Page 45 - 2020 AMA Summer

in Winter you never go the same way twice. I went there once with another MIC Trainee [this was a few years ago now...] in fog so thick you couldn’t see more than a couple of metres. Despite what we thought was decent compass work, we followed a track, found the stream which leads up towards the lochan, and went up it, only to find ourselves staring down into the void of the Lairig Ghru. We had completely missed the entire corrie. Parallel error. That took some living down. Not that we ever told anyone.
‘”It’s alright Chris, I’ve forgotten the rope... ”
It also brings out the worst in people. We set off once from the carpark in a howling gale with snow blowing all around, kidding ourselves that “it’ll be sheltered from the Westerlies in the corrie”. We got the bottom of what we hoped was the route on No 4 buttress, and steeled ourselves for a miserable time, neither willing to admit that it was all pants [holistic trap anyone?!]. We started to gear up, my partner trying to keep his eyes open in the driving snow to see where the first pitch went, when I looked up from my rucksack and said ‘”It’s alright Chris, I’ve forgotten the rope... ”. Back to the carpark and a café. On another occasion, we were most of the way there when another partner suddenly dropped his rucksack, fumbled around inside it, and looked up at me, face white “I’ve forgotten my helmet” he said... Café again. One all I think.
Now I’ve had my fair share of epics over the years, managing to survive them thus
far. But somehow, so many of them seem to have been on the beetling walls of this impressive corrie. Please don’t judge.....
Take Iron Butterfly for example. A good Grade III Winter route. All relatively straightforward, apart from just that one move... On pitch two, you climb up to a big boss of ice, and then move right across a gap onto a sort of sloping slab. Absolutely fine, except when it is bare of ice or neve; then it can be a real challenge as it is all very exposed and feels pretty tenuous. Did it with two students once and found it was unpleasantly thin. Having made the move and scuttled upwards, I was happily established up at the next belay, knowing that the worst was over. But various twitchings and toings-and- froings on the ropes eventually led to the message that neither of them could, or would, make that move. However hard they tried. Sigh. They were Marines too. So abseiled back down on a big hex in a solid crack, collected them and went back down. The worst was, the hex was then collected by a fellow instructor a couple of days later....and they still have it!
The Vent is an interesting route; it’s the only one I am aware of in the UK that varies between Grade I-V, depending on conditions; and indeed sometimes it’s just completely unclimbable. There
is an infamous chockstone; under good conditions, it is buried or at least very climbable. Under thin conditions it forms a cave and overhang with vertical sides. Agh. I have soloed it, been forced to reverse it, and on at least two occasions, rescued parties who were stuck on it. Misled by the guidebook, they both found themselves unable to make the crux moves, and unwilling to go back down due to lack of gear to abseil off. Luckily I managed to climb the crux both times, and then brought them up, as well as my own partners. So maybe that is a win... Still an infuriating route though!
Milky Way. So it’s meant to be a two star Grade II/III, and most of the time it is. However. Beware of conditions. When buried in powder, it is easy enough climbing....its just that there is no gear. Or belays. Quite spicy in fact. And, if you do the open corner direct finish, then there is often absolutely no gear at all for 50m or so. You have been warned!
Ewen Buttress. Another Grade III with a couple of stars. Surely this one must be OK. Well it is, indeed it is often good fun, except when you try and climb it under deep powder when no-one else has been near it. I did wonder why... Perhaps after the Milky Way episode I should have known. And then I wondered why we did
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