Crossword Genius

Climb up this first ledge ahead of snake (6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

ladder

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'climb up' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both related to natural events as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?

'first ledge ahead of snake' is the wordplay.
'first ledge' becomes 'l' (1st letter of 'ledge').
'ahead of' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other) (some letters go in front of others).
'snake' becomes 'adder' (adder is a kind of snake).
'l'+'adder'='LADDER'

'this' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for ladder that I've seen before include "See 12" , "Climbing structure" , "Set of steps" , "Scaling device" , "ranking table" .)

I've seen this clue in The Mirror.
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