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Walking with Dogs

With more than a few column inches in the blogosphere this month being devoted to the subject of walking with dogs (Andy, John, WD), Ali and I borrowed a Jack Russell (“Gadget”) for a test drive.

A pleasant lunchtime stroll through the local footpaths of Hampshire led us through fields of golden oil seed rape and into woods carpeted with bluebells.

Wildthings Icesac with bullet pocket

I was pleased with my new Wildthings climbing pack when trying it out for the first time in North Wales.

Particularly satisfying is the ingenious new configuration for securely carrying ice tools that protects the pick and the large front zipped pocket. Designed for climbers by climbers and hand made in New Hampshire this sack has the trade off between weight and durability just right for multi-day alpine routes.

Other notable features include - Composite VX-21 fabric (200 p.s.i. waterproof); 2 gear loops on padded, removable hip belt; compression straps; whistle-lock on sternum strap; hydration system compatible; crampon / essentials pocket; 2 haul points; contour-cut removable lid; roll up snow skirt.

Volume: 52 litres; Weight: 1.3kg

Essential Alpine Skills Course – Day 2

Day 2 and we head off for the Ogwen Valley for some more practice on the crags above Lyn Idwal. This is familiar ground for Ali and I and some grade 1 scrambling terrain that we would normally tackle unroped. However, the emphasis is in efficient use of the rope and moving together quickly yet safely with running belays over rock spikes – an essential alpine skill. We also practice fixed belays using an Italian hitch and the odd nut placement.

When we top out on fairly level ground we again practice the Z hoist from yesterday – an excellent and, for me, a much needed refresher. Over lunch we discuss our homework assignment and get some good tips from Simon.

The afternoon is spent protecting a descent with a final abseil. Lee goes first (see photo) and looks surprisingly at ease for his first time. Andy provides backup protection on a safety line before it is his turn to abseil – electing to use an Italian hitch rather than the usual belay plate he finds it hard work as this method is much harder to control. Ali and I follow in turn and then Simon makes it all look so easy.

We head back to PYB and Simon is kind enough to spend some time with Ali and I preparing a three day alternative to our planned first Chamonix trip which would take in the Swiss summits of La Luette and Pigne d’Arolla. Food for thought.

An excellent course that was spot on for what we needed. Next stop the Alps! Good luck to Andy and Lee – keep in touch guys and let us know how you get on.

Murder of the impossible

If you are at a loose end after a day hillwalking or climbing in Snowdonia then why not pop into Plas y Brenin for an evening lecture? The staff give illustrated lectures every Monday, Tuesday and Saturday evenings at 8pm and these are free, open to the public (you don’t have to be on a course) and there is no need to book in advance. Just turn up, grab yourself a pint from the Snowdon bar and follow the horde into the lecture room next door.

We did just that and settled into our seats to listen to Neil Johnson recount the first successful, all British assent of Cerro Torre in Patagonia.

Walter Bonatti, the Italian born climber who set new standards in post-war Alpine climbing had declared Cerro Torre “impossible” and from the photos Neil displayed it was easy to see why.

However, in 1970, Bonatti’s countryman, Cesare Maestri climbed a route on the south-east side of the mountain, the "Compressor Route", so-called because he used a petrol-driven air compressor weighing 70kg (yes 70kg!) to power a drill and place 350 bolts up a blank section of rock – thereby murdering the impossible.

Neil kept us spell bound for an hour and a half with his tale of repeating the route in 2005 but I came away with three enduring memories of the lecture.

Firstly the simplicity of life on an expedition – long periods of boredom interspaced with short periods of pure terror. The normal day to day activities of life and decision making are stripped away and as Neil puts it you are left with:

“move your hands, move your feet,
move your hands, move your feet,
eat,
move your hands, move your feet,
move your hands, move your feet,
sleep”

Secondly, climbing ethics – Maestri bolted the climb and even left the compressor, now rusting, roped to the blank vertical face 35m below the summit. It is all too easy to sit in your armchair and criticise this approach but Neil describes the moment when he reaches it and, without hesitation, stands on it as a man made ledge – pure relief – “ethics are for the elite like Messner”

Finally, the horror as Neil dislodges a large chunk of ice from the compressor which falls onto two climbers below, knocking his boss unconscious and breaking the ribs of another.

A gripping, humorous and inspiring lecture.

You can read teammate, Steve Long’s account of the trip here

Essential Alpine Skills Course - Day 1

At last we are back in North Wales attending a weekend Essential Alpine Skills course at PYB. Breakfast is served in the dining hall and we get chatting to Gerwyn and Ceri Williams, a local couple from a village near Caernarfon. They are booked on a discovering navigation course and since it is their first time at the centre we give them the low down on what to expect.

Following an opening “welcome to PYB” talk in the lecture room we file out to meet our instructor, Simon Hale, and fellow participants for a course specific briefing.

We met Simon last year on an advanced scrambling course at the centre – he spends each summer guiding in the Alps, so we feel in expert hands.

