The Mountaineering Council of Scotland

Issue 20 October 2003

COMMENT

An MCofS Drinking Seminar at the Clachaig Inn?

Serving on the Safety & Training Sub-Committee and the Scottish Mountain Safety Forum (SMSF) keeps me well informed of the problems and accidents occurring on the Scottish mountains. Importantly, the Mountain Rescue Committee of Scotland (MRCofS) is well represented on both these committees and provides the incident reports that allow us to focus on accurate statistics and then to commit resources to achieve a major aim of the MCofS, “to encourage safe practice on the hills”.

For many years the MCofS has provided courses at different venues for hill users who might not otherwise acquire skills important for their safety and enjoyment on the hills under different weather conditions. These courses include one-day navigation courses at different venues, weekend Winter Mountaineering Skills at Glenmore Lodge, one-day Avalanche Awareness courses and weekend First Aid Course for Walkers and Climbers.

Education and information is fundamental to safety and is the foundation from which we promote the concept of “responsible risk taking”. MCofS believes that everyone has a right to have adventures in the mountains and being aware of the risks and taking measures to minimize them maintains this right.

A widely quoted statement sums this up “Climbing, hill walking and mountaineering are activities with danger of personal injury or death. Participants in these activities should be aware of and accept these risks and be responsible for their own actions and involvement.”

No matter how much you accept and support the message of mountain safety it still comes as a great shock when one of your friends who has many years of experience and whose ability you respect has to be rescued and flown off the Skye Cullin unconscious.

He had been walking and scrambling on one of the hottest days and had simply not drunk enough water and had become seriously dehydrated. By late afternoon he became sick, disorientated, and eventually unconscious. Fortunately, he was with friends who correctly diagnosed what was wrong, a passing group had a mobile phone and help was summoned. The Coast Guard helicopter arrived within forty-five minutes and because the rescuers had been given an accurate GPS reference no time was wasted.

Within minutes my friend was on a drip, was safely in hospital and eventually made a full recovery. This episode will find its way onto the MRCofS reports and will become another statistic but nobody involved in this near tragic event will forget it.

My friend will never forget to drink more frequently. The club mates whose prompt first aid stabilized their unconscious friend until help arrived will be glad they had the necessary skills. The passerby with the mobile phone and the owner of the GPS will be happy they contributed to a happy outcome. And we will all say THANK YOU to the rescue services.

So will I suggest at the next Safety & Training Sub-Committee that we should add a new safety event to next years calendar? We could have an MCofS “Drinking” Seminar; perhaps at the Clachaig Inn - I don't think so!

Bill Crabb
Vice President, MCofS

 

TALKING POINT

Dry-Tooling - What's it all About?

By Scott Muir

It was an amazing scene, an awakening. Everyone left Glasgow Climbing Centre after the Dry Tooling Competition in March, buzzing. Armed with new horizons about what was possible with tools and hyper to end Scottish winter on a high note. Never before in any aspect of climbing or competitions have I seen such a buzz (possibly Red Bull - the sponsors - induced?) not only from the participants but also from a large crowd that couldn't quite believe their eyes. Dynamic, burly moves, wild falls and unpredictable blow offs were the order of the day. It was a brave step for some teams, not quite knowing what to expect, but with open minds they adapted quickly and learned loads.

It has been evident to me for years now whilst guiding in Scotland and running sessions at the Winter Climbing Performance Seminars at Glenmore Lodge, that quality time spent using axes in a controlled environment rather than in hundred mile an hour winds and driving spindrift on the hill, is massively beneficial to people experimenting with what is possible with axes - how hard you can pull on small hooks or baggy torques.

One full day spent indoors on a Dry Tool wall can mean that folk new to winter climbing can easily second grade IV,6 by the end of a week. What it doesn't mean is that these people can lead this grade immediately or get too, and off, a chosen route because they still have hill and mountaineering experience to gain (placing gear, judgement, hill, snow and ice conditions etc) but it does mean that they bypass a lot of time spent thrashing and are able to use tools properly and in the right places.

