Scottish winter climbing: Greg Boswell, Guy Robertson debut on Nihilist at Lochnagar

Winter climbing in Scotland has kicked off with a bang with a series of hard repeats and, importantly, the first winter ascent of Nihilist at Lochnagar at the hands of Greg Boswell and Guy Robertson. This summer E1 is renowned for being hard for the grade and had been attempted unsuccessfully in winter previously by other parties.

After enjoying the amazing morning light as dawn broke over the Coire, the duo climbed the two pitch route without falls, with Boswell leading pitch 1 and Robertson leading pitch 2. Boswell commented on his social media account "I was psyched to be able to keep a cool-ish head and piece together the very thin, pumpy and technical crux pitch. This eventually unlocked access to the awesome, but also very sustained climbing above."

The serious nature of the outing should not be underestimated, reflected in the IX 9 grade and underlined by Boswell: "... this one wasn’t a foregone conclusion, and tricky and bold above sharp ledges is never easy on the head."

Although the climb was dispatched with relatively quickly, the entire day out from car to car took about 11 hours. Writing to planetmountain.com Boswell explained "Lots of fresh snow slowed the approach, but the boulder field was a nightmare to cross as it was covered in powder and not consolidated. The joys of early season. ;-)"

Greg thanks: SCARPA, Petzl, Sunto, RAB, Leki, Lowe Alpine

Links: FB Greg Boswell, IG Greg Boswell, gregboswell.co.uk