Petestack Blog

Today, with the north face of Ben Nevis starting to look snowy again after the thaws of the past fortnight, I climbed Number Three Gully Buttress (III) with Adam Thomas. There was more new snow than we expected and perhaps not many routes at anything like their best, but that didn’t seem to stop ‘Team Petzl’ (with Ueli Steck among their number?) racing up Coire na Ciste to film some hard stuff. We also met Andy Nelson from Glencoe on the hill.

After I’d spent some time setting up a belay (impeded by constant showers of spindrift from above) at the top of the lower snow bay, Adam led off up the first pitch but, despite being first on the route, we were outflanked by two other teams avoiding the obvious short ‘icefall’ we took direct, and had to wait some considerable time above to get at the subsequent pitches. (So the overtaking might have been slightly cheeky with the second team actually passing us on the traversing second pitch, but the banter was good and we’re not declaring war over a sociable climb!) Spending much of the day getting cold and wet while watching others tackle what we yet had to do did, however, sap my morale enough to be glad that the trickiest part of the subsequent traverse fell to Adam (who despatched it very nicely indeed), although my motivation returned enough to enjoy leading a fine, long last pitch that seems to match the ‘steep icy chimney’ alternative better than the continuing traverse and ‘finish up icy slabs’ (not that we saw much ice anywhere!). We were followed up this final pitch by a fourth pair from the Lakes who’d spent much of the day wandering all over the Ben in search of a route in condition and seemed to be climbing comfortably and quickly in comparison to the teams preceding them.

Overall, we thought it a fine route (as a three-star classic should be) and technically straightforward, but feeling somewhat insecure under soft, new snow with little beyond buried rock hooks solid enough for the picks on the steeper sections. The Red Burn bumslide is suffering, however, with some very big holes that could take the unwary travelling at speed metres into the burn and under the snow with potentially serious consequences!

Got a text from Matt Watts on Friday afternoon telling me he’d seen my photo in MCofS magazine Scottish Mountaineer, so checked my newly-arrived copy as soon as I got home and, sure enough, there it was… one of the pics Dave MacLeod took of me on Secretaries Superdirect at Polldubh:

Trad climbers operating in the low E-grades or below can sometimes lose hard-earned fitness from winter indoor climbing due to the nature of the easier trad climbs. Peter Duggan getting a good psychological, but not physical, workout on Secretaries Direct (HVS), Glen Nevis.

(NB the grade is right but it is indeed the Superdirect.)

Dave’s article (which I’m so surprised to feature in that I’ll forgive him that rather cute caption!) is also available online at http://www.mcofs.org.uk/assets/getactive/mcofs%20coachwise2%20by%20dmacleod%20(paged).pdf. And, Matt (if you’re reading this), I’ve had one of Dave’s pics up on my Climbing Home Page for some time. :-)

On Sunday 22 February I climbed The White Line on Ben Nevis with Stephan Mors from Glasgow. An absolutely cracking route done in eight pitches of alternating leads, about half-and-half steepish ice and easier snow climbing, with two rope lengths of dripping icefall (freezing at 850m, aye right!) followed by two of snowfield, another two up a ‘chimney’ that’s maybe more of a groove leading to a gully with one very steep section, and another two of mostly easier (and much crisper) snow with some icy sections and no cornice to finish.

Have to say I got most of the best bits after Stephan chose to lead the first pitch, with the second icefall and steepest part of the upper gully (which both fell to me) providing the most sustained climbing. Now, that second icefall is *long* (60m ropes would have been better than our 50s here because we had to move together briefly to reach a decent belay above the second terrace), but the third just wasn’t there. However, since what we found seems to tally with Mike Pescod’s photo at http://www.abacusmountaineering.com/webpics2/bigwl1feb09.jpg and we took a very similar line (round the rocks above the second obvious terrace) to the one he’s marked, I’m guessing that this third icefall (‘sometimes difficult to start’) simply doesn’t form so readily? (Must ask Mike sometime!)

Overall, it was another great climb made all the more memorable by being snatched from another unpromising forecast. Might mention a slight whiff of possible sandbag at III in the conditions we found it in, but haven’t really done enough similar routes to be sure. However, I thought it was probably harder and certainly more sustained than Green Gully last weekend. No photos because the camera was intentionally left behind.