Dave MacLeod on Echo Wall. Hopefully he'll be wearing a few more clothes for his Nevis winter climbs
Two of Scotland’s top climbers will next month try to recreate a legendary winter mountaineering feat to coincide with its 50th anniversary.
Climbers Robin Smith and Jimmy Marshall put up six routes on Ben Nevis in February 1960 that, at the time, were seen as the cutting edge of the ice climbing world. Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner will attempt to repeat the 1960s exploit and the climbs will be filmed for the Fort William Mountain Festival by cameraman Paul Diffley.
What made Marshall and Smith’s ascents remarkable to modern eyes is that they achieved their climbs by cutting steps in the snow and ice, rather than using the full rack of gear that modern climbers might use.
Dave MacLeod says of the pair’s venture: “Some of them were first ascents such as the famous Smith’s Route (V, 5) but the others like Point Five Gully were done very much faster than previous ascents. The week has been a bit legendary ever since as pretty much the finest achievement in ice climbing using the step-cutting technique and a formidable display of mountaineering skill and fitness that was not surpassed for many years or even decades.”
Lochaber-based MacLeod, best known for his summer route Echo Wall in Ben Nevis’s north face, and winter ascents such as Don’t Die of Ignorance, again on Ben Nevis, will tackle the routes with Turner as both a tribute to the original pair and to mark its importance, fifty years on.
He said: “It’s something that a few of us in Lochaber had been talking about doing for a while, but Mike Pescod from the Fort William Mountain Festival really galvanised us into action over the past few weeks, roping in Diff [Paul Diffley] from Hot Aches to film us during the week and arranging for us to talk at the festival after the week about our thoughts on it and its importance as a great story and achievement in Scottish winter climbing.”
Jimmy Marshall will also appear at the festival with the pair.
The list of climbs to be attempted is: The Great Chimney, Minus Three Gully, Smith’s Route, Observatory Buttress, Point Five Gully, Piggot’s Route and Orion Direct.
MacLeod says the plan is to climb the six routes between 6 and 12 February, repeat a Grey Corries traverse as Smith and Marshall did for their ‘rest day’ on the 13th and talk about it on Marshall night at the festival on the Sunday night, 14 February, where Jimmy himself will be making an appearance.
The Fort William Mountain Festival, which starts on 11 February and runs until 15 February, will also include an Andy Kirkpatrick lecture, films from the Banff World Tour and various workshops on winter hillwalking, climbing, skiing and snowboarding. Full details are on the festival website.
