Given the Horn by a Unicorn, and a Tinkers Curse

Summer of 1982 Bernard Newman editor of “Climbing” one of the UK’s most popular climbing magazines is working on a book for the series started by Ken Wilson with “Hard Rock”. Hard Rock was followed by “Classic Rock” and now soon to be “Extreme Rock.” Bernard and Janine, his wife were good friends of Ed and Cynthia Grindley who were by now married and living in Glencoe Village where Cynthia was district nurse.

I had first met Ed Grindley about 1975 when he was working for Glencoe School of Winter Mountaineering and staying at Tigh Dearg Ian and Nicky Cloughs house in Glencoe Village. Summertime he was back in Bannockburn just outside Stirling where he and Cynthia lived for a time. We had a few adventures climbing and on winter rescues back then, and he liked to party. As a Lakeland climber of some note Ed was established as one of the best rock climbers of the time. His organised approach to gear preparation and training had quite a significant impact on me. Pre “Friends” from Wild country, nuts were the thing for protection, and he would have two full sets. Chouinard “Stoppers” 1-10 in full sizes on one side and 1-10 in half sizes on the other. Also epoxying the wires into the end so they could be fangled in without the wire pushing through. These and sets of hex’s for camming. I can remember him gluing thicker pieces of canvas to the heels of his EB’s to give more edge support and squeaking his soles for maximum grip and being taken by the thoroughness.

One of my earliest climbing trips away with Ed was in 1976 and involved going to Wales via Aviemore to do the “Needle” on Shelterstone also with Bill Amos. Its was hellish windy and Bill and I set off up the chairlift to the top with the ropes while Ed faffed about at his van. We got to the top to be told the chair was closing due to the wind. Having no idea if Ed was on the chair and no sight of anyone else on the chair looking back down the line we pleaded to get back to the bottom. Only to get halfway down meeting Ed on the way up having pled his case. Thankfully he was allowed to come back down with the lifty at the top on the last run. The lifty being John MacLean of the Creag Dubh. A bit of an inauspicious start to a day’s climbing, so we decided to go into Newtonmore for a few pints. After a few we headed down to Dunkeld and soloed a few routes such as Ivy Crack, Poison Ivy. I still had on my big “Lionel Terray “Fitzroy” boots. A few more beers in Dunkeld then a night on the floor at Banockburn. Next day down to Llanberis to stay at the Fell and Rock hut at Yns Ettws and a week in baking hot sunshine, drought, and pubs with no beer. I first met Rab Carrington there and many well know characters of the day and played darts with Joe Brown and Don Whillans. I thought I could do Cenotaph Cotner in boots but couldn’t. Cloggy is too good not to be in Scotland. Ronnie Rodger and I had another trip to Wales with Ed and Cynthia on their honeymoon but that’s another tale.

Ivy Crack in big boots 

Stob Coire nan Lochan isn’t Cloggy, but it does have some very good routes, two of which were to feature in the new book. “Scansor” Tut Braithwaite’s route had received a second ascent by Paul Nunn and Ian Nicholson (I think). Unicorn, Jimmy Marshalls route, had about half a dozen ascents. Both routes due to lack of traffic still had some loose stuff, especially at the top.

We arrived at the “Pipers Lay Bye” the upper car park for Stob Coire nan Lochan. So called as back then a certain Mr MacPhee in full regalia including bearskin hat would ply his trade with his bagpipes there. Play might be too kind a word, but he plied his skirl to advantageous effect. He had a wee table set out with a bowl for donations and to sell some lucky white heather, and either his wife or daughter would be about in their old van. Ed and I travelled up together ahead of the others. At that time he had a bright orange RS Cosworth Ford Escort. He thought it might be a laugh to go a bit fast and handbrake stop just before the piper. On reflection it could have gone even more badly than it did as although he stopped in time, the piper MacPhee on diving for cover had gone over the bank. On going to help him back up and to apologize we were on the receiving end of much cursing and swearing. He appeared unharmed apart from his attire being all over the place. We grabbed our kit to get away and MacPhee hurled a “Buidseachd” or curse at us in Gaelic, shouting, “one of you will not come back here today.”

