On 22 February, visiting Polish climber Filip Babicz repeated Greg Boswell's Bring Da Ruckus (XII 13) on Lochnagar's Shadow Buttress. The steep line involving a crux roof section was first climbed by Greg in January and is Scotland's hardest mixed climb (UKC News). Filip made a ground-up attempt before opting to inspect the line on abseil ahead of his successful redpoint, where he placed all gear on lead.

Filip is a professional climber based in Italy. An all-rounder, he has rope-soloed E9 trad, completed highball boulder problems, ticked top-end dry-tool lines, set speed records for fast and light alpine ascents and competed in IFSC World Cups in the past.

Following his ascent of Bring da Ruckus, online commenters in our forums and on social media have criticised the lack of rime ice and snow on the line, judging by Filip's photos and comparing them to those depicting Greg's ascent. We sent Filip some questions to find out more about his ascent and his approach to Scottish winter climbing ethics.

Stay tuned for a broader UKC article exploring the vagaries of Scottish winter climbing.

What brought you to the UK and how long were you here for?

I came expressly to repeat Bring da Ruckus! I arrived in Edinburgh where I met Dawid Skoczylas, a dear Polish friend living in Sheffield and we went straight to Ballater. I had just over a week of time.

You have been here previously and rope-soloed Appointment with Death E9 6c at Wimberry. How was your gritstone experience?

Last year I came to climb on gritstone and specifically to repeat Appointment with Death. It was my first climbing trip to the UK, apart from a tourist visit years ago when I enjoyed a very quick climb at Raven Tor.

I'm used to travelling and climbing in the Mediterranean basin with lots of sun, heat, good weather and the sea, but Wimberry turned out to be a place with an incredible soul. I fell in love with it. If I had the time, I would like to do all the routes up there from left to right for the pure pleasure of enjoying climbing in this magic place.

What made you want to return to the UK and visit Scotland this winter?

The idea of a trip to Scotland was born last December during a meeting of the Polish Himalayan National Team in Slovakia, in the Tatra Mountains. On that occasion, I had the honour of meeting Englishman Paul Ramsden, the laureate of four (!) Piolet d'Or trophies. We talked about Scottish winter climbing and Anubis and Dani Arnold's repetition came to my mind. The project to go to Ben Nevis was born... but then, in mid-January the video of Greg Boswell dangling on the roof of Bring da Ruckus went around the world. The decision was made - it was no longer going to be Ben Nevis, but Lochnagar! I organised my calendar, found a partner [Dawid Skoczylas] and bought the ticket!

People online have shared their opinion that the route wasn't in condition and you shared an Instagram post explaining your thoughts on this. Can you expand on this? What is your understanding of Scottish winter ethics (it's complicated!)?

When I arrived, the weather was mostly poor and I was worried that I wouldn't have the chance to climb the route, but finally I had my "winter conditions window". As can be seen from the panoramic photo of Lochnagar taken on the day of the ascent, but before the storm, all the faces were covered in snow, only the Shadow Buttress headwall was black due to its steepness. The photos taken in the upper part of the route give a good idea of the conditions and atmosphere at the time of our repeat with abundant snow, ice, frozen turf, rime/frost on the rock, ongoing storm and snowfall.

The crux (overhanging!) pitch had both icicles and ice in the cracks, but the snow couldn't rest on the face due to the very strong wind. All the above significantly affected the seriousness of my ascent. In the crack under the roof, I managed to place only one of two friends that Greg used to protect the crux. During my ascent, I struggled under the roof for seven minutes on one ice-axe, with the second one trying to clear the crack of ice, but nothing could be done. I went ahead with only one friend in that crack, which later came out as soon as Dawid left the ledge. This meant that by climbing the crux I was poorly protected with the risk of a huge fall that would have ended on the wall below. Also, in the upper part of the pitch I couldn't place a friend due to the ice and I did a big run-out up to the anchor. I'd say that when it comes to defining it as a climb in winter conditions, that might be enough.

