Andy moves underneath the steepness above while Lucasz dangles with his camera.

Feeling completely whacked after Anubis day, I stumbled into Ben Udlaidh behind Andy Turner to follow him up roofs and hanging icicles on the lower tier of Ben Udlaidh. The line he’s spotted was a lot better than I remembered the lower tier with lots of steep ice and interesting overhanging corners and roofs. I awoke from my duvet jacket cave to hear Andy battering a hole in the final icicle to pull through. The ropes ran out and I followed in a state of semi slumber, letting out small moans every time I had to lift my arms above my head. Thankfully there was time for about five cups of tea in the Bridge of Orchy before I met Claire for our trip to Glasgow.

Andy starting up the new line (unamed as yet) VII,7

Sums up winter climbing in Scotland over the past month “hold my sunnies, I’m off up this unclimbed icicle”.

Dave MacLeod

My e-book How to Climb Hard trad is free with all DVD and book orders from the davemacleod.com webshop