Canadian Ice

Andy and I had a great 2-week trip to the Rockies earlier this month. Ticked lots of classics - Polar Circus, Curtain Call, Ice 9, Louise Falls, French Reality, Whiteman Falls... Rather than give a blow-by-blow description, here are a few photos of the highlights.

First route of the trip - Weeping Wall in glorious sunshine

 

Steep featured ice on P1 of curtain call

 

More steep ice on curtain call - heading for the ice roof where the pillar has split & re-frozen

Exciting abseil back down again

The first of the steeper pitches on Polar Circus

Skiing across Lake Louise heading for Louise Falls

Andy on the mixed pitch on French Reality

Me starting up the steep ice pitch on French Reality

Still steep...

Starting up Whiteman Falls

Euro Ice Climbing

Its been a while since I have had (made) time to update the blog, so with no work today (!) and still feeling sore from a training session and sufferfest (turbotrainer group suffering) yesterday, excuses are running low.

Having quit my job in January to persue a few months of climbing and skiing, it seems to have been quite productive so far..... trips to the NW and west coast to do routes and visit places I have longed to experience came to fruition.... Beinn Bhan, Beinn Eighe, Tilt, Shanghigh, Postern, Blood Sweat and Frozen Tears (maybe the best scottish winter route I have done). All brilliant, memorable days out in great company!

Since then 3 weeks of dotting round europe to Cogne, Chamonix, Kandersteg and Monaco (what you've never heard of the awesome ice climbing on the cote d'azur!) have maintained a feeling of transition and shifting objectives. The initial focus of trying to remember how to climb ice efficiently quickly drifting away to be replaced by the steeper, harder mindset..... well except for Monaco sport climbing which proved somewhat of a reminder that polished limestone and no finger strength is a horrible combination for me!!!

Anyway, with a crap camera that detests the cold, and an affinity for shaky pictures, I managed a couple of ok shots, so rather than another 2,000 words, here's a few pictures from the last few weeks with Ally Fulton, Ally Swinton and Alastair Robertson....

Lillaz Gully (Cogne) and the village of Lillaz

 

Alastair on Lau Bij (Cogne)

 

 

 Sogno di Gnomo (Cogne), the right facing corner line that might have been slightly out of condition...! Avalanche stopped play after (on) the 3rd pitch!

 

 

  Tradimento Direct (Cogne) - No pictures of the crux pillar although in more sporting conditions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9E78XVqeT1g&feature=youtu.be

Flash Estivo (Colonne Centrale)

Foehn wind loading up the slopes above (and firing the temp up!)

Repentence Super (brilliant route!) on the left and Flash Estivo on the right

Stella Artice (not a bad fall back route for the day) - Cogne

 

 

Ally abseil into the classic Nuit Blanche (Argentiere)

 

Rattenpissoir (Kandersteg) - Polish and French teams creating a proper mess..... nice to see the euros can do it as well as the brits! ;-) Properly wet first pitch resulted in 4 hours of drying kit in the van in the afternoon.

Ally with Rattenpissoir in the background (the pillar)

Ally taking a shower on Grimm/Haizahne, backed off and did it the next day instead after doing another 4 pitch WI5+ which made for some tired arms!

All that remains now is to finalise a few things then get on a plane to the Rockies! Hello Canmore!

Having spent years flicking through Sean Isaac's book Mixed Climbs in the Canadian Rockies, its so exciting being able to get on a plane and go experience a few of the classic venues! Few other places have such inspiring/terrifying/intriguing route names..... nemesis, terminator, nightmare on wolfe street, sea of vapours, riptide, the list is endless. Should be a blast!

Before and After

The Shelter Stone in winter is a beautiful, intimidating and fickle venue. After a few days of whispered plans and obsessive weather-watching, Jim and I found ourselves once again crossing the Cairngorm plateau in the dark, in the clag, on a bearing for this magical place. Approaching the top of Pinnacle Gully as dawn came, we dropped below the cloud and were greeted with exactly the sight we'd hoped for - gleaming white rime on the steep upper cliffs of the Shelter Stone and Carn Etchachan. It's in nick! We geared up excitedly and descended to the base of the crag ready to start up one of our dream routes - the Needle.

