the ledge there is another technical move past a peg but the difficulties there are short lived and its more like tech 5a. We abseiled down the seaward side because of the wind, but you'd be fine lowering off either side.

Overall its a great adventure and well worth the effort of seeking out.

The Souter sea stack near St Abbs Head

Moving up below the short corner on Ordinary Route (HVS 5a) on the seaward arete of The Souter (photo Rob Steer)

Rob pulling on the hanging slab just below the top

What goes up must come down (photo Rob Steer)

 

A panoramic view up the line of the seaward side of the Souter stack. Ordinary Route climbs the obvious corner to half height before moving up and left and pulling through a small overlap onto the final hanging slab. 

Top routes of 2018

I know what you're thinking, another year, another annual round-up blog post! Well you'd be right, however this time around I thought i'd put a new spin on things by including WINTER routes as well as the normal list of trad climbs. I mean its still mainly summer trad, as winter climbing is deeply unpleasant and generally only any fun on the calmest of bluebird days (which basically never happen and even then you're probably still freezing your ass off)! Anyway, without further adieu here are my top 10 favorite climbs of 2018!

10) Landward Face (HVS 4c) - Am Buachaille, NW Highlands

The remote sandstone sea stack of Am Buachaille situated about 10 miles south of Cape Wrath 

Am Bucachaille must be one of the most stunning climbing venues in Britain and the most awkward to boot. As always, the easy bit is driving, all 5 hours of it (assuming you're starting from the central belt!) with most of it being on tiny single track lanes on rally style roads (great as long as you're not the passenger). Once you've arrived you then have to contend with a 5 mile walk over a boggy moorland to the edge of a crumbling sandstone cliff, which you then have to somehow scramble down with impossibly heavy bags without killing yourself or anybody silly enough to come with you. Now you're at the bottom of the cliff, hopefully you've done your homework and checked the tide times and you can walk/scramble under some massive precipices to the channel that separates the stack from the mainland.

Now the hard bit.

The channel is permanent, regardless of tide and therefore its time to don the speedos and (in our case) the mini inflatable boat. Once everyone is across the climbing can begin! The classic route (Landward Face) is unsurprisingly sandy and quite limited on gear too (maybe the bag doesn't need to be that heavy after all) but its got some fun moves and you get to top out on a pretty amazing summit.

Myself and Gregor ferrying everything across the sea channel to the base of the stack (photo credit Iain)

This place is all about the adventure, if the climbing was good it would be a lot further up the list! This stack was also the last of the classic 'Scottish trio' i'd yet to tick with the others being Stoer and Hoy which were ticked last year.

9) Tower Ridge (III,3) - Ben Nevis

Tower Ridge needs no introduction. One of the best and longest winter climbs in the UK. So good I did it twice last season! Worth the effort and the hype. We were also spoilt with an excellent ice pitch just after the climbing out of the Douglas Gap as well as a suitably buried Tower Gap.

Looking down Tower Ridge just after completing the steep ice pitch a short way above the Douglas Boulder

Some climbers just topping out on the top section of Tower Ridge on a perfect bluebird day

8) Clachaig Gully (Severe) - Glen Coe

What's not to like about vertical moss walls and freezing water running down your arms and your front? Even if you go on a dry day, you'll still go home soaked to the skin.

A 'classic rock tick' that climbs perhaps Glen Coe's most infamous watercourse over a couple of hundred meters. Although there is a lot of wading, scrambling, filth and other general discomfort, there is a surprising amount of quality climbing (Jericho Wall being especially good). The route itself is pretty hard to read and considering how linear it is, the route finding is far from simple and the guidebook description only making things more confusing. None the less, its a brilliant adventure, just make sure you put the car keys in a waterproof bag!

Although its one of the longest climbs in Glen Coe, Clachaig Gully has one of the shortest walk-ins! 

Mike negotiating the one of the main waterfall pitches and trying to avoid a soaking

7) Jezabel (E1 5b) - North Third, Stirling

Esoteric central belt crack climbing at its best. Hard to find and even harder to climb, but its still well worth making the effort to seek out. Maybe one of the purest hand jamming cracks I've climbed anywhere. The crux is moving through a bulge at about 10 meters up, but be sure to save some gas in the tank for the top!

Approaching the crux of Jezabel on an unusually warm day up at Costa del North Third

Ben giving it the 'double fist' treatment on the crux bulge of Jezabel

6) Savage Slit (V,6) - Coire an Lochain, Cairngorms

Its all in the name! Savage! A route of great character with a bit of everything. Situated high in the Cairngorms its a reliable venue for some early season antics and thankfully this reputation was upheld this year with the onset of the first winter storms.

