Seven routes in Angus

This weekend Robbie and I had planned to go to the Ben or Meggie as everyone else. But we both had a bit of a cold and so we decided against a long day on the Ben and had a wee look at a 'new' venue in the Angus glens instead. The walk in was easy with either frozen tracks or firm neve. Our first route was zig-zagging up the crag at grade I...

 ... to reach the small cornice. Great positions but easy climbing.

 We descended an easy gully, route 2, to climb up a slightly steeper gully on the right hand side, route 3.

Here is Robbie starting route 3, another gully line on the right hand side. Short but more of a line and maybe grade I or II. At the top a unique prow.

Again down route 2 and we soloed route 4, a grade II, which we had seen when we did our zig zag route. By the way, we always carried a rope so that we could set up a belay and climb with ropes if necessary.

Once again down route 2 and up route 5, an icy line to the right of route 4, this time with ropes.

Again down number 2 and up the best ice line that we could see which was route 6. It goes just to the right of Robbie.

 Here, I start the main pitch...

 ... and here is the main ice fall, mostly good ice! Grade IV.

 Just above was a good cave belay...

 ... which Robbie enjoyed as well.

Robbie even added a cave variation near the top, a treat for troglodytes and horror for claustrophobics. Great views from the top over the Angus glens.

We descended not very well defined gully line on the left hand side of the crag, route 7 (ok 5 in ascent and 2 in descent), and then walked out in the sunshine.

We could have gone on but I was coughing a lot so decided to call it a day. The sunshine on the walk out was the cold treatment that the doctor had prescribed. I am not sure whether the Ben would have been much better.

Finally, to complete the multi-medial overload, a wee video:
Seven routes in Angus from Henning Wackerhage on Vimeo.

HW

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

Tower Face of the Comb VI,6***

New routeing in the Clova hills is fun but Robbie and I needed a proper objective. The weather for Saturday looked good and we decided to go to the Ben Nevis and try the Tower Face of the Comb VI,6***. This mixed or in late season icy mixed route was first climbed by Robin Smith and Dick Holt on New Years day in 1959. The route gained a reputation and still has some of it left. We reached the car park at 7 am and with good fitness after the long Angus walk ins reached the CIC hut in little more than an hour. We immediately walked up Coire na Ciste which appeared otherworldly in the soft early February morning light. The Comb is the triangular feature to the left and above of Robbie...

Here is Robbie approaching the bottom of the Tower Face of the Comb through some unconsolidated snow.

The Nevis guidebook description of the climb is at times not very clear and we climbed up Comb gully to Hesperides ledge before realising that the climb started much lower down. The guidebook says that it is 1/3rd up but it is actually close to the bottom of the buttress proper. Here is Robbie downclimbing Comb gully after realising that we were in the wrong place.

A good orientation feature is the little ridge to the left of Comb gully. The Tower Face of the Comb starts just below that. Here, Robbie starts the first pitch...

... and here he tackles the left facing corner...

There is a ledge above and a steep, short wall leads to the belay. Pitch 2 is a 25 m long groove that goes through the lower buttress. Here, I start that groove...

... with some thin and sometimes poorly protected ice and neve climbing...

... to reach a fantastic position higher up.

After that some easier neve to the belay. The third pitch traverses past blocks and flakes to ascend a steepish, turfy wall to again reach a ledge. Here is Robbie, with the SMC approved winter climbing beard, starting pitch 3.

The belay is on a ledge next to an obvious rock window on which I am sitting here, whilst starting pitch 4...

After that the guidebook is a little unclear as it says to go to the end of the ledge and then to climb a corner on the left. The ledge ends at a big block and to the left there is a steep wall which is climbable at a harder grade than 6. I was teetering around, decorating the wall bits of gear and finally decided to have a look on top of the block. And as it happened, one or two not too bad moves led via easy neve to a sit-behind-a-block belay on top of the Comb. Robbie had the unthankful task to remove all the gear that I hung in random places which took him some time. Two easy pitches finished the climb. Here is Robbie starting a perhaps grade II pitch up the tower of the Comb...

The last pitch is a hugely exposed 'au cheval' exercise to walk off into the clag on the plateau...

A fantastic day and even more so as we only made our plans at the last minute...

HW

Brain's ramp IV,4

Somewhere in the Angus hilld there is a crag where few climbers have been. Today Piotr (better known as Polish Pete), Forrest and Brian went to try a new route. Here we are on the long walk in not made easier by all that snow...

 ... and here we are on the first pitch of our route.

 After turf and a chimney some thin climbing on tufts of turf followed to s wee meadow...

 ... which I am about to reach here.

Forrest led the second pitch. A ramp of thin turf and ice to gain the easier turfy upper part of the face. Here is Forrest at work...

... and here Pete follows with one axe on turf and one on ice.

 After that some easy ground and a long, long way home...

 ...through deep snow and forests.

We named the line 'Brian's ramp' in line with Scottish route naming tradition.
HW

U-turn and Wild Cat Wall V,6**, Glen Clova

This Sunday Tim and I agreed to climb further afield but when we reached Blair Atholl at 6 am it was snowing heavily. As the forecast predicted more snow this might have meant not only a tough, slow walk in but also a potentially epic drive back to Dundee. So we U-turned to reach Glen Clova just before 8 am. Our choice was Wild Cat Wall V,6** which tackles the 'inverted triangle' headwall after an alternative start to Diagonal Gully III***. The first ascent was climbed by Chris Cartwright and Simon Richardson on the 27th November 2005. Here is Tim walking into a whitening winter corrie.