There are two other chaps on the course, Andy Sykes and Lee Melling, both IT professionals from leading merchant banks. Andy has the only alpine experience amongst our group with an ascent of Gran Paradiso last year. Andy and Lee are planning a four day attempt on Mont Blanc in mid June which sounds tough given Lee’s only previous hill experience is the UK three peak challenge. Well he survived that, and the subsequent car crash, and these are not your stereotypical bankers – both keen skiers and used to living life in the fast lane – quite literally as Lee races a Fiat Punto on the track when he isn’t at his keyboard. We bond quickly as a group given our shared goal of climbing Mont Blanc.

Simon gives us an introductory talk on what to expect in the Alps - the longer routes, the night time starts required to summit by early morning to avoid the worst of the snow melt and thunderstorms in the afternoon, mountain hut etiquette etc. Lots of practical information and advice that should ease our transition from UK to European mountaineering.

Today we will focus on alpine rope work and we head off to the grounds to practice safely moving together whilst roped keeping the rope taut to minimise the shock loading if one of us falls into an imaginary crevasse.

Next we look at unassisted crevasse rescue techniques for a party of two using a Z pulley hoist – this is rather complex and not something you would want to figure out from first principles when your mate is down a crevasse with his full weight on your harness! In brief here is what we learnt: (caveat - if you think by reading this you will know how to do it then think again my friend – get some instruction and practice it – the investment may well save your life)

Firstly stop the fall – the most likely scenario is that the leader goes “in the slot” as a snow bridge collapses. The weight will come on the Second almost instantaneously and without warning so get into a sitting position and dig the heels of your crampons into the snow. It is a good idea for the Second to have attached a prusik loop between the rope and harness, in advance, so that the force of the fall is taken on the hips and not the chest coils.

Hopefully the Second has now successfully held the fall and can commence the rescue assuming that the leader is unable to self rescue. Immediately construct a horizontal buried axe belay next to you and by the use of a prusik gently transfer the weight of the fallen climber from your harness to the belay. Clearly you cannot select your spot so you may have to use an ice screw rather than an axe depending on the conditions. Ali and I had a chance to practice buried axe belays in Scotland.

Tie in a backup knot above the prusik in case it fails. The second is now free of the weight of the fallen climber. Remove chest coils and, allowing enough rope to reach the edge of the crevasse, tie yourself into the belay.

Proceed carefully to the edge of the crevasse to assess the leader’s condition – falling in next to him does not help matters! To reduce rope drag kick out snow on the edge and if possible get a rucksack or spare axe under the rope to stop it digging into the snow during the haul.

Attach another prusik and pulley to the rope near the edge of the crevasse and then return to the belay to remove the backup knot and untie yourself. Run the rope through the lower pulley and tie in close to it, thereby forming a Z shape with the rope and giving a 3 to 1 mechanical advantage.

On all fours the second can now haul the climber up until the prusiks meet. At this point the weight can again be gently transferred to the higher prusik and with the lower one reset the haul can continue.

After lunch we looked at self rescue from a crevasse with the leader attaching two prusik loops on the rope in order to climb out himself. For those of you who have read Touching the Void by Joe Simpson you will know how important it is not to drop your prusik loops!

Whilst the other three were soon moving swiftly up their respective vertical ropes I was really struggling because I had a slightly thinner rope and new prusik cord. I was soon sweating profusely even under Simon’s expert guidance. We tried a ropeman device in place of the prusik cord but I messed up and relased it causing me to “crater” fortunately from only a few inches off the ground. Clearly I need more practice at this one!

This perhaps illustrates a point I know already – that my rope work is not what it should be. Ali is a natural and exudes confidence I on the other hand am not. I need to practice, practice and practice some more to become slick and safe – it’s not just my life at stake. But this is why we booked the course and why we have a practice trip to the Alps planned in June.

On a more cheerful note we end the day’s instruction recapping what we have learnt and reviewing maps and guidebooks for the Alps. Simon closes by setting us some route finding homework.

Alps: Day 1 Planning

Thought we would plan to have an easy first day in the Alps. The afternoon before we will take the Charamillion-Balme ski lift up from Le Tour in the Chamonix valley and stay overnight at the Albert Premier Hut (2,702m) which is located about 1 hour 45 minutes above the top of the lift.

The Glacier du Tour closes the top of the Chamonix valley with Mont Blanc to the South and its eastern edge marks the border between France and Switzerland. It is a favourite location for newcomers like us.

In the morning we will set out before first light, having remembered to take a bearing the day before, and pass between Signal and Signal Reilly. From here it’s a steady glacial walk passing the North and South Peaks of Aiguille du Tour to the foot of Tête Blanche which we should reach after 2 hours.

Here we plan to practice the self arrest and belay techniques that we learnt in Scotland on the gentle southern slopes of Tête Blanche.

Time permitting we will take the ordinary route, first climbed in 1857, to the summit (an easy Grade I.F) to admire the view back across the Glacier du Tour and to peer down the much steeper (55 degrees) North Face (Grade II.AD) into the Plateau du Trient before returning via the same route to the Albert Hut.