There was, however, one minor problem. It was warm.  For the moment, we ignored this fact. The lower turfy grooves were well frozen and had plenty snow cover, the upper section was plastered with rime and the middle section held more than enough whiteness to justify an ascent. Why should a little thing like temperature get in the way? Anyway, were were probably just warm from the walk-in - it'll be fine once we get a bit higher.

Jim on the Terrace, approaching our high point

At the start of the fourth summer pitch, we couldn't fool ourselves any longer. We were racing a major thaw up the crag, and the thaw was winning. We were both soaked and the crag's winter plumage was visibly receeding. The next pitch would have been close to dry-tooling (well, wet-tooling) and neither of us could justify going any further, particularly on such a classic route that meant so much to us both.

It was time to go down, but we'll be back...



... and after

Before...



Scottish Winter Climbing Meet & Avenging Angel Direct

Jim and I had a great weekend at the Scottish Winter Climbing meet in Fort William, organised by Richard Bentley (http://www.scottishwinterclimbing.co.uk/). It was an excellent opportunity to meet a load of other keen winter climbers, exchange stories & plans and (on Saturday at least) get some routes in in perfect weather.

Jim & I headed out together for a long-standing objective of Jim's - Avenging Angel Direct on Creag Coire na Ciste. This is a combination of two existing routes - the lower two pitches of Iain Small and Tony Stone's route Angels with Dirty Faces, and the upper two pitches of Nick Bullock's Avenging Angel. This combination makes for a great straight-up line, as Simon Richardson pointed out in his write-up of Iain and Tony's route (http://www.scottishwinter.com/?p=1762), but as far as we know, it hadn't been done this way before.

With so little prior knowledge of either route, we knew we were in for an adventure! But the weather was kind, with blue skies and hardly any wind. Coire na Ciste was well rimed but not utterly blootered, so we had no excuses.

The route takes the big central corner  just left of the pillar in the lower section of the buttress, then steps left up the steep corners above. Jim won the toss for pitch one, which turned out to be really quite bold and technical. There was no obvious sign of panic from Jim when he was on lead, so it was a shock when seconding to find out how hard this pitch really was!

The second pitch took another steep corner, this time with an offwidth-cum-chimney in it. I grunted and scrabbled by way up this to the point where the right wall steepened and I found I could no longer just wedge myself in the crag and hope for the best! Committing out onto hooks and turf was strenuous and off-balance, but the climbing soon eased, leading across to the next steep corner which marked the junction with the original line of Avenging Angels.

Jim got this next pitch, which culminated in an unlikely-looking capping roof which fortunately held good hooks and gear (including some fixed gear from the first ascent). This led to a belay below the final short corner. The corner itself turned out to be completely blind, so I made a thin traverse left and went up cracks on the steep wall. I'm not very good at committing to steep moves above gear so this involved a lot of strenuous procrastination, over and above the handing around required to find & clear out the hooks & gear placements. Eventually, after much huffing and puffing, I managed to pull over. The cornice above was an unexpected bonus which I could have done without, but it only took a few minutes of digging to demolish a path through it, so I suppose I got off lightly.

This direct line gives four pitches of excellent climbing so is highly recommended for anyone looking for something challenging that's not on the standard tick-list of Ben Nevis mixed classics.

The day was topped off with continuing festivities of the Scottish Winter Climbing meet at the Ben Nevis Inn in Achintee. Stovies were served, pints were drunk and stories from the day were exchanged. Simon Richardson gave an excellent talk on some of his Scottish winter climbing experiences, and took great interest in what we'd all been up to too.

Simon Frost and I hatched an ambitious plan to get out again today, but after seeing the updated weather forecast he later texted me to call off. I supposed I should have been disappointed, but it was a relief to be able to switch the alarm off and go back to sleep to rest aching muscles. With wind, rain and warm temperatures today, I don't think we missed anything!

The meet seemed to be a great success, and I hope it continues to run in future years. Thanks to Richard for organising it, and thanks to everyone I met there for the good company and inspiration.

The wind doth blow...

