New VII on Ben Nevis - Under Fire
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With a top class forecast we were in a rush to get onto the walk-in to the Ben before 6am and get amongst it. After two frustrating failures so far this winter, I was pretty damn determined to top out on one of these new routes. Repeating other peoples routes is so much easier than climbing new routes.
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We headed for Trident Buttress and a chimney line I’d spotted with a large roof in it. The roof had some nice continental style icicles on the lip. I gingerly leaned out and began hitting them to figure out if they would take my weight. Err, no. I did a great job of repeatedly trying to take Michael out with huge ice missiles. A swooping throw of the ice axe saw off the roof, But the following pitch didn’t go so well.
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I tried to climb a sketchy overhanging wall and spent two hours getting pumped and scared, only to come down in despair. Must get better at mixed climbing…
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A nice start to the season
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Start left of The Minge, below a roofed chimney. Climb the chimney with hard moves through the roof and the continuation corner above, to excite left onto a ledge underneath an overhanging wall. Traverse left for 5m and round to the base of a large slanting corner (common to 1944 route). Climb the corner and crawl right along a thin ledge to another corner which leads to the top.
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