A great start to the day. Ed, Me, Cynthia, Bernard and Janine slogged up the grinding path which back then hadn’t been made into the climbers superhighway it is now. Always a grind with ropes and a heavy rucksack and the steps don’t make that any less.

Scansor was the first route with Ed leading the crux and Cynthia and I following. Ed was taking some pictures with a compact camera and Bernard had an SLR on a tripod in the Corrie. Scansor was a bit mossy and the technical crux overlooking SC gully airy but ok. The rest of the route was a bit broken and loose. Not a great route, but ok if you’re up there anyway. Along we went and then back down forked gully searching for winter gear dropped by others and got some swag. Then it was onto Unicorn for Ed and me. I led up and belayed in the corner avoiding the normal belay to try and do it in three pitches. Then Ed led through on our twin 150ft ropes. He was high in the corner near the end when I heard him shout and looked up to see three big slabs of rock heading down the corner towards me. I had no helmet on, and nowhere to go. One big bit missed my head and bounced off the side of my shoulder chopping a belay sling, one was in space, but the other passed down my chest hitting my ankle and then off down to the Corrie. A smaller bit gave me a scalp wound. My shoulder was badly bruised and cut but not broken I didn’t think, but my ankle was really sore and already swelling. Ed went into self-rescue mode, but I thought it easier to finish if I could. Surprisingly, and with the adrenaline fix of nearly getting taken out I was able to climb up then hobble back down forked gully. Bernard had one hellish fright watching this unfold through his camera lens and was a bit shaken up. With the size of the rocks he thought I had no chance. It was just sheer luck I didn’t get one square on the head although a small one gave me a scalp wound which bled into my thick dark hair. I doubt a helmet would have helped if it was one of the big ones but I was fortunate with the small one. I have seen too many brain injuries now not to know the consequences. I made my way slowly down to the car. The piper was gone by the time we had made it back to the road thank goodness.

We went back to Ed’s as I had arranged for Fiona to meet us there and to take me back to Duror. She was already in Ed's house waiting when he went in ahead and said, “I nearly killed your husband today.” Bernard got his pictures and story, and Extreme rock was a considerable success with our climbs in it, although not the full story which Ed published a couple of years later in Climber magazine pipers curse included. While Unicorn is a great route and Scansor ok they were curious choices for the book in my opinion. I understood that some of the classics like Shibboleth had been covered in Hard Rock, but I think Ed’s own route “The Clearances” or Pete Whillance’s “The Risk Business” would have been better choices to represent the grade jump early 1980’s and they are routes of a higher quality than Scansor. Unicorn while an outstanding outing is more old school and would have been a better Hard Rock contender than Swastika - IMHO

Extreme rock only had one print run as a fire destroyed all the typeset and so it was never re printed. It now commands a remarkably high price among climbing book collectors. When skint, fed up and wanting to walk away from climbing after another friend was killed, I sold my free copy. Ed, Bernard and Janine had signed it. I got £375 for it in 2007 as I also included this tale you are reading now.  I put the money towards a road bike. I regret that. I also regret the 200 or more 35mm rescue slides I threw out when I left MR thinking that was a door closed. Fortunately some had doubles or almost as good other takes.

I had a big swollen ankle after Unicorn and struggled to walk for a few weeks after. I didn’t think it was worth going to hospital. Some years later I broke my ankle on a rescue after being thrown off a 4x4 vehicle, on reading the X Ray a doctor came to me and said I see this isn’t your first ankle fracture as you have a healed one that’s showing on the malleolus. I looked at its position on the film and the penny dropped that I had climbed an E15b with a broken ankle and then walked to the road. Ed later did an article for Climber magazine “Curse in the Corrie” about our day. I am referred to as the boy (I was 25) and needing quietened down which is partly true, although it was cursing with pain and anger "are you trying to fucking kill me Grindley!)

We climbed a lot together in the early 1980’s and did some new routes in Glen Nevis. Ed introduced a lot of young folk to climbing as a teacher at Lochaber High School. His legacy of climbs extends from the Southwest of England to hard Lakeland routes such as “Fallen Angel” which is still a pokey hard E4, Glencoe’s “Clearances”, Sky’s Neist Point “Supercharger” and a host of others in Glen Nevis.