I agree that in mountains with relatively low altitudes like in Scotland, extra rules outside the simple calendar window are necessary so that the "winter climbing game" makes sense. However, the ethics were created long before desperate overhangs and roofs were tackled and high-end routes were established. The issue was well explained by Dave MacLeod in an interview for scottishclimbs.com after the first winter ascent of Anubis, the very first "XII" in history:

"I shake my head when people think about the presence of hoar/rime frosting as making a difference to routes getting scratched. It's easy for people to sit back and say Anubis doesn't look like a winter route when their idea of a winter route is a grade V gully that fills with ice or even a VII that's off-vertical and gets snowed up readily. Hey − Anubis has an E8 roof at the start and overhangs about 10 metres in the first 35. It's different terrain from normal Scottish winter routes."

How did your first ground-up attempt go? Did your abseil inspection involve working moves physically or not? What's your opinion on the style of your climb - another much-debated facet of Scottish winter ethics?

The route starts with a grassy corner that leads to under the roof, where the difficulties start. On the first day, when I arrived under the route, the turf wasn't completely frozen and in order not to damage it, I started slightly to the right, climbing blank rock. It turned out to be a beautiful crack that led to directly under the roof and made the climb even more continuous. That section alone is quite challenging and spicy: initially it's perfectly protectable but then the crack ends and to join the original line you have to do a runout on a slab with the risk of a ground-fall. In short, a nice warm-up for the mind!

After that, you still have to climb some metres on the turf, which wasn't frozen that day. I rappelled down to the ledge and in order to not waste time, we climbed around the face using a couple of pitches of Shadow Buttress A to abseil the route. Here we are touching on Scottish ethics again. As you have already said it's complicated and there are different points of view. Personally, I agree with Greg's opinion, which he expressed in an interview with the British Mountaineering Council after he established his first "XII", Banana Wall:

"I suppose the progression of the sport [Scottish winter climbing] depends on people pushing themselves in their own way, and if people want to try routes after rappel inspection or after trying the moves on a top-rope, then that's up to them. As long as they eventually get up the route and keep pushing their own limits, then hopefully the sport will keep progressing and moving in the right direction. For me, I'm going to try and keep the adventure alive as much as possible, but when you're leading a route, and you're well above your last runner and the cracks are much icier than the day you rappelled it, and you can't see the moves you practised due to the amount of hoarfrost, then I think it will still feel pretty damn adventurous. Winter is a different game altogether."

As for me, after Greg's performance I was motivated to try the route in ground-up style, but my goal that I really cared about was the ascent in "pure redpoint style, placing all gear during the ascent". My focus is on the purity of the style of the final push. When inspecting, I looked at both the placement for the friends and for the ice axes and I checked single moves, two in a row at most.

What is your impression of Scotland/Scottish climbing after this first experience?

For a foreigner it's very difficult to plan an ascent of a difficult route – the weather is indeed extremely capricious and the wind never stops! It was a big adventure with a great happy ending – what more could I want!?

What did you think of the difficulty of the route/gear and quality? 

The route is beautiful and with the direct start, in my opinion the crux pitch improved aesthetics-wise. It doesn't change the fact that Greg's first ascent deserves huge respect! As for the grade, I can't comment because I don't have any scale of comparison - as I said, it's my first route I have ever climbed in Scotland.

I'm very meticulous about the ethics of my performances in general, so I really wanted to climb the whole face and not to abseil after the difficulties. I found out that there's a monument at the highest point of Lochnagar – I thought it could be a nice place to end our climb! Of course, I didn't imagine that to find the summit we would have to use GPS navigation in the storm, but it led to an unforgettable experience!

You tried Gaia E8 6c at Black Rocks after your Scotland trip. How did that go?

Yes! There was no time to lose! The evening before returning to Italy I had an hour to do a fast top-rope inspection with a headlamp. What a king line! It feels like it was made to be climbed – the holds are exactly where they should be! The next day, before the flight, I was trying to figure out some way to go back, but it wasn't possible – I'll definitely have to go back!

What next?

Climbing in the UK is for me a way to widen my horizons, try new things and push my level. Now, after Bring da Ruckus, I will focus on my main projects. I have two drytooling lines that I want to free – both will be one of a kind. Afterwards it will be time to focus on preparing for my summer fast alpine ascents.

However, I hope to return to the UK soon. I have two well-defined projects here, which I prefer not to talk about for now. I can say that both are repeats of important routes in traditional style.

Watch a video made by Filip in response to questions about the validity of his ascent: