Year of publication 1960 - Fell and Rock Climbing Club

40 SOME SCOTTISH SCRAMBLESheight, the rain increased to a torrent. However, the maindifficulties were behind us and things went fairly well untilwe came to the final grooves which are normally quitereasonable. But in the wind, rain and hail, and with ournumbed fingers and tattered socks, they were very hard andwe found ourselves fighting a new crux which delayed us andmade a total time of seven hours for this magnificent climb.Later, I read an article in which R. O. Downes describedSassenach as perhaps the finest mountaineering route inGreat Britain.Progress is akin to perpetual motion. In one year Sassenachand Centurion have gone; they have been eclipsed by thegrandeur and difficulty of such climbs as Shibboleth, Yo Yo,He Haw, Carnivore—perhaps the hardest climb in Scotland—and for those who like slabs there is the Long Wake in GlenEtive. On Cam Dearg, Robin Smith and Haston have put upthe Bat, a superb line running between Sassenach and Centurion.However, it is the winters that provide the greatest climbingin Scotland. One of the 'last great problems' on Ben Nevis,Point 5 Gully, was climbed by Clough, Pipes and Alexanderlast year; Zero Gully and the great faces both of the Comband the Orion have fallen under the adze. This year RobinSmith and Jimmy Marshall made the first winter ascents ofGardyloo Buttress, the Long Climb and Minus 3 Gully; and,in seven hours, the second ascent of Point 5 Gully. To provethemselves, the authors of these new climbs have been to theAlps and 'ambled' their way up such things as the West facesof the Dru and the Blaitiere, the North faces of the CimaGrande and the Cima Ovest, the Civetta North Wall, and theEperon Walker—the most coveted climb in all the Alps.Scotland is swinging along in a New Big Era and the passwordis 'tremendous.'