Well that’s the plan for Day 1

Book Review: Left for Dead

Left for Dead – My Journey Home from Everest by Beck Weather with Stephen G. Michaud

Review Rating:

Beck Weathers a Pathologist from Dallas was on a quest to join the elite band of climbers who had climbed the highest mountain on each of the seven continents as detailed by Dick Bass, the first to accomplish this task in his account “Seven Summits” (see future review). For Beck summiting Everest would be tick number six on a peak bagging list that is only surpassed by an ascent of all fourteen of the world’s 8000 metre mountains.

The year before Beck had undergone a radical eye operation and this combined with the increasing effects of high altitude on his cornea had left him practically blind on summit day. He reached as far as The Balcony some five hundred vertical metres below the top by 7:30am but knew he could not continue unless his vision improved. He agreed with Rob Hall, his expedition leader, to stay put until Rob could safely escort him back to camp after guiding fellow climbers to the summit. Beck wasted nearly ten hours in attempt to keep a rendezvous that would tragically never happen before agreeing to descend with Mike Broom. So Beck was part of the group of climbers and guides that included Lene Gammelgaard who were stranded at the South Col when the storm struck.

Unlike Gammelgaard, however, Beck never makes it back to Camp IV that night and slips in to unconsciousness exposed to the full force of the storm. Many hours pass but miraculously Beck regains consciousness during the afternoon of May 11th and is shocked into action by a combination of his own condition, thoughts or his family and the realisation that the “cavalry was not coming”. Indeed the cavalry had already been and gone assuming that he was beyond help and giving rise to the title of the book.

- "I can tell you that some force within me rejected death at the last moment and then guided me, blind and stumbling — quite literally a dead man walking — into camp and the shaky start of my return to life"

The following chapters cover the ensuing rescue – how Beck was aided down the mountain, received basic medical treatment for his horrendous frostbite injuries and evacuated from above the Khumbu Icefall by a record breaking and almost suicidal helicopter rescue.

Divided into four parts, "Left for Dead" is predominately concerned with events after his return from Everest – his rehabilitation and reconciliation with his wife and family. Those most interested in an account of the tragedy or mountaineering in general will be gripped by Part One but may be tempted, as I was, to stop reading thereafter.

I was hoping to learn more of the human side and cost of high altitude mountaineering and while this book provides much that is thought provoking I would recommend “Fragile Edge” by Maria Coffey, partner of the late Joe Tasker ahead of it.

UK Outdoor Bloggers Forum

Well there has been much talk of a forum for UK Outdoor Bloggers - e.g John

I have taken the liberty to setup this free offering. If it develops into a useful resource I will be happy to migrate it to a more permanent home or to hand it over to someone else.

http://groups.google.co.uk/group/uk-outdoor-bloggers-forum?hl=en

Well its up and you could be the first to post...

I will sweep up the history from your blogs and post them into the forum over the next day or two to start discussions going.

You just need a free google account to register and there are no restrictions at present.

Tryfan Revisited

Following on from John Hee’s blog I can say that I came to the outdoors much later in life, in my mid thirties, as an escape for the pressures of work and quite literally to gain a different perspective on the world.

I have been hillwalking for about five years now discovering new ranges to enjoy but I am always drawn back to North Wales and Tryfan in particular.

Tryfan to me is a yardstick to measure my own personal development as a hillwalker. Like any UK hill the weather is transient and each encounter a new one but underlying this is the fixed and unchanging rock oblivious to my presence.

Why Tryfan in particular then? Perhaps because it was the first serious hill I ever climbed or perhaps because it beat me at my first attempt. Is it the ease of access from the road? Is it the fact that mountain boasts so many routes at various grades? Is it the history of the place – Bonnington’s first winter gully and the inauguration of the Brown / Whillans partnership to name but two?

The answer lies in all of these but in essence it is a mountain I will neither tire of nor master. There is a certain satisfaction in getting to know one mountain intimately as an antidote to peak bagging.

I have done the classic North ridge several times but like most people never by exactly the same line; the South ridge and routes on the East Face.

I’ve been on the hill in rain, hail, high wind, fog and perfect sunshine. I’ve done it at night – subversively walking down the A5 approach road under cover of darkness and half expecting the police to arrive at any moment and whisk me off “to the Psychiatric Centre for Regressive Tendencies” like Bradbury’s Pedestrian.

So what is left for me to do on this hill? Well there are plenty of new and harder grade 2 and 3 scramble routes to attempt on the East face and the West face is yet uncharted by me. For pure rock climbing, an activity I have yet to experience, there is the famous Milestone buttress and beyond.

I have yet to “gain the freedom of Tryfan” by leaping from Adam to Eve like the handful of mad people I have watched. I haven’t walked the entire Heather Terrace to the south summit and I look forward to Ali and I taking to the mountain in winter conditions.

So I will hopefully return again and again to seek purer lines, new routes or simply to enjoy it for what it is – a classic mountain that cares not one jot for my fleeting scrambles upon her flanks.

