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Just got back from 5 days up in Glencoe on a snow and ice climbing course run by Plas-y-Brenin. At £480 (2000) the course wasn’t cheap, but you got accommodation (shared room), decent breakfast and dinner, packed lunch, loan of equipment and a 1:2 instructor ratio. As usual, the instructors were all vastly experienced and enthusiastic. The first day started quite leisurely with a kit check, then into the bus and off out on to the hill to enjoy the sun shine, yes the sun does indeed shine in Scotland from time to time. So, after the slog up the hill, we started off with step kicking, crampon technique and ice axe self arrest, forwards, backwards, face up, face down, the hardest bit was starting off a head first slide on your back. Then it was on to snow pack analysis, snow bollards and buried axe belays, followed by what everyone had been waiting for, bouldering on some ice smears that we’d all been eyeing up for the last couple of hours. That was more like it, great fun, but standing on front points on a tiny rock flake sure tests your balance. Then it was back to the hotel for tea and cakes, followed by beer, evening lecture, beer, dinner and finally more beer. For the 2nd day, we paired off and set out to do some routes. It started as a bit of an exam, Marcus, our instructor, chucked us the guide book, told us what route we were doing and said “find it on the map”. Well, we just about managed that, and when we got out of the bus, I confidently pointed out the route, the only problem was it was the wrong hill, nevertheless, I’m sure I could have followed the guide book all the way up to the top! The route wasn’t that difficult and was more of an exercise in short roping and moving together, essential for speed on long routes. Again, glorious sunshine but there was an icy blast when we got on top of the ridge. Quick bite to eat, then off along the ridge, taking turns in breaking trail and trying to find the shallowest snow. Every now and then a snow squall would blow in which meant a white out for a couple of minutes. For anybody who’s never experienced this, its weird, although visibility is probably about 100 m no features at all are visible, you don’t even know which way is uphill. Also, if you think goggles are merely optional extras, think again. After the the ridge walk, it was into a corrie, digging a quick snow pit along the way, and true to plan, the route we wanted to do (Dorsal Arete on Stob Coire Nan Lochan) was packed with climbers at the top, but empty at the bottom. Great climb, but the snow conditions in Broad Gully on the way down were a touch dodgy, so stay close to the sides and keep underneath the buttress when crossing the open patch down into the bottom of the corrie. We learnt later that one of the other gullies had avalanched that morning, requiring a party to change both their underwear and their choice of route. Incidentally, snow conditions and avalanche awareness were constantly drilled into us throughout the week. Then it was back to the hotel for tea and cakes, followed by beer, evening lecture, beer, dinner and finally more beer. The next day was overcast but the rain/snow held off until we were back in the minibus, lucky or what? The chosen route was North Buttress on Stob Dearg, and as usual, started off with an hour plus high speed death march to try and beat the other parties to the crag. Fortunately, everyone else had been on the beer the night before as well so we didn’t lose by too much. This was more of a mixed climb, no ice, but good neve in the gullies, and lots of practice ice axe torquing. The highlight, or was it the low light? was when a blue water bottle came down the crag and went straight through my legs, fortunately missing the important bits. At the top of the climb we followed a set of footprints that eventually came to a dead end, so double back and start off up to the summit again. It was here that Chad, my climbing partner, gave an outstanding display of memory. The evening lecture the night before was on navigation, and it ended with four examples of regular mistakes on Scottish hills, apparently, we were now standing on one of those hills. When Chad came out with the bearings and distances to get down I naturally inquired as to how he knew them, ‘cos I’d got the map. He’d memorised them from the lecture the night before! So off down we trogged and back to the bus. We waited for the final three to come down but no show, and with nobody visible on the hill it would be at least a 45 minutes wait. Unanimous decision. Lets go to the pub and come back for them. The beer in the Clachaig Inn in Glen Coe village is superb, especially the Orkney Dark, which everyone ended up drinking after the first round. We missed tea and cakes and the evening lecture that night, getting back just in time to grab a pint before dinner. So, after three days of good weather, we got a taste of what Scotland is famous for, rain. It was forecast to thaw so climbing in the gullies was not a particularly intelligent choice, a ridge route (Solitaire) on the West face of Aonach Mor was the order of the day. Despite going up in the gondola, it was still an hour and quarter death march to the crag, this time in near silence due to a whiskey tasting session the night before. The first pitch was a superb ice climb