Laubie Laubscher of the Johannesburg section, currently residing in Bath and I were the two MCSA representatives at the BMC Winter Climbing Seminar and Meet.
White-out conditions with one hundred kilometre an hour winds at minus fifteen degrees greeted us as we burrowed through the cornice at the top of our first route in Scotland. "Vindictive arctic weather" Laubie called it, but certainly the way to get alpine experience without having to climb to altitude. Glenmore Lodge where the meet was based is in the Cairngorms that lie on the east side of Scotland due west of Aberdeen not far from Inverness. It is the centre for mountain related training in Scotland with fabulous facilities, pub, dining hall, guest rooms, gymnasium, lecture theatres, stores (where almost anything could be borrowed from crampons to Gortex jackets) and three climbing walls (yes three of them - conventional rock climbing, a dry tooling wall for practicing torqueing and the other manoeuvres of mixed climbing and, an ice climbing wall where ice is simulated with imbedded logs).
I arrived two days early and attended seminars on several aspects of winter climbing (mental training for winter, alpine bivvies, avoiding injuries, avalanche awareness, training for winter and nutrition for winter mountaineering) and participated in a course on winter belays. After a short practical session where our instructor checked that the six of us on the course could handle ropes and set up conventional belays we went onto "the hill". "The hill" is a Scottish euphemism for their mountains. Here on a Grade II route we were instructed in, and practised placing ice screws, making snow bollards, burying dead men and making secure ice axe belays. Late in the day on a steep route nearby a little drama took place. A climber (not one of the meet) having led out a long way was attempting to place an ice screw when he lost his footing and fell pulling out two bits of pro on the way and ending up on steep snow having fallen almost a double rope's length. Our group went to his aid while his partner abseiled safely down. The climber had broken his collarbone and severely damaged his left shoulder. The pair of old pantyhose that I have carried in my pack for many years was called into service to bind up the shoulder and we assisted the climber to walk out to the car park from where he was taken to a hospital in Inverness. "That was a clever trick you did with the tights", commented our instructor. So on day one of my winter climbing experience a member of the MCSA's KZN Rescue team was involved in a rescue in the Cairngorms!
Forty-eight climbers from twenty countries and over fifty British hosts had arrived by the Sunday evening when the meet officially began. The foreigners were teamed up with local host climbers. My partner and mentor for the next three days was a young outdoor instructor from the Lake District, Ingrid Matthews. This was an inspired pairing as the routes that I could manage were also about the level that she was happy to climb. I made a real hash of my first challenging ice lead, a Grade IV called Aladdin's Mirror Direct, bashing the ice to pieces with my axes and battling to place pro. For a while Ingrid, belaying from below, wondered if she was in an ice avalanche! So we decided to abseil off and climb the pitch again by a different line. This was great fun as by now I was beginning to master the art of throwing an axe into the ice, almost like throwing a dart, and not trying to whack the ice with all my might.
Meanwhile many of the world's top climbers were testing their skills on routes up to a Grade VII,9. Each evening after dinner several participants showed slides of their recent adventures. These ranged from the West Ridge of Everest to the awesome walls of Patagonia and the Arwa Spire in North India. Several of these described new routes and first ascents at the extreme edge of current climbing feasibility. Two features of these talks stood out for me firstly, the very high standard of mountain photography, secondly and more striking, the very modest, quiet and unassuming way in which the climbers told their stories. Ian Parnell a specialist big wall climber who had been on the first ascent of the Arwa Spire was very interested to see slides of the cliffs of the Drakensberg and asked about their "big wall" potential. Laubie showed slides on a foreigner's view of UK climbing areas as well as some shots of the better South African climbing venues. On the Friday evening I was very generously given a half-hour slot to give a talk on mountain conservation issues using the Maloti-Drakensberg Mountains as my reference point.