Book Review: Climbing High

Climbing High – A woman’s account of surviving the Everest Tragedy by Lene Gammelgaard

Review Rating:

In this book Gammelgaard, a 34 year old Danish mountaineer, recounts her successful attempt to become the first Scandinavian woman to summit Everest. It was also the first account of the 1996 Everest disaster to be published in book form and appeared within six months of the event.

Gammelgaard was a fee paying client on Scott Fischer’s Mountain Madness expedition which planned to summit along the original 1953 first ascent route via the South Col. The expedition was formerly titled the “Sagarmatha Environmental Expedition” with the laudable aim of cleaning up equipment debris left on the mountain by previous expeditions but alas she gives very little mention of this work. Clearly participation in the cleanup was a matter for the Sherpa team rather than the clients. A cynic may conclude, perhaps, that the environmental aspects were simply a marketing ploy for Fischer ‘s company or to gain favour with the Nepalese authorities in granting the mandatory climbing permits.

Gammelgaard uses a diary or journal format throughout the book which is both its major strength and its major weakness. On the positive side the diary was written as events actually unfolded which should result in a more accurate account than may have been produced after the event – at high altitudes hypoxia (lack of oxygen) can muddle the memory. Whilst the book couldn’t be influenced by those that were to follow it is impossible to say, without access to the original diaries, whether the media coverage at the time or the initial accounts by Jon Krakauer published in Outside magazine (later to be expanded into one of our review books) influenced the editing.

Giving Gammelgaard the benefit of the doubt I agree with her when she states that “in this book I have tried to act as camera lens, recording what I experienced, presenting my teammates as I saw them”.

The weakness of the diary style is that it can come over in places as rather self indulgent, rambling and a mere brain dump. However, those seemingly irrelevant trivialities recounted add some insights for the armchair mountaineer that may be lost to the editor’s red pen in more polished accounts.

Like most diaries then, it is a very immediate and personal account – her oft quoted mantra “To the summit and safe return” she hopes “will drive me up and back down, even when my brain tells me I am exhausted and can do no more”.

But she does a good job of balancing her ambitions with the potential reality - “The hazard of my little experiment is that focusing entirely on the summit victory becomes all encompassing and may be so powerful a motive that I will be incapable of turning around before the summit, even at the cost of my own health … or my life. Sometimes the true victory is to let go, to be capable of turning around in due time without suffering defeat”

Ten years after the tragedy not much has changed - Viewers of the 2006 documentary “Everest Beyond the limit” watched on as two climbers caught in summit fever refused to be turned around by the expedition leader and climbing Sherpa.
http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/everestbeyond/everestbeyond.html

Gammelgaard is realistic about the inherent dangers and about the effects that climbing can have on those around her. But she is focused on her goal of getting to the top of the world before starting a family - “I imagine that when I decide to have children, I will give up my participation in the race to summit the fourteen 8000m peaks. The way I see it now, its an either/or situation because the risks of dying whilst climbing are so high. Just study a few expedition reports to calculate the odds – they are bad”

“One of the reasons I respect Anatoli” – referring to Anatoli Boukreev – a guide on the Mountain Madness team and arguable the strongest mountaineer on Everest that year - “is his sense of reality … he knows he risks dying out here and, therefore, has not started a family”.

Sadly Anatoli was killed whilst attempting a new winter route on Annapurna on Christmas Day the following year. He was caught in an avalanche above 6500m caused by a falling cornice.

Whilst Gammelgaard spends more time discussing the weaknesses of those around her than describing the scenery there are some nice passages – notable amongst these is her first ascent through the Khumbu icefall into the Western Cwm and the summit day ascent itself.

At first the brevity of her account of the fatal storm is surprising, given the space afforded to it in other accounts, but it fits her style. The blizzard hit as she was returning to the South Col and the ensuing whiteout made it impossible to find the relative safety of the nearby tents at Camp IV.

The description that follows makes gripping reading as she huddles lost in a group of fellow climbers who are each in turn running out of bottled oxygen, warmth, energy, time and life and too afraid of falling to their deaths down the Kangshung face to wander aimlessly around looking for the tents.

Everest 1996 - Running Order

To be clear the planned running order for the book reviews will be as follows:

22 Mar - Climbing High by Lene Gammelgaard (Client - Mountain Madness)

29 Mar - Left for Dead by Beck Weathers (Client - Adventure Consultants)

05 Apr - Doctor on Everest by Kenneth Kamler (Client and Team Doctor - Alpine Ascents)

12 Apr - The Death Zone by Matt Dickinson (Filmaker - Himalayan Kingdoms)

19 Apr - High Exposure by David Breashears (Leader & Film Director - IMAX)

26 Apr - Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer (Client - Adventure Consultants)

03 May - The Climb by Anatoli Boukreev (Guide - Mountain Madness)

10 May - Touching My Father's Soul by Jamling Tenzing Norgay (Deputy Leader - IMAX)

11 May - Roundup and recommendations

Everest 1996 - setting the scene

The 1996 Everest tragedy is a big subject and provides a fascinating insight into the world of high altitude mountaineering.

