Climbs

5.10b

References

[1] https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105833467/east-buttress

Echo Wall is a near-mythical hard trad climb located high on Ben Nevis and established by Dave MacLeod in July 2008. It is an incredibly bold route, featuring climbing around 8c in a position where falling off could result in a 20m ground fall. Once the main difficulties are done, the route's 70m length requires the leader to untie and solo the more moderate ground to the top.

The route was ungraded by MacLeod, prompting rife speculation about its difficulties. He later said it could be around E10 [1], but second ascensionist James Pearson reckoned it was more like hard E11.

The route has a tough three-hour walk-in, with a solo up Tower Ridge (VD) necessary to access the top of the route. Its location in a high mountain environment necessitates some extreme tactics to make the most of the fleeting season. While working on the first ascent, MacLeod would hike to the top of the route and shovel massive amounts of snow off the top to minimise the meltwater runoff and maximise the number of days he could spend working it over the season.

In training for his ascent, Dave famously soloed Darwin Dixit (8b+) in Margalef, graded 8c at the time and one of the physically hardest solos in the world at that point.

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJWAzUOvDEI

[2] https://www.mntnfilm.com/en/film/echo-wall-2008

Allan Austin:

The first of the great modern routes to fall was Elder Crack, and with its appearance on Curbar, the crag that eventually became the gritstoners' Cloggy, a new standard was born. Elder Crack is a magnificent overhanging chimney-crack of about 70 feet. It takes one of the steep smooth walls so typical of Curbar , but although an unusually fine climb, it must yield to Peapod (HVS) as the best on Curbar. [1]

References

[1] Climbers' Club Journal (1958) /library/7430/climbers-club-1958-journal