Disaster struck when on the Wednesday evening we were told that due to the foot and mouth outbreak, the countryside had been closed to climbing (inexplicably skiing was still permitted). The organisers hastily arranged a good program of alternative activities principally seminars and workshops on various issues and trips to the Inverness climbing centre. This has to be the best climbing wall (walls) I can possibly imagine. Ingrid, Laubie and I did spend one day skiing and on the last day, the Saturday, we were all randomly assigned into four person teams and competed in a mini winter climbing Olympics. Glenmore has two man made rock towers as outdoor climbing walls. The north face of the one wall was packed with ice and snow and a variety of speed climbing and skill events organised, including snowman (woman) building and ice axe throwing competitions.
The final evening began with a formal function attended by a number of local dignitaries. Chris Bonnington, who was in the area doing some filming, dropped in to meet old friends and it was a great privilege to be able to drink a pint with him. Prizes were presented, thank you speeches made and the chairman of the local Highland Council thanked us for coming to enjoy the Scottish hills. I was honoured by being invited to a present a statement on behalf of the climbers. The band then struck up and the evening turned into a ceilidh as can only happen in Scotland with everyone on the floor attempting the Gay Gordon's, Strip-the-Willow and other Scottish dances. Thanks to the bar and the many bottles of Scotch that had been presented as prizes, the dances became more and more chaotic not that anyone cared and the band kept going into the wee small hours!
In conclusion, I am most grateful to the MCSA Cencom for nominating me. New friends and good contacts were made and the skills acquired will be put to good use during Ulrike Kiefer's Kuksay expedition later in the year. Coincidentally, one of the Chinese climbers (Sun Bin, an Everest veteran) that I met at the meet will be in exactly the same area at the same time as ourselves and has offered to assist cut red tape.
Cold hands, numb feet, the joys of a winter belay. Climbing in the cairngorm mountains your advisories are cold, spindrift avalanches and arctic winds. This is a different environment, unusual and unique. A perfect setting for international climbers to experience the unique environment.
Myself Laubie Laubscher (Jhb section) and Greig Stewart(KZN Section) represented the MCSA for the meet which is held every two years in Scotland. The location is in Eastern Scotland in the Cairngorm mountains, a range that is known for its extreme conditions. Arctic winds batter this range constantly. Especially in winter it can cause climbers to crawl off the summits in high winds and have navigational nightmares to get off in a blizzard.
48 climbers from twenty different countries and over fifty British hosts attended the 2001 meet. The program allowed climbers from all over the world to experience Scotland's unique winter climbing. During the evenings for those who manage to get off the mountains without too much of a navigational problem there were seminars and slide shows presented by an impressive hosts of names.
For the first four days visitors and hosts climbed all over the Scottish mountains. The experience is different from Alpine winter routes or ice falls in the Rockies. There is a great culmination of climbing types. Mixed climbing, Where one uses torquaing techniques and climb iced-up cracks and traditional summer features. These types of routes are typical in Cairngorm and usually make up the harder grades on Scottish routes. Then there is of course steep waterfall type off climbing. But in Scotland due to regular freeze though the ice is extremely well compacted and makes for world-renowned conditions. Ben Nevis is a typical example with big 400 ice routes. Lastly there are the traditional winter routes , where one uses rock, ice and frozen turf to find your way up maybe less obvious lines.
I have been living in the UK a few years now and have done some superb routes giving one good all round winter experience in temperatures that drops to -20 regularly. 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 with spindrift making conditions almost a white out. Greig had his first experience of this type of climbing. The first few days we went to the area known as 'Corrie An'Sneachda'. We first did a classic grade 2/3 route that winds up gullies and corners and finishes up on the summit Plateau. The following day Greig climbed his first ice pillar. The route, 'Aladdin's mirror direct', is a grade 4 with a steep ice pillar to climb. Greig now with new leashes on his axes climbed the route in fine style. Using two attempts as his first was a bit sketchy.
Our evening lectures were fantastic. Austrian hotshots Heinz Zak and Florean Schranz provided a training seminar on high performance winter climbing. Heinz Zak is a world class photographer and climber and his two impressive slide shows had the audience in awe. Together with Pete Janchek (Ex South African now living in Austria) they repeated the bolted route on Cerro Torre-Patagonia in an extra fast time. After their 'warm up' they opened a new route on the big North wall of Fitzroy. For those who doubted his ability after the talks he just confirmed their suspicion by opening a new route in the Cairngorm mountains on Lochain. It was graded 8/9!
