Storming the Barbican

This 16-pitch winter route aims for a series of corners just left of the summit pyramid. The most difficult section is on the upper third of the face with two crux pitches of steep technical ice. At half height there is a large obvious steep gully which was avoided by traversing into the top from out left. The first ascent party experienced an unplanned bivvy near the top of the face below the final crux, but this could have been avoided by an earlier start and climbing in the longer daylight hours of August. This crux was a pitch of near vertical chandelier water ice. If the face is climbed in thin conditions, short snowstakes, pitons and snargs to bash, weld and coax into the mountain would be better than a rack of shiny titanium ice screws, although these would still come in handy. The face seems to form up between June and September. After September, because of the low altitude and sunny aspect, the ice on the face probably self-destructs.