UK Spring 2025: Scrambling Galore

Coming back to Scotland in April and the mountains were fully in ‘summer’ condition. There was an optimistic attempt at some gully bashing but walking into sneachdta and the lack of any complete gully meant we did a summer ascent of the esoteric Fiacaill Buttress (diff), whilst not a great summer climb it is a decent winter climb and I was able to collect some crag swag. Confirming that anything winter was well and truly out of the way I committed my spring to capitalising on my fitness and doing some long days out on the hills.

Here are my highlights 

(Pre) Cuillin Practise runs

Before doing the Cuillin Ridge we had wanted to get a practice run in on similar terrain, so I headed north to the Beinn Eighe national park with Bri. First on the list of the linkup was Long Stroll Slab; an exposed, steep, and smeary (you guessed it) slab. Unfortunately, the wind was about 30mph higher than forecasted so we bailed after that. 

Heading down after Long Stroll Slab. 

Logistics prevented us from going to Skye for a couple of days but we didn’t mind as these gave us the perfect rest days. After waking up in the Loch Morlich car park I got bored by 4pm and decided to try the cairngorm 4000ers round. I went anticlockwise, as I had never been to that side of the Lairig Ghru, making quick work of the initial hills but slowing down towards the end of the ridge. The Corrour Bothy outhouse had just been cleaned and I got the pleasure of christening it. Feeling like it was starting to become a bit much for a rest day I decided to call it there and went back along Lairig Ghru getting back to my van by 10pm (without the need for a headtorch!) having done 38km and 1800m of ascent. In hindsight it would have been only marginally longer to complete the round, and would have been shorter overall if I had bothered to drive up to the cairngorm ski car park. 

Feeling the need for a nap just before descending to Corrour Bothy. 

Cuillin ridge

This is likely the first thing any climber in the UK thinks of when they hear big days out in the hills. Bri didn’t have a lot of experience on alpine terrain, so we decided to do it over a relaxed two days and include a bivi. 

Bri and I had a bit of a history when it came to finding the start of routes (don’t ask about what happened on the Buchaille, or in Sneachdta, or Birchen) so with a perfect forecast and the most obvious route in the UK, what could possibly go wrong? 

Leaving the Glen Brittle campsite we walked to the obvious south end of the ridge, gained the ridge, and then… sat there confused. This doesn’t look like the guidebook. Turns out we had accidentally gone the wrong way on the walk in and joined the ridge by the TD gap bypass. Not too fussed as the first section doesn’t have anything technical on it we continued onwards even more relaxed than we were originally. 

Why doesn’t it look the same?!
C. Briony Pickford

Once on the ridge we found the route finding pretty easy and the climbing straightforward, enjoying the ridge in perfect weather. We soloed everything but the Inn Pinn. An Stac Direct just before that was probably my highlight of the traverse and Bri’s second grade 3 scramble. The only hiccup was that one of our water bottles had accidentally leaked so by mid afternoon we had both drunk all our water and were struggling a lot in the intense heat/sun. Because of this we decided to stop just after the Inn Pinn to not lose time having to collect water. Unfortunately the incredibly dry spring meant that the water spot was dry, we settled down to sleep with parched mouths using the last of our water to cook dinner.

Settling in for the night. 

I struggled to sleep throughout the night as the moon was so incredibly bright and we rose with the sun, eager to get to the next water spot. The section over Sgurr na Banachdich took us three hours, I was suffering more so than Bri and was having to be incredibly careful because I knew I was actively hallucinating from the dehydration.

Possibly the best picture I’ve ever taken. Coming off the summit of Sgurr Na Banachdich

I could see 3 people in the distance here. They never existed. 
C. Briony Pickford

We finally reached An Dorus and began the long descent to the water stream. At the first sip of water in over 16 hours, I felt my body rejuvenate in a way I never had before. We sat there for a while, drinking water and hydrating/cooking all our meals so that we wouldn’t have to stop afterwards. The rest of the route felt much easier after that, although we did take the north flank bypass to gain some time back after having lost so much in the morning. We walked out, got to the road and hitched back to glen Brittle. Unlocking the van almost exactly 36 hours after we left. 

Of course my legs hurt, look where we started! 

(Post) Cuillin practice runs 

We liked the idea of the Beinn Eighe linkup so much we went and did it the week afterwards with a similar forecast but this time the wind was about 30mph less than forecasted. 

The first scramble was long stroll slab again, which is pleasant in still air and less enjoyable when 60mph winds are hitting you sideways. A hop, skip, and a jump gets you to the base of the north ridge of Spidean Coire nan Clach; despite being a grade 2, it felt quite intimidating from the base without a clear line or feature to follow. Tagged the second Munro and then descended into the coire to rope up for East Buttress. We simuled this in 3 long pitches, steep and sustained climbing but with all the jugs in the world I can see why it’s considered one of the best diffs in Scotland. We hadn’t taken enough snacks, finishing them just before starting East Buttress. So, despite making good time to this point, I bonked hard heading back to the van along the Black Carls and we lost a lot of time making it a 13hr round trip. 