Each week for the next seven weeks I’ll be posting a book review by an author who was on the mountain that year and who observed or participated in the unfolding events.

Finally, in week eight of this mini-series and to mark the 11th anniversary of the tragedy on the 10th May, I’ll bring everything together and give you my final book recommendations.

Firstly I should set the scene for you … or better still let one of our authors, Matt Dickinson, do it for me:

“The timing was uncanny, as bad as it was possible to be. If the storm had struck in winter then no one would have been hurt. But as chance would have it, the tempest arrived on the busiest day of the Everest calendar”

Above 8000 metres “in the ‘Death Zone’ more than thirty climbers were fighting for their lives … The night that faced them was a night from hell. By the end of the following day, the three Indian climbers on the north side and five of the climbers on the south, were dead”

“The storm left a mountain of questions in its wake. How could world-class mountaineers like Rob Hall and Scott Fischer lose their lives on a mountain they knew so intimately? Why were so many inexperienced climbers high on the mountain when the storm hit? Why did a team of Japanese climbers and their Sherpas pass the dying Indian climbers and yet fail to try and rescue them?”

We’ll return to Matt’s book later in the series, but its more logical to start on the south side of the mountain with the first book published, Climbing High by Lene Gammelgaard and so that is where we will begin….

GR20 Corsica

Last September Ali and I, together with friends Cat and Alan, tackled the northern half of the GR20 long distance path in Corsica.

I am in the process of retrospectively posting our account to the blog (see GR20 category opposite) especially for Sally (http://www.sallyinnorfolk.com/) who is planning to walk the route in June - Good luck Sally!

For anyone else contemplating the route I can thoroughly recommend Paddy Dillon's guidebook: http://www.cicerone.co.uk/product/detail.cfm/book/477/title/gr20---corsica

You can hear Paddy discussing the book with Andy Howell as part of the Outdoors Station's book club podcast by clicking the link below: http://www.theoutdoorsstation.co.uk/Paddy_Dillon_BC8.htm

Alpine planning

Weatherproof IGN Maps have arrived from Stanfords and we have been reviewing objectives for our first alpine expedition.

We are planning four nights in high mountain huts and ascents of Tete Blanche (from the South and again from the North) and L’Aiguille du Tour.

Over the coming weeks we hope to refine the itinerary as we continue our research but the flights and airport transfers are now booked.

Useful resources:

Snow, Ice and mixed – the guide to the Mont Blanc Range (Vol 1) by Francois Damilano

Easy ascents in the Mont Blanc Range – Francois Burnier, Dominique Potard

Duke of Edinburgh

With an MSc assignment deadline looming for Ali I stepped in to cover her commitment to a Bronze DofE group today.

Together with another leader we had a group of six enthusiastic teenagers on a planned practice walk through Staunton country park.

I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed my first encounter with a DofE group. It was a great feeling to help them with their navigation and to be "putting something back" into the community.

Whilst time is limited this year I would like to be more involved with DofE in the years to come. To this end I have signed up for the Mountain Leader Award http://www.mlte.org/ so I can start working on my logbook. I hope to complete my ML Training week at Plas y Brenin towards the end of the year.

Gear: New Alpenstock Vista

To buck the current lightweight trend we look back to the times when gear was gear.

Coming very soon our full Alpenstock review - a handy pole that replaces the need for an ice axe.

Book reviews

With over a hundred mountaineering books on my shelves you could be forgiven for thinking my nose is in a book whenever it isn't sampling mountain air.

Come and join me in a review of mountain literature - some of the books you may own already and I hope this prompts you to dust them off for a re-reading, others I am sure will be new.

To make things a bit different from the usual reviews found elsewhere on the web I will break the collection down into sub-genres and compare and contrast various authors.

To give you the idea, I'll start next week with a review of the 1996 Everest disaster, perhaps the most written about mountaineering event since the first ascent in 1953. (or was it 1924? - more on that another time)

On May 10th 1996 twenty three men and women were caught in a desperate struggle for their lives as they battled against a ferocious storm high on Everest - and eight of them would lose that battle.

In all we will review seven books covering the events of that day and the recriminations that followed. We'll hear from a man left for dead and from the doctor who later treated him at base camp. We'll hear from a journalist, a woman climber, a couple of film makers and a high altitude guide - all were present and give their own perspective on this extraordinary event.

Chamonix calling

Following our winter mountaineering course in February we are both hooked! We have decided to spend Lay's 40th birthday in June on the Mont Blanc massif. Whilst we have a longer trip booked in August this trip will allow us to practice our winter skills beforehand.

After careful consideration we have decided not to hire a mountain guide for this preliminary trip but to go it alone so we can practice and consolidate our recently acquired skills.

Our objectives will be in the Tour and Trient basins to the north of Mont Blanc itself and will provide experience on F and PD routes.

Given that our winter course in Scotland didn't cover glacial travel we will be attending an Alpine Essentials course at Plas y Brenin next month.