on a frozen waterfall, but with that out of the way it degenerated into frozen turf (excellent axe holds) and mixed climbing, the route would make a great scramble in summer (grade 2/3) providing it wasn’t too soggy. Towards the top the slope eased off a bit and got seriously narrow, also the wind picked up and the rain was horizontal. We went onto a short rope for speed, and came out right on the summit cairn. It then got rather draughty, 40 mph gusting to 60 mph, and difficult to stand up. Here Chad managed to misread the bearings off the map, and so after the first dog leg, we headed straight for the cliffs on the East face, fortunately the visibility wasn’t so bad that we had to rely on the compass. Then off down the ski slopes only to find the gondola shut due to high winds. So, walk down to the bottom, and lo and behold, the minibus had left 10 minutes ago, b******s. Well, 10 minutes later the bus rolled up but then we had to wait for the best part of an hour whilst all the others staggered out of various pubs and gear shops in Fort William. Then, back to the hotel for beer, (missed tea and cakes), evening lecture, beer, dinner and more beer. Sound familiar? After getting a bit damp the day before, the forecast for the last day was cold (-5 at 3000’), snow showers and 60 mph winds gusting to 80 mph. The Ben was the chosen hill. Fortunately, Plas-y-Brenin have a key for the forestry tracks that saves quite a bit on the walk (death march again) up to the CIC hut. Well, for those of you like me, who haven’t been on Ben Nevis, the view from the CIC hut is awe inspiring, snow gullies, frozen waterfalls and ice plastered faces rising sheer up into the cloud from all around. The top of Tower Ridge was lost in the mists but the Douglas boulder looked massive, and as for the Orion Face, what a route! If the weather had been better, we were going to have a go at Hadrians Wall, but topping out in that weather was not an option. Instead we chose Waterfall Gully. Looking at the route, spindrift avalanches were coming down every 2-3 minutes so we waited under an overhang at the bottom to see if conditions would improve. They didn’t and after 20 minutes, by which time our packs were buried, we decided it was too nasty and set off for another route. We crossed through avalanche debris that had come down Number 5 gully the day before, there were some pretty big 2 – 3’ blocks of ice in it and you sure as hell didn’t want to be there when it came down. The Curtains was the next route choice, but it was packed with climbers so we went over to a gully and found the others top roping ice smears on the sides, that was to be the entertainment for the day. And great fun it was too, although the routes were short, they were steep and the ice was really good. I got off to a bad start though as my hands were cold from waiting around at the belay, after 15’ my left hand was frozen (I’m told due to a lack of blood supply caused by raising hands above head height) and I couldn’t grip the axe – off I came. A quick run up and down the gully restored the blood supply somewhat painfully, and from then on everything was just great. I’d borrowed a pair of really sexy Predator axes from Marcus and they were absolutely brilliant, a trip to the gear shop is in order, but don’t tell Wifey. We also messed about with simulated leading and found out just how hard it is to put in ice screws. Clipping in to the axe loop is regarded as aid climbing and bad form, so it’s a case of hang on one axe and try and lean on the screw until the threads engage, hard work, no wonder long run outs are the norm. A good demonstration of how strong ice is can be found by using an ice screw to drill two angled holes in the ice that join at the ends, then thread some chord through and ab off. All too soon time was up and as usual, back to the bus, tea and cakes, beer, debrief, more beer, dinner, followed by more beer and then a trip to the pub. Yet again, another navigation failure. After searching the hotel grounds in vain, we had to get a guide to show us where the path to the pub was at the end of the croquette lawn. A strange thing about Scottish pubs is that they ring last orders at 11:00, but keep serving until 1:30, good job we weren’t climbing the next day. Well, all in all it was an excellent week and everyone enjoyed themselves. I’d recommend the course to anyone and I’m definitely going back there next winter. If you’re thinking of going on a course like this, you don’t need to have climbed on snow and ice before, but some winter walking experience is a benefit; experience of multi-pitch climbing, not necessarily leading is definitely required, and make sure you are fit, all the climbs have at least an hour walk in, 2 hours for the Ben. A few tips: make sure you can tie on in gloves; twist lock krabs are fine in summer but too fiddly in gloves, use a srew gate HMS instead; take at least three pairs of gloves on the hill, and cheap woolly gloves are much better than expensive Gore-Tex ones; Fruesili bars are impossible to open with gloves on, even with the assistance of an ice axe; take a simple (Sticht) belay plate, you will not get a frozen 11mm rope in a variable controller or ATC; on summer sport climbs forget the nut key, an ice axe is brilliant for removing gear! Anyone one up for Point 5 Gully or Orion Direct this weekend? |