3rd International Winter Climbing Meet by Kevin Howett "the most impressive thing about the entire trip to me was the navigation. u guys are map and compass wizards. set your course, walk 40 minutes, set another course, and walk out EXACTLY where u need to be another half hour later. Astounding". Ronald Whitehead (Quebec) Held again at Glenmore Lodge, just as the Foot and Mouth epidemic hit Scotland. The week started off with the biggest storm for years, dumping feet of snow and closing the A9. Despite this, some 40 hosts and 48 visitors from 20 countries enjoyed (?) a full Scottish winter's day. American team Meg and Steve staggered back from Coire an Lochain around 10.30pm. Others were stranded in salubrious 'pubs' as far afield as Ullapool. A good selection of climbs was completed but pride of place went to Florian Schranz, Egon Netzer and Hienz Zak from Austria with a first ascent of Happy Tyroleans (VII 9), in Coire an Lochain. However, just as the weather turned perfect, the Foot and Mouth crisis escalated and all outdoor activities of the meet had to be curtailed. Alternative indoor activities were prepared with John Dunne (legendary E10 rock guru) offering a "High Performance Rock" session at the Inverness Climbing wall, and Heinz Zak, Florian Schranz, George McEwan and Steve Blagborough providing training workshops for winter climbing. Lectures came from John Dunne, Heinz Zak (film maker and no mean climber), Kevin Thaw (Big Wall USA man), Creig Stewart (South Africa), Alan Mullin (the Highlands own rising star), Ian Parnell and Andy Kirkpatrick (English fruitcakes), Marko Prezelj and Andre Stremfeld (Slovenian masters). The final day saw "The First International Winter Climbing Olympics". Climbing an iced-up outside tower, events included dry-tooling, ice without axes, eating a chocolate bar whilst hanging on one tool, ice axe throwing, ice art sculpture and a cold pull-up competition (bare feet optional). Bribing the judges was essential if you wanted a prize. An hilarious day was enjoyed by all. The prize giving and speeches that evening were well delivered and received, particularly Swedish Rafael Jensen's perceptive observation that confining us to barracks had actually brought us closer together. We would like to thank the Lodge staff, the UK hosts, Caledonia Community Leisure for free use of the Inverness Wall and sponsors Mountain Equipment, Karrimor and Mountain Technology, Highland Council and Moray, Badenoch & Strathspey Enterprise.

A Shock to the System by Laubie Laubscher Two visitors from Africa get to grips with frozen Scottish rock Cold hands and numb feet; the joys of a winter belay. Climbing in the Cairngorm mountains your adversaries are cold, spindrift avalanches and arctic winds. Unlike big mountains where one usually doesn't do much steep technical climbing in such extreme conditions, in Scotland you can be doing grade 20 rock moves with ice tools at 10 below freezing, in spindrift white outs. Myself and Greg Stewart represented the Mountaineering Club of South Africa and this was Greig's first experience of this type of climbing. The first few days we went to Corrie An'Sneachda. We first did a classic grade II/III route that winds up gullies and corners to finish on the summit Plateau. The following day Greig climbed his first ice pillar - 'Aladdin's Mirror Direct', a grade IV. The experience is different from Alpine winter routes or ice falls in the Rockies. There is a great culmination of climbing types. Mixed climbing, using torqueing techniques to climb iced up cracks and summer features. Then there is steep waterfall climbing. But in Scotland due to regular freeze thaw, the ice is extremely well compacted and makes world renowned conditions particularly on Ben Nevis. Lastly are traditional winter routes, where one uses rock, ice and frozen turf to find your way. Once all outdoor activity stopped due to Foot and Mouth, the Organizers had a trick or two up their sleeves. Over the remaining days guests shared views on things that affect all climbers across the world through lectures and talks. We had john Dunne as our personal trainer for performance rock climbing! I was amazed how Dunne, heavy looking as he is, flew effortlessly up grade 26! There were top Scottish winter climbers giving tips on techniques and an "Ice Olympics". At the final dinner and Ceilidh I was surprised when Sir Chris Bonington casually wandered in and joined the discussion and in a near drunken state we chatted till late. We drank far too much whisky (Prizes for the 'Ice Olympics') and it was rumoured that some hosts were skinny dipping in the near frozen lake. Both Greig and I had a superb week of climbing and meeting like minded people in Scotland with its lovely colours and light.   Trials and Tribulations of Being a Host by Phil Swainson The first day's weather was forecast to deteriorate but as sometimes happens, it was a little bit worse than anticipated. I finished a very pleasant day with an easy going Californian in Sneachda with hot drinks in an igloo with seemingly no need to rush. We staggered cursing into the car park two hours later through thigh deep snow. We just made it down the road in the car. I took Tuesday off after the previous days experience. Wednesday looked better, and I was charged with giving one of our guests a good day out. Gal Shon (Israel) had been a bit shaken by Monday`s storm. So we set out in 40-metre visibility for the secure climbing in Coire an- t Sneachda, following the footprints with heads down. An hour or so later we arrived under the cliff. Trouble was, it was Coire an Lochan! I was reassured to find that others seemed as lost as us. We did Ewan Buttress, a bit of technical mixed, and a naughty little ice pitch, probably a grade harder than it's guidebook rating. My companion was raving about the quality, despite the lack of a view. We tracked along the rim to the Fiachaill a Coire Cas, me intent on proving I could actually navigate, he happy to follow, and chat with the various teams we met on the plateau. Just as we were about to descend, the sun broke spectacularly through the cloud, leaving Gal speechless with delight. He had had his good day.   Back to Newsletter index     next article

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