Nearing the top of Spidean Coire nan Clach

Taking photos provides a good excuse to stop and rest 

I was meeting a friend in Fort William afterwards so we drove down to that area, climbed on the Buchaille, in Glen Nevis, and up Tower Ridge. Much less of a story than when I did it in winter, it was simply a joy to leave the Glen Nevis Youth Hostel and be standing on the summit 4 hours later via one of the best easy routes in the country.

The amazing north face of Ben Nevis with Tower Ridge standing proud in the centre. 
C. Freddy Dorling

The chokestone gully of tower ridge just after the eastern traverse. 

Weekend on the Ben

I met Freddy the following day in the north face park and we repacked our bags to fit a tent and two days worth of food. Trudged up the hill, set the tent up by the CIC hut, and ate some lunch. The first climb of the weekend was Centurion (HVS). Freddy led all the pitches (but the easy one) with ease and it’s probably one of the best rock routes I’ve ever done. Not only would each pitch by itself would easily be 3* anywhere in the world, but that they’re stacked on top of each other on the Ben makes it truly special. 

Not a bad place to camp. The long climb starts from the lower snow slope and takes a right trending line to the summit. 
C. Freddy Dorling

Freddy eyeing up pitch 2 and deciding the ropes were long enough to link them together. They were, just. 

Freddy starting out on pitch 3

The next day we wanted to take advantage of the long dry spell to do The Long Climb (VS). A route of a very different character, we did it in 15 or 16 pitches with only the three VS pitches being quality climbing. What the route does have though is the incredible position it’s in. 420m straight up, topping out next to the summit, and each pitch having some of the best exposure you can find in the UK. 

On the crux slab of the long climb. 

Freddy took some amazing photos, unfortunately dropping a phone over 100m doesn’t particularly help the storage. 

After the last 5 days, starting from the linkup on Beinn Eighe, I hadn’t had the chance to shower. Despite this, I had to drive to Glasgow the next day for an interview. Miraculously I got the job. 

Heading south

I continued going south after Glasgow for a week in the Lakes. A couple more days with Bri scrambling around Helvellyn and walking. A couple more days with Freddy where we climbed Eagle Front, and then spent a day cragging in Ambleside and was chuffed when I seconded the Philistine clean. The first E1 I seconded clean in a couple years. I then spent a week by myself, mostly fell running. I did my longest run to date, 28km, but it was also one of the worst I had ever done. I had found a highly starred route on AllTrails and followed it blindly, becoming increasingly horrified as it never left the road! The following weekend I attended an AC meet and got to climb with Victor Saunders which, much like climbing with Simon Richardson, was an illuminating experience. 

One of the ridges on Hellvelyn. We did the first one in torrential rain and almost bailed but, luckily, the skies cleared up. 

Abbing back down the philistine. 
C. Freddy Dorling

Continuing my southerly trend I met some friends for a week in the Peak District and then headed to North Wales. I had a few days to kill before another AC meet, so I met up with Cha-No Alex one evening to finally tick off grooved arete on Tryfan. The rest of the days were wet so he sensibly didn’t want to take the days off work, leaving me to get do some bad ideas by myself. I scrambled up both Wrinkled Tower on Tryfan and Clogwyn y Person Arete in driving rain before deciding I had had enough of being soaked through and spent a day drying all my kit out.

My chess and climbing worlds collide on the knights move of grooved arete. 
C. Alex Edge

Thankfully it cleared up in time for the meet so on the first day I teamed up with Jess and in 6 hours did the mega linkup of: Ordinary route (idwal slabs), seniors gully, Cneifon arete, false y gribin, dolmen ridge, and bristly ridge. It started spitting again and, not feeling particularly psyched for wet climbing, ditched the final routes on Tryfan to go back to the hut. 

Having been up the glydrs a number of times, this was the first time I was told it was customary to jump on the cantilever stone. 
C. Jess Bailey

The next day was too damp to climb so Alex convinced me into doing a dream linkup of his combing the bochlwyd and snowdon horseshoes. Starting up the north ridge of Tryfan, continuing up bristly ridge, traversing across the glydrs until dropping down into pen-y-pass to then complete the snowdon horseshoe, back up the glydrs and descending y gribin. This was among my longest days out at 13.5hrs (soleil trompeour may have been longer than this if you count tent-to-tent time), 30km (only the cairngorm 4000s attempt being longer), and 3000m of ascent (nothing else even comes close). The next day we had been thinking of linking up some easy routes on Tryfan but after doing perhaps the shortest approach in north wales, Milestone Buttress, and climbing pulpit route/ivy chimney our legs were protesting too much to do anything but walk back to the hut and eat cake. 

Starting the snowdon horseshoe a little over halfway into the round. 
C. Alex Edge

This was the last thing I ticked on UKC before going abroad and my diary said I had climbed on 33% of the days starting from January 1st. This is a feat I’m very proud off, especially considering almost all the days ‘unticked’ would have been either work or some other activity.