25 years after it's first ascent myself and Paddy Cave made what we believe to be the second winter ascent of Moss Ghyll Grooves on Monday.
The Slabs were very icy as were all the cracks, we climbed the corners only venturing onto the slabs where necessary.
It was quite a bit harder and more serious than the V 6 that Brian gave it in the new guide and considerably harder than the IV 4 that he originally gave it.
The snow conditions around the apron of the crag and in Deep Ghyll weren't too bad given the news of avalanches in the press this may well have changed with the new dump of snow. Buttress routes may be the order of the day until things settle down a bit.
The Cascade on the Shamrock is still massive and sporting two continental looking ice columns.
2 comments:
This takes me back 25 years too... I seconded Brian on his ascent then, one of my most intense and memorable climbing experiences (and almost as scary as the drive from Cambridge in the notorious Evening News van). It's great to see Brian getting some recognition for what he was getting up to all that time ago. Of his quartet of big mid-eighties Lakes mixed routes, that's second opinions for Engineers and MGG - has anyone looked at Harvest Crunch or Mechanical Orange?
You'll know more about the history than me, but there's a record of a second ascent of MGG on UKC, one week after the FA.
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