Scotland Winter Hard New Routes and Repeats 2018

The winter is half over and there’s a long list of the hard new routes and repeats. Scotland’s winter conditions have been full on for keen climbers.

The rule in Scotland is that if the rock is white then you can climb it. If there’s no rime or ice, then you can’t use tools on it. So the weather has to be cold to go tooling around.

Rad shot by @nik_macarthur of @_davidoneill_ climbing some snowy Scotland terrain! #grippedmagazine #scottishwinter #mixedclimbing #tradisrad

A post shared by Gripped Magazine (@grippedmagazine) on Dec 12, 2017 at 1:35am PST

Most recently, Kacper Tekieli and Andy Nisbet made the first ascent of Wolf Whistle VII 7 on Lurcher’s Crag on Cairn Gorm.

The new route is one of three hard new routes in the amphitheatre area at the southern end of the crag in February.

Matt Helliker and Pete Whitake made the second ascent of the difficult Church Door Angels VIII 9 on Church Door Buttress in Glen Coe. The eye-catching line was first climbed by Donald King and Mike Pescod in January 2014.

“Last Friday, Pete Whitaker (on his third ever winter route) and I decided to give it a go,” said Helliker. “Conditions were perfect, without a breath of wind. The cliff was nicely rimed, and we had Church Door Buttress to ourselves.”

Ben Silvestre and Helen Rennard made the second winter ascent of Pobble VII 7 on Foinaven. Pobble’s first winter ascent was by Malcolm Bass and Simon Yearsley on their second attempt in 2006.

Andy Inglis and Adam Russell made the fourth ascent of the bold God Delusion IX 9. The wild route was first climbed by Guy Robertson and Pete Benson 10 years ago.

Jonathan Preston and Andy Nisbet made the first ascent of the 300-metre Annex Gully III 4 on Beinn Damh in Torridon. It is one of seven new routes climbed on the mountain so far this winter.

And the hardest new route of the year was first climbed by Guy Robertson and Greg Boswell. Their new The Holy Grail IX 10 climbs up Buachaille Etive Mor in Glen Coe. “The crux moves may cause nausea and dizziness” read the route description.

Follow Scottishwinter.com for more great Scotland winter climbing.

@matt_helliker on the crux pitch of Churchdoor Angels VIII/9. Definitely felt like a step up today in winter climbing, compared to last time. Crampon smearing and what felt like 1 arm lock offs on flared ice axe laybacks. A solid lead by Matt and good to get on something more tricky and technical. Only 1 dose of hot aches today, things are looking positive! @patagoniaeurope @wildcountry_official @sterlingrope

A post shared by PETE WHITTAKER (@petewhittaker01) on Feb 2, 2018 at 1:19pm PST