UKC

Not new news this but I thought it might be worth a thread.

I am reading Simon Yates' "Against the Wall" and on page 73 he retails a story about when he soloed Minus One Gully on the north face of Ben Nevis:

"One winter in Scotland I had stood beneath Minus One Gully, the hardest gully climb in the north face of Ben Nevis, and decided to climb it."

He then goes on to tell the story.

Is Minus One Gully actually the hardest gully climb on the north face of the Ben? What grade is it? Is Simon Yates just some kind of super hero?

Ands

In reply to Ands:


I think so


VI, 6


Perhaps.

AJM

generally regarded as the hardest of the nevis gullies i think. solid steep vi 6. pretty good effort soloing that

In reply to Ands:

Dear Ands

When you read Chris Bonington's Everest Expeditions, will you post a thread "Everest the highest mountain."?

Norrie

In reply to Ands:

Routes of this standard regularly get soloed on the Ben.

I know of at least one other instance of a solo ascent of Minus One.

Good effort all the same.

In reply to Norrie Muir:

Possibly. Keep your eyes peeled and watch this space.

Ands

In reply to Ands:

Soloing that grade is not that unusual and certainly doesn't make you a hero. I would never do it myself but Mega Route X gets soloed as do many routes at Scottish VI abroad.

In reply to Ands:

Even when you're pitching grade VI on the Ben you're often not that far from soloing.

In reply to Jamie B.:

Hey Jamie. Good to hear from you. I purchased a good starter trad rack the other day so consider me converted. Converted to the point of now wanting to spend all my money on trad gear for a good long while instead of expansion bolts at least! Seriously though I have identified all the routes at Duntelchaig that I think are within my leading capabilities and will be dragging John up there at every oppertunity to tick them. I can only imagine that once I start adding cams to my rack that I will be either too entirely taken with it to bother about bolts or too poor to!


Is that due to the lack of protection? I know little about winter climbing other than what I have read in the likes of "One Man's Mountain" etc but I can only imagine that is what you mean?

I have just finished "Against the Wall". A great read with an excellent telling of Yates' own perspective on the Siula Grande expedition. Also a bit of a twist at the end and some interesting personal thoughts.

Ands

In reply to Ands:

grade 6 gully in good nick can feel like grade 3.
Grade 3 gully in bad nick can feel like grade 6.

Good effort all the same...

In reply to Ands:
Bear in mind that it must be at least 20 years ago. In those days it had quite a reputation.

In reply to Ands:

Minus one gully in good nick is the perfect candidate for a solo, the crux is near the bottom the belays are poor.

One character who attempted to solo this climb, fell out of his leashes on the crux, (it overhangs slightly) he landed in soft snow at the bottom and was fine, his axes were still in the bulge, he returned to fort william hired some new axes and returned the following day to complete the climb and retrieve his axes!

In reply to Dru: Thought the belays were OK - mind you, it was 20 years ago when I did it. Have soloed a fair bit on the Ben - would'nt have fancied soloing Minus 1.

In reply to Ands:

Think about revisiting the Glen for early trad forays; losts of good quality clean and protectable easier routes; I can reccomend specifics if you're down that way, possibly even meet up...

In reply to March:

I can assure you they are poor in average conditions, wish i had soloed it, a friend and partner were killed, falling from the upper reaches when a belay failed.