Wild Ben Nevis Route Completed
After making news earlier this month for his free solo of a possible 5.14b in Spain, all-star all-arounder Dave MacLeod returned to his home in Scotland, where he finished off one of the hardest winter routes in the United Kingdom. Don’t Die of Ignorance (275m, XI,11) is an eight-pitch line up the Comb Buttress of Ben Nevis, with a wild crux passage of dry tooling and thin ice across an undercling crack and over a roof. It took MacLeod six tries over three years to succeed on the climb. On Friday, March 14, he managed to climb the roof for the first time, but fell off just above. Two days later, he returned and completed the entire route, with Joe French.
Dave MacLeod, 这位来自英国的全能明星攀岩手，最近状态似乎不错，捷报频传。继数日前在西班牙自由solo了5.14b的竞技路线后，3月16日在家乡苏格兰又完成了一条XI（UIAA攀岩技术标准，相当于5.14c,或8c+）路线，Don’t Die of Ignorance (“不要死于无知”275m, XI,11)，英国难度系数最大的冬季路线之一。Don’t Die of Ignorance 是一条由8个保护点结成的混合型攀爬路线，通往尼维斯峰（英国的最高山峰）的Comb Buttress（耸立在主峰前的拱璧）。在攻克Crux部分时（Crux是一条攀登路线或一段（pitch）中最难的部分）, MacLeod采用了器械攀爬；使用倒拉把手法穿过了岩缝中的薄冰，最后到达岩顶。在过去的3年中，他曾6次尝试攀登这条路线，均未成功。3月14号，他第一次试图向岩顶冲击，但不幸滑落下来。两天后，MacLeod再次返回这里，与Joe French最终结伴完成了整条路线的攀登。
On his blog, MacLeod described his exciting two-and-a-half-hour lead of the crux second pitch: “By 10 a.m. I was back once again, staring at that grim undercut crack disappearing round the prow into no man’s land. Just like Friday I desperately struggled to seat my axe in the crux tin-opener胸带？ [an upside-down ice-tool move, similar to a stein pull]. I screamed to Joe to expect a fall and released my left axe, cutting loose onto one arm. The axe slid and jerked a centimeter. My heart missed a beat and the jolt nearly made me fall, my hand sliding down the upside-down axe to the head and rolling onto three fingers. A dynamic match and kung fu allowed one foot to swing onto the wall to the right and up to the peg I got in on Friday. The vertical wall above was climbed in an utterly ‘go for broke’ style, axes ripping, dropping onto one hand and gasping with pump, and shrieking for slack. All a bit full on.”
在博客中，MacLeod描述了攀爬第二段绳距的惊险经历，这条路线难度最大的地方，“早上10点，我再次回到了这里，凝视着眼前这险峻的巨型切口。像周五一样，在攀登之前我把冰斧放进了tin-opener内（一种可以上下移动的冰雪工具，类似啤酒瓶拉环。）后来爬到crux(一条路线中的难点)时，在爬到后来的他用2.5小时领攀了那段路线，我大声的呼叫Joe,希望他往下降一点，帮我把挂在左面的冰斧取出来，试图两手轮流砍冰前进，但我好像没有把冰斧固定住，突然滑动了大约一厘米，我一紧张，斧子从手里滑了下来，差点碰到我的头，刹那间我用三个手指头再次抓住它，就在这一瞬间，我整个身体差点坠落下去，心也一下子提到了嗓子眼，砰砰直跳。接着我一个动态跳跃，运用了点中国功夫，使一只脚勾上岩壁，然后挪到右侧岩钉上（在3月14日的攀登中打下的），将身体固定住，方转危为安。上面的路线更陡，一个直上直下是的大岩壁，我只得使用‘go for broke’（破釜沉舟）的攀法，全力以赴，拿着冰斧一直使劲的砍，累得我气喘吁吁，不时碰到松动的岩石，吓得我惊声大叫。最终我费尽全力攀过这段路线。”
The excitement wasn’t over, as French popped off while following the traverse and was left dangling by one wrist loop, unable to move. Eventually, using a jumar, he was able to free himself and slowly climb to the belay, where MacLeod had gone mildly hypothermic after stripping down for his lead. The two regrouped and finished the climb by starlight.
但刺激的场面并没有结束，因为MacLeod身后的French突然跌落，幸好有腕环挂住，悬在岩壁上，无法移动。后来，French利用上升器，把自己放下来，然后慢慢爬到由MacLeod打下的保护点处，而MacLeod此时正在寒冷中缓慢上爬，继续领攀。两个人重新组合，最终在星光下完成了整条路线。
Don’t Die follows the general line of an aid route climbed in 1987 by Andy Cave and Simon Yates, with a more direct line at the crux. If the grade holds up after repeats, Don’t Die of Ignorance will be Ben Nevis’ hardest winter route, and one of the hardest in Scotland. In 2005, MacLeod put up The Hurting (XI,11) in the Cairngorm Mountains.
原始的Don’t Die是Andy Cave和Simon Yates在1987年使用器械开辟的一条路线 ，而此次Dave MacLeod和Joe French在攀登crux部分时，选择了一条更为陡直的线路，难度更大。如果仅是难度的重复，Don’t Die of Ignorance也是Ben Nevis山最难的冬季路线，也是整个苏格兰地区最难的路线之一。2005年，MacLeod既完成了肯哥姆山脉上的The Hurting路线(XI,11)。
http://www.climbing.com/news/hotflashes/wild_ben_nevis_route_completed/
http://www.alpinist.com/doc/web08s/newswire-macleod-solo-dont-die-ignorance
http://www.lvye.org/modules/lvyebb/viewtopic.php?post_id=453691&view=1
Date of Ascent: March 16, 2008
Sources: Davemacleod.blogspot.com, Velvetantlers.co.uk, Climbing 262