Craggy Island

Today we both signed up for membership at the Craggy Island indoor climbing wall in Guildford. http://www.craggy-island.com/ Whilst sports climbing is not really our bag, indoor climbing will help us with ropework practice, finger and body strength and general route finding and confidence for scrambling.

We enjoyed a few hours climbing easier grade 3 and 4 as well as attempting a 4+. We took it in turns to watch and belay Alan on some more demanding routes up to 5+.

Turning around

Objective: NC Gully **(II), Glen Coe

Day 5 dawns and marks our final day on the winter mountaineering course. Thoughts of blisters vanish with excitement as Clive arrives and announces that he thinks we are ready for something a bit tougher – we each trade in our walking ice axe for a pair of technical ice climbing tools from the storeroom at the hotel.

Lay: To be honest my feet are in a bad way today – Ali has done a great job of patching them up with Compede and padding but the long walk in takes its toll. In the grand scale of things the pain isn’t that bad but my heels are red raw – still I only have to get through today and then I can take it easy on my feet for a while.

Progress is slow for me on anything but the flat path – Ali and Jonathan are striding out ahead happily talking together. I am in my own world of pain, finding even the easiest of terrain difficult. Clive has dropped some way back behind me, perhaps to give me some space but I suspect he is assessing my ability to continue. Well that’s fine – I’m not giving up and continue the plod upwards determined to have a crack at some technical climbing.

As we reach the snow line I take the lead and dig deep pushing ahead of our group. Unknown to me Clive raises his concerns with Ali below and they discuss how I would react to being turned around. Ali responds by saying that she knows I won’t quit but if he calls a halt I will respect his decision.

We reach the coire at the foot of NC gully and we stop for a break. Clive takes me to one side – I suspect what he is about to say. We discuss the route – I am more worried by the broken scree leading to the gully rather than the technical climbing. He is kind enough to say that he thinks that he can get me up but since we are already an hour late to this point we will probably be descending the mountain in the dark. The choice is mine – however, I know that there is only one real option – I should descend. We decide that Ali and I will turn around together and Clive and Jonathan will attempt NC Gully alone.

I feel disappointed but it’s the right decision – I encourage Ali to go with them but she is not having any of it – we do it together or not at all. Our party splits and Ali and I make surprisingly quick progress back to the car.

At 4pm we sit in the Landrover and watch as Clive and Jonathan return from a successful ascent. We all head to the Clachaig Inn for a final beer together and to discuss our future plans.

“Climb if you will, but remember that courage and strength are nothing without prudence” - Edward Whymper

Ledge Route, Ben Nevis

Objective: Ledge Route ***(II), Ben Nevis. First ascent by an SMC party, Easter 1897

Day 4 and we head back to the CIC hut in high spirits as today we tackle the best route at its grade on The Ben. On the path ahead we catch sight of a Ptarmigan - an odd little bird in it's white winter plumage that appears to prefer walking away, under the camouflage of falling snow, rather than summoning the energy to fly.

At the hut we again take a short break – Lay offers eagerly to eat an old Mars Bar that Clive finds unappetisingly squashed in a recess in his rucksack – well it has been to the summit of Kilimanjaro!

From the hut we rope up at the foot of the mighty Carn Dearg buttress rising almost vertically from Coire na Ciste. Our intended route is to bypass the lower reaches of the buttress by starting up Number 5 Gully immediately to its left and then traversing rightwards.

Clive leads, followed by Jonathan, Lay and this time Ali is at the back. We move together quickly up the beginning of the gully - No.5 is prone to avalanches and Clive is keeping a careful watch out.

The pace is sapping on the legs and a tricky ice step looms ahead. Lay swings his ice axe high above his head and gains comfort from the solid "whack" sound as the pick digs securely into the ice above the step. With a strong arm pull, a grunt and three front pointed steps he is over the obstacle and moving ahead to belay Ali.

Lay’s concerns that the step may be too high for Ali quickly evaporate as she hauls herself up – she is confident in the rope and commits herself to the move.

We continue upwards and with relief move out of the gully onto a gentle ramp leading above the Carn Dearg buttress. The ramp leads out above the top of The Curtain onto a broad, almost horizontal ledge which fades out to the right. Clive picks a sheltered spot for us to regroup. He sits, surrounded by a curtain of three foot icicles hanging from the rock wall behind him, to admire the view out across the north face of Ben Nevis.

All too soon we leave the security of the ledge behind us and venture out to traverse a steep snow slope – Lay marvels at the exposure and looks back to share the moment with Ali but she is engrossed in watching her footwork.

The route now follows the ridge and is in places very narrow – we are exposed to the wind here. At the top of one pinnacle Lay ducks his head for protection against a particularly strong gust of wind. Clive is similarly sheltered by rock but between them, in the middle of the snow covered ridge, Jonathan bears the full force. Unable to advance or retreat by the tight rope he is forced onto all fours, digs in with his ice axe and has no option but to wait for the wind to abate.

We press on feeling that we are on similar terrain to that which we enjoy for summer scrambling. Exposed but secure in the rope. A further connecting ridge eventually leads us to the summit of Carn Dearg where we can again regroup for a photo.