The start was semi-frozen and heathery and Tim made most of the nutritious plant which is high in fibre.

The headwall, where the climb proper lies, is reached from the left branch on Diagonal Gully by climbing briefly steep out of the gully to reach an offwidth crack to start the climb proper. This pitch ends on a ledge under the roof. Here is Tim after the hard climbing before traversing onto the ledge. The turf was frozen at this stage which was essential as many placements are on turf.

The next pitch traverses right to reach a steep, exposed but well protected corner which is the crux. After that some more steep climbing to reach a long ledge just below the top. Here is Tim about to climb the ramp to the long ledge...

 ... and here he has reached the ledge.

I descended to pick up the rucksacks and we decided to go to the summit of Driesh before descending in the twilight down into the forests of Glen Clova.
HW

New year, new routes in Glen Clova

The season so far was marked by colds, cold weekdays, warm weekends and as a result only one winter climb. It looked as if this trend would continue during the Christmas-Hogmanay holidays, with temperatures above 10 degrees forecast. Only New Year looked semi-decent and so Simon and I agreed to meet on the first day of 2013 at 10 am in Glen Clova for some new routeing. We decided to climb in corrie Farchal, which looked whiter than winter corrie just to the right. It can be reached via a bridge from the road, is 700 m high and best after snow and a thaw freeze:
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=328060&y=773985&z=120&sv=328060,773985&st=4&ar=y&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf&dn=885&ax=328060&ay=773985&lm=0

When we approached the corrie I (not Simon) was surprised by the good conditions: neve, frozen turf, some ice and a dusting of snow. We soloed a gully line with some icy steps...

... like this one ...

 ... to reach a tech 4 cul de sac which Simon led to the top.

A lovely three pitch III,4 gully line overall. Surprising that this had been missed by the Dundonians for all these years. 

We quickly descended ...

... and started a left-facing corner...

...with some ice to the left...

... to finish again with a balancy but easier step. Another three pitch grade III.



Again a quick descent. The last climb was a more technical three pitch buttress with several quality tech 4-5 sections, IV,5 overall. It was escapable at times but was overall a good quality climb which included a 'threading the needle' tunneling bit. Here is Simon leading one of the trickier bits. 

We reached the cars at 17.30 h so in less than 8 h 3 three pitch routes and 400 m of climbing were done close to home out of the wind, in lovely conditions with some good climbing. What a good start to 2013! Only a pint in the Clova hotel, normally a must, was missing.

HW

Grooved Arete, Aonach Mor

Two colds, plenty of work and weekend thaws had kept me out of action this winter so far. But when Guy Robertson and Greg Boswell climbed the Vapourizer VIII,8 (****?), the much sought after direct ice start to Vertigo Wall followed by a traverse into exposure heaven with a hard and airy finish out of the cul de sac where Andrew, Robbie and I had to return two years ago I was going cold turkey like Gene Hackman in French Connection 2.

The forecast did not look good with a freezing level of 1000 m but we decided to try Aonach Mor where both Robbie and I had never climbed. Aonach Mor was high enough for the forecast and also there is a mix of ice and mixed routes. Here is Robbie, with a Nisbetean winter climbing beard, waiting for the gondola. Definately not traditional (i.e. the gondola).

From the top of the gondola it was still a decent walk to the top where the ski guys were very helpful. We quickly found easy gully, kicked a snow bollard and abbed into our own world. We were the only ones.

It was all white, icy and buried and so we decided on Grooved Arete V,6*** (ex IV,5) climbed first by Simon Richardson and Roger Everett in 1988. Here is Robbie walking past the twins area...

Here I am starting the climb. It starts not well defined but soon forms a distinct ridge.

The turf was still well frozen but many of the cracks were icy. Thus easier climbing but not much protection. Here is Robbie starting the crux pitch...

... which culminated in a vertical corner with hooks slightly to the left so that the rockover was out of balance. After that one more step and it is an easy slope to the large cornice. However, the angle is easier but the snow is less compact and so a delicate approach helps. I found a not too bad bit of cornice and tunneled for maybe 15 min before moving onto the plateau.

After retrieving the rucksacks we realised that we had only 15 min to get the last gondola. We thus ran and bum glissaded down the hill to get the comfy ride down with 5 min to spare.
HW

Too fast too furious

Not really cold enough for winter climbing? Not much time? Need to get strong? Need to be precise with ice axes and crampons? For those living not too far away Newtyle quarry is a good option. So Robbie and I went last Saturday again for working 'fast and furious', a route by Scott Muir graded D10, which is the drytooling equivalent of the mixed M10 grade. We managed both to clip the first 5 bolts before giving up pumped. The other team in the cave were Andy Inglis and James Higgins who had bagged several grade VIIs and VIIIs last winter season and who both managed to redpoint fast and furious last season. Here is James belayed by Andy on the 'too fast too furious' (D11+) extension after jugging up to the roof.

Also Andy attempted 'too fast too furious' and I made a wee video of his impressive attempt in order to get more footage for a video on conditioning for Scottish winter climbing. The video is here...

Too fast too furious from Henning Wackerhage on Vimeo.

HW