Over the last year or so, Dry Tooling as interpreted in this country has been associated with the damage of established rock climbs and out of condition winter routes. The controversial use of axes and crampons on established rock climbs on low-level crags, if nothing else, has shown that there must be a demand to train with tools at times outside (and inside!) the conventional winter period. It has gone on for years and has been castigated in Scottish Mountaineer and other outdoor magazines. But the new sport of 'Dry Tooling' being developed across the world and now gaining rapidly in popularity in this country has been wrongly associated with this controversy. In reality, Dry Tooling is well removed from the damage of established routes.

Climbing as a whole is becoming a very diverse and at times a very specialised sport and Dry Tooling is a rising sport in its own right, both inside and outside. Venues are being developed where technical tools can be used throughout the year on technically difficult and physically challenging routes. And indoor venues for training are part of this development just as most folk go to the indoor wall during the winter for the following summer, so winter climbers are now able to climb all summer for the following winter.

Venues like the 'School yard' in Edinburgh are appearing quickly and are totally dedicated to dry tooling. Tiso's shop in Glasgow has a real ice indoor wall and in December there will also be the new 'Ice Factor' climbing centre at Kinlochleven. Glasgow Climbing Centre, are also now developing a new Dry Tool area.

So, 'What is Dry Tooling?' and 'Where has it come from?' Despite what it sounds like, it does not require lubrication, although it can be painful! Dry Tooling or Mixed 'M' grade climbing has been developed by Continental, Canadian and US ice climbers searching for new ice routes as the obvious lines ran out. The remaining lines headed for the funkiest, most outrageous hanging stalactites around. Initially the pioneers gained these stalactites of ice using Aid (pulling and resting on gear). On reaching the ice, they then free climbed using the ice techniques of the time to gain the top. As a new and stronger generation appeared, they in turn sought to remove the points of aid. Dry Tooling was simply the term used to describe the climbing of the rock sections using axes and crampons to free them. It is the climbing of rock that is very steep or overhanging, would be almost impossible to climb purely by hand, and that is often either loose or dirty, to reach free hanging stalactites of ice. Hands are sometimes used for a move or two on the rock and sometimes on the ice before switching back to tools, making routes truly mixed.

In today's, modern continental mixed world, the search for technical and physical difficulty has meant that routes have travelled down the same road as bolted sport climbing. The routes now don't necessarily follow the obvious features as they once did, as the obvious features often provide the easiest climbing (relatively speaking). So modern activists have purposely looked for blank and sickly steep rock. Modern mixed routes abroad now involve so many desperate moves on rock in a row that the ice is now a formality, a rest even, whether its ice 7 to the top or not. Therefore the challenge is in the rock, not the ice. In Rjukan Norway, projects in winter are appearing that are exactly that - pure rock.

Dry Tooling is not traditional Scottish winter climbing, it is a totally separate discipline. For a start, you can Dry Tool all year round. Dry Tooling uses specifically designed axes, boots and screw-on crampons developed for the competition scene (some not even readily available in this country yet). Unlike Scottish winter however, dry tooling is safe (relatively speaking) as the routes are mostly bolted and require little of the mountaineering skills requisite in traditional winter. In essence Dry Tooling is the same as summer sport climbing, allowing climbers to challenge their abilities technically and physically on demanding ground that would otherwise be too serious to place protection on. Hard Dry Tool redpointing has all the aspects of its sport rock-climbing equivalent, containing all the mental pitfalls of failing time and again and of powerful positive thinking and visualising.

There are very few rules in Dry Tooling outside sport climbing ethics. There are no ethical questions over conditions or time of year, you either get up it or you don't. Importantly though modern Dry Tooler's have no aspirations to damage established rock climbs past, present and future and should not be associated with folk that do so. It is totally unacceptable to damage established summer rock climbs. There are plenty of ideal venues for training for winter outside in abandoned quarries or on rock that will never make good rock climbs and in these recognised places Dry Tooling routes could be established.

