Dani Arnold full of praise for Scottish mixed climbing after second ascent of Anubis on The Ben
- Tuesday 29th March 2016
March 29th; 2016
Dani Arnold is full of praise for Scottish mixed climbing in a new short film released by his sponsors Mammut about his second ascent of Anubis (XII, 12) on The Ben.
Dani Arnold during his earlier attempts to climb Anubis (XII, 12) on The Ben. Video grab
Arnold has made a number of previous trips to Scotland during which he has repeated such classics as Tower Ridge (III), Savage Slit (V, 6), Fallout Corner (VI, 7) and Gemini (VI, 6) as well as a clutch of harder routes which culminated in an ascent of The Hurting (XI, 11). This winter he was back to try Anubis (XII, 12). Arnold’s first attempts came in January and although he came close he didn’t top-out. Returning in better conditions in March he fell on his third attempt on the route at the very top and only succeeded on his fourth attempt.
Dani Arnold on his successful fourth attempt to climb Anubis (XII, 12) on The Ben. Video grab
Mammut, his sponsor, has now released a short film about Dani climbing Anubis. It’s clear that he’s mightily impressed by Scotland; “If you want to climb high mountains then it’s the Himalayas. If you wanna sport climb then its Spain and if you are looking for hard mixed climbs Scotland is definitely the place to be”. Arnolds also talks about the rock and the weather in Scotland; “It has perfect rock and ice routes but the weather is always very, very bad which gives a big adventure.”
He’s clearly also very impressed with Anubis which was first climbed in winter by Dave MacLeod on February 25th 2010; “ It was absolutely on my high limit – very thin and technical and very hard moves and very serious – a really, really challenging [route] for me.” He adds; “Compared to my other projects in the last few years Anubis is definitely one of the biggest highlights. I’m proud of it – it’s definitely not my last time in Scotland”.
And from a climber who has speed solos records on the Eiger and the Matterhorn and has done hard first ascents in winter in Patagonia that’s praise indeed.
Watch the film below of Dani on Anubis.