To simplify Scottish grades here is the description: Numerics starting at 1 to 8/9 1 generally is a straightforward gully, Grade 3 short steep pitches 75 degrees. Grade 5 is vertical ice sustained require torquaing moves (Jamming axe points in cracks and Dry tooling) Grade 6 and above more sustained and less gear.
Another great slide show was given by a young English climber-Ian Parnell. He and his team did a first ascent of Arwa Spires in the Himalayas. They did it in true traditional fashion. They split into three climbing parties attempting different big walls Alpine style. In the same year he also did a first ascent of the moonflower buttress on Mount Hunter. I enjoyed his philosophical outlook on things. I must say to me the highlight of the slide shows came from a surprising source. A forty something Slovenian, Andrej Stremfelj showed an impressive collection of all his Himalayan ascents, many of them first ascents and new routes on some very hard and big mountains. His attempts were small budget but in true traditional mountaineering spirit.
Here is a short summary of his climbing CV:
1977- Hidden Peak 8068, West Ridge- First ascent
1979- Everest 8868, West Ridge - First Ascent
1981- Llotse south Peak, Reached 8200m
1983- Annapurna South Face, 8034m
1985- Dhaulagiri, East Face, First ascent
1987- Llotse Shar
1988- K2 magic line, reached 8200m
1989- Shishipangma, South Face, First Ascent- Alpine style
1990-Everest, South Col Route
1991-Kanchenjunga South summit, First Ascent-Alpine style
1992-Menlungse 7181m, First Ascent and in alpine Style
1995-Patagonia, New route on the North Face of the Central Tower of Paine.
1995-Cho Oyo 8200m, ascent from Tibet
1999-Guachung Kang 7952, First Ascent of North Face and in Alpine style
Well say no more !
I gave a talk on South Africa and some unusual sometimes unknown climbing in the UK. Greig presented a very professional lecture on Environment issues in the National Parks that border the Drakensberg/Lesotho.
By the Thursday of the meet we have had four great days of climbing, pairing up with other guests and hosts. A fear that was a growing worry amongst the organizers had then become reality. The Foot and mouth epidemic had become a national disaster. In order to try and control it the government had announced a policy where all parks, fields and mountain areas are to be closed to public access. Thus overnight the meet was halted.
The organizers had a trick or two up their sleeves. They put together a fantastic program for the remaining three days. There were more lectures and talks whereby guests shared views on things that affect all climbers in different parts of the world. The top British rock climbers came in to do indoor rock training sessions. We had John Dunne and Leo Holding as our personal trainers for performance rock climbing. I was amazed how Dunne, heavy-looking as he is flew seemingly effortless up grade 25,26's. There were top Scottish winter climbers giving tips on techniques for winter climbing and mountaineering.
Saturday night was the final day. We had the first ice Olympics organized by top climbers and organizers. Guest and hosts joined in teams of four and competed in ten events. The events ranged from dry-tooling on the brick work around the buildings to axe throwing. There was even an artificial ice face. Organizers plastered a building outside wall with snow then poured water down it overnight. The next morning we awoke to a perfectly vertical frozen wall of ice. Aren't climbers resourceful!
That night was the final dinner and Ceilidh (Traditional Scottish Dance). I was surprised when, chatting to an organizer, Sir Chris Bonnington casually wandered in and joined the discussion. Well I met him in the mountains before, but here in a near drunken state all inhibitions were removed and we chatted till late. We drank far too much whisky (Prizes for ice Olympics) and it was rumoured that some BMC committee members were seen skinny dipping in the near frozen lake at the lodge and so ended the meet. Guests and hosts were slow to rise the next day and return to their homes. A quick TV interview and I was on the train back to my home in England, Cheltenham Spa.
A great thank you to the MCSA for the opportunity to attend this meet. Both Greig and I have had a superb week of climbing and meeting like-minded people. In the last few years I have seen Scotland in various seasons and it truly has a unique mountain environment. I know all who experience it with its lovely colours and light will feel the same.