Malcolm on the initial icy groove

Three years ago I took my first leap of faith down Beinn Eighe's West Central Wall with Graham Briffett, intent on finding and climbing "Mistral", a summer E1 5b that saw its first winter ascent by the ubiquitous Davidson & Nisbet partnership in 1991. Our interest had been piqued by the relatively amenable grade proferred by the first ascentionists (VII 7) and that, to our knowledge, it remained unrepeated. A few weeks before our own sortee, another local team had drawn a blank under a large overhang, high on the third (crux) pitch. Graeme and I faired no better, following the same line but being unable to fit it to the guidebook description. I've thought about this route on and off over the proceeding seasons. After all, there are not too many routes that are of exceptionally high quality, are often in condition, but have not seen a second ascent after more than 20 years! 

Malcolm Bass and I had this weekend marked in our diaries for some time. Like me, Malcolm doesn't have the flexibility of climbing mid-week and so, with everything crossed, we made plans. The preceeding week had been stellar but, typically, as our play-date drew nigh, the weather forecast provided reason to be concerned. Gale force south easterlies are not necessarily a winter climber's best friend! We opted for West Central Gully and, as anticipated, it offered full respite from the icy wind scouring the summit plateau. On a wall where route names have traditionally paid homage to wind, it seemed fitting that I was heading back to "Mistral". 

Jim approaching the first belay

Malcolm gaining the fabulous belay ledge after pitch 2

Our ascent epitomized the dogged persistance often needed to claim the winter prize. A 5am start into an icy gale and a wayward ascent of Beinn Eighe's southern slope saw us reach the summit plateau almost opposite West Central Gully, with weary legs and a day lit sky which belied our early start. Inevitably our ropes then got stuck on the heart-in-mouth abseil down the dog-legged last pitch of Blood Sweat and Fozen Tears, requiring some jiggery-pokery to set them free. At last, by late morning, and having experienced highs and lows in equal measure, we were stood beneath the initial icy groove of Mistral. Following success or failure, this particular episode would have a moon-lit finale!

Jim starting the crux pitch 3

An efficient couple of pitches brought us to the fabulous belay ledge beneath the crux 35m third pitch on which I had failed three years previous. This time I took a more direct line slightly further right, heading for the smaller of two capping roofs with the final V groove clearly visible beyond. This was it! 

Jim high on the crux pitch aiming for the small V notch in the sky-line

The pitch was steep, often tenuous and hard won.I have to say it was the most sustained winter pitch I have ever climbed. What a belter! Pulling into the V groove belay was a particularly joyous moment for me. I even let out a feable squeal in celebration which is particularly unusual for this quiet man! As darkness enveloped us Malcolm displayed steely determination in seconding the pitch, even climbing one of the crux sections twice having dropped, then retrieved, his head-torch.

The happy couple at 9pm

We topped out at 9pm having finished up the Wall of the Winds chimney as per the first ascent (note - the V groove of Mistral still awaits a winter ascent).


As Malcolm later said, according to the new Yorkshire winter grading system the crux pitch was "reet 'ard" but, going with convention, we will suggest "very sustained VII 8" with the route definitely worthy of three stars. A memorable day!

Jim



  

New Year in the Northern Corries

 

I was up in Boat of Garten for a few days over New Year with a bunch of friends. We only got one day's climbing in, a quick raid into Coire an t-Sneachda on New Year's Day. The weather was a bit wild and most of the crags had been stripped by the thaw.

 

Fiachaill Buttress was still well and truly wintery though. Our choice of Belhaven was more like an ice route than a rocky mixed line! It was an ideal route for a short, low-stress day. 

Approaching Fiachaill Buttress

Andy looking cold!

 

The icy groove on the upper pitch

 

Rehab on the Ben

After a nasty fall at the start of November, my ribs had pretty much healed and I was desperate to get back out. The second half of December seemed to offer ideal conditions for those able to get out mid-week, but was thoroughly disappointing for us "weekend warriors". Cabin fever was beginning to set in.

All that was resolved yesterday with a great day out on the Ben with Jim. We discussed a few options - Jim was keen for something a little more adventurous but given my weakened state, I didn't fancy a complete epic, so we settled on Sidewinder on South Trident buttress. Although this was only climbed in winter for the first time in 2005, it has become a popular route and is generally considered to be low in its grade (although the grade is VII,8). This sounded hard enough to be challenging yet easy enough to retreat from if I was really struggling. I'd also been impressed by it when looking across from Strident Edge a couple of years ago, and wanted to do it ever since.

