Storvegan. 1 December 2010
One of the most stunning natural lines on Skye, Storvegan gains and climbs the roof of the mighty central wall (250m) of the Storr. It was finally climbed by Martins Moran and Welch in January 2010 and graded VI,8.
An alpine start was rewarded with alpine type scenery but only 40mins from the car.
Luckily only a small pepparing of snow and ice started as the sun hit the walls above the first pitch
After clearing a snow-filled chimney Francis reached the wide crack in the roof before the crux. The Camalot 5 close before the commiting moves seemed ideal. As Francis pulled on the first couple of tiny hooks I noticed it walk sideways; a brief mental juggle and I opted to tell him rather than let him carry on. Calmy reversing he buried a bomber bulldog to replace the cam, had a few words with himself, then put the crux sequence together first time.
I hung on the cam to remove the bulldog before my turn. Stretch on 40m of rope & the prospect of prussicking focused me well, making sure I got my leashed tools in the right order first time. Some good ice then well consolidated steep snow led to a belay below a long chimney.
Francis found the chimney well protected but hard before running it out to a turfy belay. Turf for the next 60m took me up to a fine arete of snow and amazing sunset over the western seaboard.
One more tiny rock step and easy slope led to the summit cairn. A fantasy route come true for me; thanks Francis.
Post Script- In correspondence with Martin Moran about grades (see Incredible History post above) Storvegan is possibly slightly easier than he thought technically so VI,7 may be a better guide to future aspirants. 3 stars certainly.
