Tunnocks - Champagne on Ice
George Breley
Nat promised me an “adventure” and so led me down Tunnocks after excessive faff to push a
lead he’d last visited in 2014. We descended relatively efficiently and route finding was not
much of an issue. The following changes were made to the ‘champagne on ice’ pitch series:
-Replaced sling at 1st pitch head with additional bolt to form proper y-hang
-Improved the traverse at the very end with the addition of a single bolt in the ceiling of
the passage at the very bottom of the series.
Beyond this I rigged a P5, although it should be noted that this pitch is probably larger
than 5m as an 11m rope was insufficient to reach the bottom. After rigging a pre-bolted
traverse we soon arrived at the lead, a drafting hole atop a seemingly easy climb just beyond a
>10m hole. The traverse required to get round the hole was somewhat more sketchy than Nat
remembered. For a fully comprehensive recreation of the sounds Nat made during the sky hook
facilitated bolting of the traverse please consult either Nat or myself. ‘What would you Mother
think’ traverse was rigged around the corner too a floor at the base of the climb up to the
lead. At this point we turned back due to tiredness, cold and Nat being a big baby. This far
the traverse consists of 4 bolts ascending to a further 5th bolt up to a ledge around the
corner (backed up with by a spike).