Lay is slow in the descent above the zig zags – with the adrenaline of the climb gone his focus has shifted to the pain of his blisters. Over steep mixed ground, uncramponed he is struggling to keep up. There is some relief as a short section is passed by a seated glissade – great fun to be sliding through the snow using the axe as a brake. A great end to a memorable winter day on The Ben.

Aonach Mor

Objective: Skills and practice day on Aonach Mor

Today marks the half way point of our winter mountaineering course and promises to be an easier day than yesterday. Today we focus on crossing ice, snow belaying and avalanche awareness.

To make life easier we take the Gondola up the flanks of Aonach Mor. Strapping on crampons we practice crossing frozen water ice - at first Clive's instruction about positive foot placements seems counter intuitive - all our previous experience tells us to tread anywhere but directly on ice. However, it's quite a remarkable feeling to stamp each boot onto the bare ice - the crampon points bite easily in to provide a secure footing. Within a few minutes our confidence has increased and we are happily front pointing up quite steep ice.

Next Clive gives us an introduction to avalanche awareness. We discuss slope assessment and hazard evaluation and the effects of past and present weather on the snowpack. We get hands on by digging a snow pit and checking for weak layers and finally perform a hand sheer test.

Now we have a good idea of the stability of our chosen slope we can move out into the middle to practice snow belays - various methods to protect a party descending a steep snow slope.

First up is the bucket seat belay which requires a lot of digging with the adze of the axe - perhaps a good reason to bring a snow shovel. Once constructed the bucket seat proved remarkably strong - indeed it easily held three people's weight on the rope. However, any snow anchor is only as strong as the snow its constructed in. Today we have ideal neve snow but that wont always be the case so we reinforce the bucket seats with a horizontal buried axe indirect belay.

Next we look at a Stomper belay which is much quicker to construct as it simply involves burying the axe vertically in the snow and holding it in place by standing on it. Quick but not as secure. That said a similar belay was successfully used by Pete Schoening 8000m up K2 in 1953 to halt five men sliding simultaneously for nearly a hundred metres down a 45-degree slope. A feat that earned him the nickname "Mr Belay".

Finally we look at constructing snow bollards which have the advantage of not leaving any gear on the hill during descent.

During our day it was interesting to note how much snow a party climbing 200m above us dislodged as they kicked steps. By the time it fell down to us it was moving at a blistering pace and we were glad to be wearing climbing helmets!

"Practice is the best of all instructors" - Publilius Syrus, first century B.C.

The camaraderie of the rope

Objective: Ascent of a gully on the north face of Ben Nevis

Only day 2 and Lay is suffering with heel blisters from his new boots. Probably caused by having the laces too loose yesterday rather than any inherent fit problem. We strapped them up as best we could and hope that they don't get too much worse.

Today we head for The Ben, the highest mountain in Britain. We head up the recently improved path along the side of Allt a' Mhuilinn stream. Sweat is the enemy in winter so we have to force ourselves to keep the pace nice and slow. Eventually the path terminates at the CIC hut and mountain rescue post (GR 167 722). The hut was originally built in 1929 as a memorial to Charles Inglis Clark who died during the first world war but has since been upgraded to include a wind generator and solar panels but alas no toilet!

From outside the hut we peer into Coire Na Ciste and the semi circular amphitheatre of rock that rises from its head - welcome to the north face of Ben Nevis! Well we came in search of winter experience and it looks like there is more here than we can handle. Glad we have Clive to show us the ropes. We walk thoughtfully but purposefully up into the coire.

Pausing briefly to attach crampons we discuss the route. Our objective is the easiest gully hereabouts - the unimaginatively named Number 4 Gully a simple winter grade I snow plod which is currently hidden from view making us a little apprehensive.

As we round a corner the gully comes into view but is already chocked with climbers which will slow our pace considerably. Clive suggests an alternative - it's neighbour - Number 3 Gully - at Grade II a more serious proposition. We discuss it and agree that whilst the overhanging cornice may force us to retreat we'll have a crack at it!

We traverse the steep snow slope practicing kicking our steps with boot edges but unlike yesterday we do this now with crampons. We zig zag up to the foot of the gully unroped. Ali is aware of, but trying her best to ignore, the exposure and is employing a no slip philosophy! Lay is feeling confident after yesterday's self arrest practice but has a firm grip of his ice axe.

We stop to rope up as a four. Clive leading, then Lay, Ali and Jonathan. Each of us kicking to reinforce the steps made by the previous person. It feels good to be on the rope together both as a security measure and a symbol of our little team.

As we work our way up the right hand side of the gully the ground steepens and Clive is forced to cut out pigeon steps with his axe. Twenty metres from the top we dig in to secure ourselves while Clive continues up to inspect the cornice - in a flash he is over the top and fixing a belay. A tug on the rope and Lay knows its time to tackle the crux of the route.

