The Fear Factory is a New 350-metre WI6R in Scotland
Scottish climber Simon Richardson had said that it was the last great icefall on Ben Nevis
Photo by: Greg Boswell
Greg Boswell, Hamish Frost and Guy Robertson have made the first ascent of The Fear Factory, a 350-metre WI6R on Ben Nevis’s Little Brenva Face.
The ice line had formed sporadically over the years, and in 2013 Andy Nelson and Dave MacLeod climbed the right-hand line calling it The Snotter. Simon Richardson of Scottish Winter said The Fear Factory was “the last great unclimbed icefall on Ben Nevis.”
In 2015, Boswell and fellow U.K. climber Nick Bullock were attached by a grizzly bear while attempting an ice climb on Mount Wilson in the Canadian Rockies. Boswell, then 24, was making his way through thick forest when the big bear chased him down, as Bullock watched in horror. Bullock said he heard his friend scream the word “bear” and turned to see him being pursued across the snow by the animal, which pounced on top of him and “bit straight though his brand new boot as if it were a carpet slipper.” Boswell survived with minor flesh wounds.
About Fear Factor, Boswell noted, “It was climbed 99% on ice, apart from the odd bridging out foot on rock. I gained the massive ice tooth from the icy left wall and proceeded to teeter my way up, with a 20m run-out section into the exposure ridden abyss, as I wasn’t keen to place any screws incase the whole thing detached!”
There aren’t many climbs in Scotland that get a water-ice grade, but Boswell told Richardson they “opted for the Continental grade of WI6R as we feel this is the logical way to grade such an out of the ordinary Scottish route.”
Boswell and the Grizzly Bear
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