Since the route isn't in the SMC Ben Nevis guide, we were relying on word-of-mouth and others' blogs for info. I had the impression that there was an easy introductory pitch, a harder middle pitch and a crux on the top pitch. In my weakened state, I suggested Jim take the crux (I could claim it was generosity, but it was mainly cowardice!). He led off up the first pitch, taking no time to reach the foot of a steep corner 30-odd metres above.

Arriving at this belay, I realised that I might have made a mistake - this looked a lot harder than I'd been hoping for! The crack in the corner would have accommodated perfect hand-jams in summer but required careful and strenuous laybacking & torquing in winter. I made several forays up and down the initial section, placing high runners and finding excuses to procrastinate. I knew that I had to commit to reach the security of a chockstone above, but my head hadn't recovered from the fall, and convincing myself to go upwards rather than downclimb to the security of the belay was a real struggle. Jim showed admirable patience, and eventually I managed to commit, reaching from a strenuous bunched position up to a solid hook around the chockstone above. Surely that was the crux done? Apparently not - a couple of metres higher, the exit from the corner onto the powder-covered slab above proved every bit as hard and a lot sketchier. The gear was good but it was doing little to reassure me. Again, I eventually convinced myself to commit. "Watch me!". A thin hook slipped then caught again. My other axe struggled for purchase in the soft snow. Finally, I grovelled onto the slab and crawled up to the belay.

Jim seconding the tricky exit from the corner

The pitch above was long and sustained, taking another corner then the continuation groove above. Jim put in an excellent lead to bring us to the ridge above. A tiring swim along this through deep powder brought us to the plateau.

Jim setting off up the top pitch

This morning, I have the familiar ache of shoulders, back and calves that always follows a good winter day. I also have the relief of knowing that I can still climb this stuff. It'll take a little while for my head to settle down fully, but my doubts that I can still enter the exciting and adventurous world of winter climbing, or that I want to, have gone.

Hung Drawn and Quartered!

Suddenly it was looking rather promising for the weekend ahead. The hallowed hills of north west Scotland were teasing, tantalising and, now, flaunting as first-hand accounts filtered through.  I haven't yet secured a partner. It's the SMC dinner and other "regulars" are already committed or out of action.

I'd met Ross a week earlier at Newtyle and, having exchanged numbers, it was with relief that his tentative response became certain. I had now secured a partner. Typically another offer came through shortly after which I had to decline. Sorry Roger, I'm sure you would have done the same!

Plan A was quickly shelved on learning of rain at 600m near Applecross. And, then, a text from Pete Macpherson suggested "Hung Drawn and Quartered". Rather than striking the fear of god into me I was inspired. Before now I had not had the opportunity to climb on Skye (summer or winter) and I vividly recalled Pete's photographs and tales from the second ascent of this fiercely overhanging crack-line, with Ian Parnell, in 2010. "The best Grade 8!" Pete enthused.  He would be prospecting a new route on Am Basteir with Martin Moran and we could join the party. Incidentally (or should that be coincidentally) it was Martin who grabbed the first ascent of this plum line in 2008, so we would be in perfect company.



Basteir Tooth (Photo - Pete Macpherson)

The walk in was a joy, if a bit icy underfoot, as the crisp dawn revealed the most stunning alpenglow over the Cuillin Ridge. The true extent of this spectacle was largely lost on me at the time as Ross and I geared-up close to King's Chimney, but Pete Macpherson's excellent photographs captured the moment. We couldn't have chosen a better day for my first route on Skye!

But was I fit enough, strong enough, brave enough?

Rather than give a blow by blow account of the route itself I will simply say that it was st-e-e-p, hard, intimidating and utterly brilliant. My arms surrendered in the final few feet of the third pitch, resulting in an impromptu belay and Ross leading through to complete the pitch in style. With the hardest climbing now behind us, I led the way to the top.

The line is kind of obvious! (Photo Pete Macpherson)

Many will sit in their comfy chairs in front of their PC and say that my ascent was flawed (Ross's most certainly wasn't) and, yes, I cannot claim a clean ascent. Failure? No, I won't accept that. At least I had the balls to try. I gave it absolutely everything and in the process I had an amazing day. True failure would have been not trying at all.


Did I say it was steep? (Photo - Pete Macpherson)

Nearing the end of Pitch 1 (Photo - Pete Macpherson)

 

 

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