Fast and Furious is the first route of its type in the UK (besides the chalk routes of Suffolk which have recently fallen down) and the completion of Too Fast - Too Furious, which is the extension of this route has established one of the largest roof climbs in the country, being at an angle of 60 degrees or more over its entire 40 metre length. It is in Newtyle Quarry near Dunkeld. Speculatively, it has been given a grade of 'D12', placing it physically and technically alongside Mushashi, Vertical Limits and Batman - the hardest routes in this genre in the world. Loads of scope remains for more routes of a more reasonable grade and some are currently being developed. The use of a 'D' in the grade indicates that the route can be climbed at anytime of year regardless of conditions. The number stays the same as in the technical number attached to 'M' Mixed graded continental routes.

If you interested in this exciting sport follow the new developments in Scotland on www.scottmuir.com . Throughout the autumn look out for my Ice and Dry Tool Seminars in conjunction with Mountain Equipment at Tiso - The Great Outdoor Experience in Glasgow. The next round of the Dry Tooling Competition will be at Glasgow Climbing Centre on Saturday 22nd November and entry forms will be available soon from my website - get a team together and come and have some fun. Myself and Dave McLeod will also be running Mixed and Dry Tool seminars on 24th / 25th October 2003 at the Performance Winter Seminars organised by George McEwan at Glenmore Lodge 01479 861256.

Scott Muir is sponsored by:
Red Bull - Mountain Equipment - Grivel - Scarpa - Thorlo - Force Ten

Scottish Winter Climbing -
A Code of Good Practice

Discretion should be exercised as to choosing the best style and route for the prevailing conditions. The following voluntary code is a guide to allow for an accepted ethical ascent that has minimum impact on the natural cliff environment:

  1. For maximum enjoyment, the optimum overall conditions for winter climbing would be under frozen and snow covered conditions.
  2. The cliff should have a 'winter' appearance with snow, hoarfrost, rime-ice or verglass covering rock, not just snow covering ledges.
  3. The climb should be more practical and easier in winter climbing equipment such as crampons and ice axes, than without their use.
  4. Turf (vegetation) is an excellent climbing medium and is best when it is well frozen or well covered in snow/neve and then unlikely to be dislodged.
  5. Most of the easier to higher grade gullies require more snow and ice than buttresses of a similar grade. Whilst still harder groove and chimney lines require similar conditions to mixed ascents.
  6. It is the view of the overwhelming majority of Scottish climbers that bolts are not to be used in winter ascents in Scotland.
  7. Summer routes that are of good quality and in particular classic climbs, often have little vegetation or even ice. They should only be attempted in winter when fully coated with snow and ice in order to prevent damage to the underlying rock.
  8. During the winter ascent of summer rock routes there should be a presumption against the use of pegs. All attempts to find protection on such routes should mimic the summer equivalent.
  9. It is common practice to place and remove ones own peg runners and belays on a winter ascent. Repeated use of this sort will ultimately damage the rock and the use of pegs should therefore be kept to a minimum with all options for natural gear utilised first. It should be pointed out that camming devices are of limited use in winter and are useless in iced cracks.
  10. Considering the above conditions, Dry-tooling, as practiced in the USA and Europe is not common in Scotland. It would be considered unethical to dry-tool rock climbs, established or future.

The full code is available here, but reproduced here are the most pertinent issues. What do you think of the new developments in Dry Tooling? Send your comments to the Pitch-In section of this website.

Back to Newsletter index     next article

This page is part of the old website of the Mountaineering Council of Scotland.
To visit the new website, click on
www.mcofs.org.uk

[ Home ] [ News ] [ Safety and Training ] [ Access and Conservation ] [ Sports Development ] [ Council Matters ]
[ Search ] [ Info Service ] [ Membership ] [ Publications ] [ Links ]

© The Mountaineering Council of Scotland 2003