The Ben is notorious for bad weather - in an average year its top is shrouded in cloud for over 300 days. Today we emerge from Number 3 Gully into glorious sunshine. We've done it! Exhilarated we walk to the summit feeling like part of an exclusive club of real mountaineers. Its been 24 years since Lay was last here with his dad. We pause on the summit to watch climbers completing Kellett's route (Grade VI***)

Stob Coire Nan Lochan (1,115m)

Objective: Practice crampon and ice axe techniques on the gentle snow slopes above Glen Coe.

We parked Clive's 1978 Landrover in the layby on the A82 (GR 168 569) from where Stob Coire Nan Lochan dominates the view to the south west between Aonach Dubh and Gearr Aonach

We start with a short descent to the river Coe following a series of steep wooden steps, which required care in rigid new four season boots, down to a footbridge (GR 174 564). From here it's a long steady ascent up a well defined path on the left bank of the frozen Allt Coire Gabhail.

After about an hour the path levels into a massive flat valley which was hidden from view below. We have entered the "lost valley" (GR 164 554) - a hanging valley formed by the weight of ice unable to escape as the last ice cap flowed down to the sea through the pass of Glen Coe from off Rannoch Moor.

The valley is known locally as Coire Gabhail or "Coire of the Capture" as reputedly it was where the MacDonald's hid the cattle that they had rustled from neighbouring, more wealthy, clans. In summer the valley is transformed into a grassy meadow - a Highlander's Shangri La perhaps - but now, in winter, it's a barren and windy place. We shelter behind a large boulder and share a sandwich and a flask of hot chocolate.

We cross the flat valley floor moving quickly over the glacial moraine. The head of the valley is truncated by a buttress of Bidean Nam Bian but we turn westward before reaching it and continue our ascent until finally reaching the snowline and another flat area enclosing a series of lochan (small lakes) at 875m (GR 148 544) some two hours after leaving the car park.

It is a relief to see so much snow up here! It feels firm and compacted underfoot. Later we will learn that this type is called Neve or melt freeze snow and is usually forms a very stable layer.

Clive instructs us on how to strap on our crampons. Ali has borrowed a pair of winter boots from the Adventure Peaks storeroom at the hotel and I have just bought a pair of Millet Alpinist 4 season boots - I am feeling a bit self conscious as they are bright red and show no scuff marks yet!

On a gentle 30 degree slope we practice walking with spikes on our feet for the first time - using a wide gait to avoid snagging our waterproof over trousers - John Wayne impressions fill the air.

We practice "French Technique" or flat footing - ensuring that all our points enter the snow at the same time regardless of the angle of slope, "German Technique" or front pointing and a hybrid called "American Technique" where the uphill foot front points and the downhill foot flat foots - a seemingly efficient way to directly ascend moderate slopes.

For stability we plunge the spike of our ice axe vertically into the snow on the uphill side with the adze pointing forward and changing hands each time we change direction.

Without crampons we practice cutting steps with the edges of our boots and basic self arrest techniques using the ice axe.

With practice over we rope up as a four to tackle steeper ground leading to the col between Bidean Nam Bian and Stob Coire Nan Lochan (GR 146 544).

At the col we unrope, turn north east and plod up the gentle snow ridge to reach our objective - the summit of Stob Coire Nan Lochan pausing briefly to remove crampons on the mixed ground before the top.

A quick summit photo and we need to descend before the light fades - down the north ridge, past some more lochans (GR 153 552) and gaining a path down through Coire Nan Lochan. A long descent with the car park visible from over 3km away!

Ballachulish

We arrived at the Ballachulish hotel in Glen Coe, our base for the week, around 5pm today. (http://www.ballachulishhotel.com/)

Worryingly the snow cover on the surrounding hills looks very lean and we are both a little concerned about how much winter mountaineering experience we will actually get this week.

We met up with our instructor, Clive Roberts, for a pre-course briefing and equipment check. Clive's unassuming nature hides both his depth of experience and his laconic Irish wit. He has recently returned from successfully leading a group of Adventure Peaks clients to the summit of Kilimanjaro (5,895m)

Scotland bound

En route to Glencoe to start our winter mountaineering course with http://www.adventurepeaks.com/ we called in on Clare and Tony in the Lake District. Taking advantage of the sunshine they took us on a great walk up to Allcock Tarn - thanks guys!

Mont Blanc - plans afoot

We have now booked up with Adventure Peaks for a crack at Mont Blanc in August.

Advice from postings in the Outdoors Magic forums has prompted us to select a two week trip to ensure we acclimatise properly. The first week will cover alpine training and ascent of some smaller peaks in the Mont Blanc range and the second week will give us a reasonable window to summit the main peak.

As we have no previous winter experience we have also booked a five day introduction to winter mountaineering course in Glen Coe for February

2007 The adventure continues

Happy new year to you all - here are our plans, subject to change, for 2007:

• February - Scottish Winter Mountaineering skills course
• April - Essential Alpine Skills course, Plas y Brenin
• June - First Alpine expedition - Chamonix
• August - Mont Blanc
• December - Scottish winter climbing

and in between, as many hill days in North Wales and the Lake District as we can muster

"We've come this far. Let's make the last step together"
Jim Wickwire, Summit of K2, 1978