Page 24 - 2009 AMA Summer

WINTER CLIMBING PROFICIENCY COURSE
By Scott Roberts
You know those inspiring photos in the glossy climbing magazines? The ones where some twin-axe-wielding maniac is running it out up a perfect white sheet of ver- tical water ice under an eye-piercing sky? Well, I was doing my best to summon their motivating power in the Aviemore pre-dawn as I attacked the almost equally large icefall on my windscreen, using the rather less impressive ‘ice tool’ that came free with my RAC membership. There had to be some reason why I had dragged my long-suffering girlfriend up to Scotland for New Year (Hogmanay, even) only to experience the sort of temperatures that made even her Canadian blood freeze. It was day two of the Winter Climbing Proficiency course and I was still limping from day one1. Combine that with the facts that I knew that my hill fitness, quite frankly, left a lot to be desired and that the previous day’s ‘introduc- tory’ winter climb on a Grade III horror had scared the beje- sus out of me and I will admit that my morale was not at its highest point at this moment!
A few hours later, though, I was stood at the base of Lurcher’s Crag in the Lairig Ghru with instructors James Woodhouse and Geordie Taylor and fellow student James Annear. As we examined the options, a short-ish ice and rock route on the left or a longer, mostly ice route on the right, the enthusiasm flowed back into my bloodstream. Geordie and I tackled the mixed route on the left which turned out to be choss-tastic but nevertheless thoroughly enjoyable.
Things continued to improve, and by the final day of the course I was happily seconding James W up five pitches of grade III water ice – not quite in the league of those magazine
pictures, perhaps, but close enough for me. The ‘thock’ of the axe embedding itself securely into a sheet of ice is a uniquely satisfying sound, one that gives you the confidence to trust your weight to it (and that’s a considerable amount of trust in my case).
So if you have ever had a hankering to put your weight behind two swinging axes without fear of being taser-ed by the local constabulary then the WCP course could be for you. Students need to already have some general winter moun- taineering and summer rock climbing experience: WMP and RCP are stipulated and I would recommend adding a few multi-pitch rock routes to your logbook before trying the same on ice and snow. Oh, and a dollop of the proverbial humour helps at times, too.
Big thanks are owed by me to both James W for his time, expertise and tolerance and to Geordie, who knows how to motivate those whose spirit is willing but body weak. Our WCP course was run as part of the AMA Winter Meet, and once again John Belsham deserves special recognition as the driving force behind an excellently run meet. If you haven’t been to one yet, you are missing out not only on some great winter climbing, mountaineering and walking but also on a fantastic chance to socialise with like-minded lunatics in a wood cabin in the middle of a snow-covered wonderland. In a good way, not in a Jack Nicholson way.
1 Top Tip: if your boots feel too small on day one, they aren’t going to have miraculously expanded by day two. The doc- tor says that my big toe nails will grow back eventually.
22 ARMY MOUNTAINEER