John Cunningham

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Ken Wilson: What happened on Carnivore?

Oh, that was a laugh. Whillans will never forgive me for that. I met him in Glencoe when he was on his honeymoon. He asked if I fancied a climb. I said yes, but told him that he'd have to lead as I wasn't climbing very well - it was still early in the year and I wasn't really fit.

He'd been trying the route with Charlie Vigano, but they hadn't got too far because peregrine falcon or some such bird was barring the way. So Whillans had gone to Fort William and bought a catapult and bombarded the 'carnivore' into submission. That's where I came in. I had most of the equipment, whereas Whillans didn't have too much. So we set off, with him leading, using my gear. When I came to follow, I found that every protection peg and karabiner that was mine was placed in an awkward corner and was often impossible to get out, while the ones that were easy were always his.

"Christ!" I thought, "this won't do. I'm losing all my gear." So every time I lost one of my pegs or karabiners I put one of his in my pocket. Well, we couldn't finish the route that day — we failed just below the final overhanging section. Whillans drove another of my pegs in up to the hilt, clipped on another of my karabiners, and abseiled off. So I put another of his in my pocket. When we got down there was a little heap of my gear left, but hardly any of his.

"That's odd, Jock," he said, looking at the pile, "I could have sworn it was your gear I was knocking in up there." A month later, I came back with Noon and did the route, finishing by a line I'd spotted as I was abseiling off. I also managed to recover quite a bit of the gear we'd left in.

Whillans was really choked, and his wife was too - but I thought it was a fair cop, don't you?

More fitting to the sixties perhaps.

Well, I must admit he did most of the work. Lots of Scots climbers had tried to put a route up that bit of rock without much success, but it was Whillans who really found the key with that clever entry. [1]

References

[1] Mountain 14 (1971), page 25 /library/9610/mountain-14

References

[1] Mountain 14 (1971), page 25 /library/9610/mountain-14

References

[1] Mountain 14 (1971), page 25 /library/9610/mountain-14

References

[1] Mountain 14 (1971), page 25 /library/9610/mountain-14