The route climbs a humongous crack up a hanging buttress with climbing on the inside as well as out! The corner may well be the main event here but don't underestimate that start, it nearly caught me out that's for sure!

Connor enjoying the challenging nature of early season conditions on the main corner of Savage Slit

5) Fionn Buttress (VS 5a) - Carnmore, NW Highlands

I spammed the hell out of my facebook and instagram this year after my visit to Carnmore with Rafe in June so I'll keep this short. If you want to know a bit more you can check out my blog post about that trip here or you can wait a few months and you can read about it in the Climbers Club Journal.

Fionn Buttress is the classic of the crag and is perhaps one of the best big mountain VSs I've done anywhere. Although not the purest of lines, its a clever climb with lots of contrasting pitches, which gradually build in exposure and difficulty until about half way up (maybe 100 m or so) where there is an exposure explosion and all of a sudden you feel like a very small piece of this vast and empty wilderness that surrounds you.

People talk about 'bucket lists' of things to do before you die. This route is absolutely one of those things for anybody that loves climbing mountains in the UK.

The long road to Carnmore. Rafe walking across the causeway the military constructed and trained on during the early 20th Century. The battle scars and rusting Czech hedgehogs still evident and are a humbling remainder of the freedom we have today.  

A photo of Rafe and myself on pitch 7 of Fionn Buttress taken by Barry, who was down at the bothy watching our antics

Rafe following the sensational pitch 6 traverse on Fionn Buttress deep in the wilds of the Fisherfield Forest

4) The Indy 500 (E1 5b) - Lundy Island

Perhaps one of the most sustained routes I've led on one of the UK's most remote climbing venues. Yes, Lundy may well be closer to London than all of the north of England, however if the ferry isn't running that day you may as well be in Shetland. As with most climbers that have been there, Lundy will forever hold a special place in my heart so perhaps I'm looking at the routes there through rose tinted glasses when I say this, but there literally is nowhere better in the world to climb than Lundy.

The Indy 500 is a steep wall and crack climb with some very smart and technical moves and quite sustained at 5b. One of the best routes I've done on the island and one of the best single pitches I've done anywhere. If you like steep sustained crack and face climbing, get this route on your bucket list!  

Ed on the steep upper wall of The Indy 500

Another route from the same trip. Ed following the exposed fin of Shark (E1 5a)

3) The South Ridge Direct (VS 5a) - Rosa Pinnacle, Isle of Arran

Another Scottish big mountain classic! Over 300 meters of beautifully grey speckled granite ridge situated on one of Scotland's most stunning Hebridean islands. The South Ridge has been high on my hit list ever since I first read about this route in Dan Bailey's Scottish Mountain Ridges but in the past have had attempts thwarted by bad weather or other circumstance. This summer Caelan and I finally managed a weekend warrior mission up into Glen Rosa to tick the ridge and a few other classics while we were there. 

You can read more about our trip here.

All good Scottish adventures start with a ferry ride! 

Looking up The South Ridge Direct from the first pitch. The technical and thrutchy 'S' and 'Y' cracks clearly visible higher up the route (photo credit Caelan)

2) North East Buttress (IV,5/6) - Ben Nevis

Climbing this route felt like the culmination of a lot of things. Until this year winter climbing was a big taboo for me as previously I had favored walking and mountaineering whilst I was doing my winter mountain leader qualification. This was because I knew if I got a taste for winter climbing, I'd not have the mental resilience to log QMDs when there were prime climbing conditions abound! With the qualification done and a fabulously well endowed winter season between 2017 and 2018 providing ample opportunity, I made the most of every chance I could working my way through IIIs, IVs and even the odd V. North East Buttress felt like one of the biggest undertakings of the season, and was a testing ground for all of the skills and techniques I'd learned and absorbed over the previous few months. The route took Connor and I all day to climb, with the final and most testing sections saved for the last bit of the 500 meter high buttress of the Ben we scaled.

I enjoyed writing the post about this adventure almost as much as climbing it! You can read more about that day here.   

The north face of Ben Nevis in all its Glory. North East Buttress climbs the left hand skyline all the way to the summit

The well iced '40 foot corner'

1) Dragon (E1 5b) - Carnmore, NW Highlands

Contrasting, committing, brutal but ever so slightly stylish climbing through what feels like some of the biggest roofs in Scotland! Dragon climbs the plumb line of Carnmore, surmounting the talon of the beast, stealing both your breath and your biceps! Its another odd route like Gob, in that it actually starts half way up the face from the central terrace, with the approach across a sea of partially detached vertical heather from the base of Carnmore Corner being awkward and harrowing in equal measure. Once you're on the route though all is forgiven, with a steep wall and bold slab on the first pitch giving way to even steeper (and similarly bold) wall climbing on the upper pitches.

After a bit of a stint away from harder adventurous trad in recent years, this pitch for me felt like a significant turning point both mentally and physically and I'll never forgot being wedged under the lip of the overhang after the crux and looking down with all of Fisherfield far beneath my feet.  

The first belay of Dragon with the third pitch roof looming dauntingly overhead (photo credit Rafe)

Rafe moving towards to the belay on the delicate traverse after the roof

Well that's your lot. Other routes that were amazing but didn't quite make the shortlist include; 

• Elgins Crack (E2) and Dead Ringer (E1) at Limekilns;
• The Cuilin Ridge Traverse with Laura and Sol;
• Agags Groove (VDiff) with Emma;
• Last Exit to Torquay (HVS) and almost Gargantua (E1) with Adam; and
• Basically everything else at Carnmore (Gob [HVS], Carnmore Corner [E2], Balaton [HVS], Abomination [HVS] etc).

Thanks again and see you in 2019!

Out with the Old

The pervasive dampness and the progressively earlier darkening of the evening sky is a sure sign that Autumn is upon us. In reality with the three named storms we've already had since September reducing the trees to nothing more than wooden skeletons, it feels like we've skipped Autumn and gone straight to winter. Thankfully there have been a few good days to get out and enjoy a few final routes before the trad rack takes its annual hibernation in the bottom of the wardrobe.

Ever since moving to southern Scotland it never ceases to amaze me both the level of diversity and the volume of shy climbing venues right on my doorstep. Perhaps its on the fringes of what is considered southern as its just north of Perth, but an example of the splendor of some of these crags is exemplified perfectly by the unrivaled beauty and tranquility of the crags around Dunkeld. Set within an ancient wooded forest on the steep flanks of valleys carved by water and ice and on a south facing slope too, Craig a Barns is a great place for late season exploits with the best bit being that the walk-in is less than 10 minutes! The crag plays host to a plethora of mid-grade single and multi pitch classics including Kestral Crack (S), The Groove (VS) and The End (VS). The nature of the metamorphosed sandstone is very compact with the majority of the more accessible routes following cracks and weaknesses however even these can sometimes be quite a bold affair which definitely felt the case of The End which has gear where you need it but perhaps not always where you want it!

Just round the corner, Cave Crag also provides some serious sporting endevour of a more challenging variety, offering some of the best sport climbing in Scotland. Its also got a few notable trad routes, one of which even features on the front cover of the new SMC Highland Outcrops South Guidebook! The rock here is similar to Craig a Barns except its slightly less compact and perhaps a bit more disjointed which is why quite large sections of the crag have been bolted. None the less, the crag had a great outlook and i can't wait to get back there next year and maybe try some of the harder lines.

Another recently discovered gem is the Reid Craigs area of Glen Clova. Like Dunkeld, Glen Clova is situated in the extreme south of the Cairngorms massive and is also a product of its icey past with perfectly flat valley bottoms guarded by steep sided valleys rising straight up onto wild and heathery moors. The criss-crossing of dry stone walls and endless miles windy rural roads make it almost reminiscent of the dales of the Lake District, with the picture completed by the presence of a series of fantastic micro granite crags situated just up the hill sides. Perhaps even more so than Craig a Barns, the Reid Crags are a paradise for the mid-grade climber with a whole series of quality lines ranging from VS to E2, with the pick of the bunch being Proud Corner (VS), Wandered (HVS), Red Wall (E1) and Zig Zag Double Direct (E2).

2018 has been a great year for trad and finishing the season with trips to these venues has been a really great way of topping it all off.

Fingers crossed this winter was as good as the last. I've put some pictures from the last few weeks below.

Just after the crux on the second pitch of The End (VS 5a) at Craig a Barns (photo Credit Iain).

Nicholas seconding The Groove (VS 5a) at Craig a Barns on a perfect autumn day

The brilliant and wide jamming crack of Coffin Corner (HVS 5a) at Cave Crag near Dunkeld (photo credit Iain)

Ben seconding the first pitch of Red Wall (E1 5b) at Reid Crags, Glen Clova (photo credit Gregor)

Gregor on the second pitch traverse of High Level Traverse and Direct Finish (HS 4b) at Reid Crags

Ben finishing the final few tough moves on Wandered (HVS 5a) at Reid Crags

Another shot of Red Wall with Ben leading the second pitch (photo credit Gregor)

Ben leading Proud Corner (VS 4c). Definitely not very corner like but totally brilliant none the less.. 

Embracing the changing seasons over to sea to Skye