Frozen Forest IV,4

Glen Clova again. It fits our philosophy of climbing (and walking) more and driving less. You can even change inside and for afterwards there is the Clova Hotel for a pint and a meal, a great place. Today Robbie and I went into Corrie Fee as we wanted to climb the large face to the right of the classic Look C gully. Here is Robbie entering Corrie Fee...

... and here is the face with our line..

The line aims for the prominent overhung niche which is also reached by 'The Wild Places IV,4', which was first climbed by A. Lawson and A. Smith on the 12th of January 1980. According to the Cairngorms guidebook (which we forgot to bring) we climbed further right than the 'The Wild Places'. Here is Robbie soloing pitch 1...

... and here he climbs literally a frozen for(r)est, one reason for the route name. Bring many slings as there are lots of tree runners and tree belays...

Here is Robbie on a - you will have guessed it by now - tree belay below and to the left of the the niche...

... and here I am after the icy traverse into the niche receiving a spindrift shower...

There is an easy enough corner up with decent gear. Above was a steep, almost snow-free (as it was below the large roof) squeeze chimney. It was doable but I traversed to the left to have a look and found a tree-lined groove that led to easier terrain. When we reached the buttress above we traversed right into a gully line with good neve in places (The Wild Places goes left below the buttress). We moved together, placing runners whilst moving, and when the gully ended Robbie moved up a turfy ramp which goes left under the large buttress at the top ...

...to climb mixed ground with fantastic turf to reach the very top of the face and buttress.

Altogether roughly 6 pitches of excellent adventure. The Glen Clova answer to the Orion face!
HW