Greg Boswell and Guy Robertson have started the Scottish Winter season as they mean to go on, by making the first ascent of a two-pitch new route on No match for crag id:714,"An Teallach"'s Hayfork Wall, which they have named The Forge X/10. Greg onsighted the crux first pitch, spending 4 hours on the lead. Guy led the second pitch, which climbs through a steep roof above the headwall.
Existing winter routes on the wall include Silver Fox VII/8 and Wailing Wall IX/9. The Forge follows an obvious crack up the middle of the wall, which Greg says is comparable in style to Dave MacLeod's The Hurting XI/11 at Coire an t-Sneachda. Greg told UKC:
'I'd never been on An Teallach before. Guy had, but never on that wall. We knew there were two routes on the wall, one on either side, so it was the elusive middle section that everyone seemed to be avoiding that drew us in. It was a cool place to get to so early in the season. Everyone usually plays it safe with the odd route in the Northern Corries, but with the conditions not having really consolidated anywhere yet, we eagerly watched the forecast and opted to take the risk going NW when it looked like the most promising venue for a good, adventurous route.'
The Forge didn't go without a fight, however. From the beginning, Greg struggled to read the route, despite the obvious crack feature. He commented:
'It was like a bunch of hard mixed climbing boulder problems stacked on top of each other, with horrific feet placements and thin hooks. Each one getting steeper and with the crack worsening the higher I got. The gear was hard won as well. There were two occasions when I thought I was in for a long ride if my axes ripped from their teetering placements.'
Eventually, after 4 hours of grovelling upwards, Greg finally made the last heart-in-mouth moves to reach the belay ledge. He explained:
'I very nearly fluffed it at the end! By this point the weather had massively deteriorated and Guy had to second the pitch after his marathon belay session whilst getting consumed by a spindrift waterfall and horrific gusts of wind. The second pitch was no giveaway either, but was much more amenable than it looked from below. Guy went direct through the huge roof above then carefully made his way up the last tricky headwall above.'
Summing up the route, Greg added:
'It was an amazing climb and a really fun way to start the season off. I've got some cool plans for this season and it was good to get stuck in straight away, as they'll be up there with the hardest stuff I've done (if I do them). But thankfully all the training paid off on this occasion!'
Comments
The only thing I read there was 4 hours on sighting 4 hours belaying!!
My record is 7 hours. It was quite a nice day.
Monster. Surely one of the hardest winter on-sight FAs ever?
Yes...... but becoming not unusual (impressive in itself)! Have a look for intravenous flytrap, greatest show on earth, range war, lost arrow etc etc