Global climbing connections made at Scottish Winter Meet

Despite having only three days of winter conditions followed by a deep thaw, plenty of routes were ticked as groups rotated between the Mill Cottage, Raeburn, Lagangarbh, and CIC huts, before downing tools and shifting to Highland rock climbing (and even enjoying some swimming in Loch Ness and a 70km hill run).

Tell us about the long-running history of the International Winter Climbing Meet?

Simon: The first international Scottish winter climbing Meet was held in 1997 based at Glenmore Lodge. It was organised by the BMC with support from the Mountaineering Council of Scotland. The meet continued on a two-year basis until 2000 when the BMC no longer had the resources to run it. Mountaineering Scotland took over with assistance from the Scottish Mountaineering Club, the Alpine Club and the BMC.

How long have you each been involved in the meets and what inspired you to be a part of it?

Simon: I was asked to give a presentation to the guests on the first meet in 1997 and have attended every one since. It is wonderful to be able to share the Scottish winter climbing experience with people from overseas and it’s a fantastic opportunity to meet many interesting people.

Alistair: On and off I've been involved for 25 years, initially as a host and then in 2020 I was jointly involved with Simon as co-host. The inspiration was simple — Scottish winter climbing rivals any other mountaineering activity; its unique blend of accessibility, difficulty and ever changing weather means a good day is always had regardless of whether you get up a route! So my involvement was a simple desire to showcase how fantastic Scotland is by using my knowledge of venues, options and routes to visitors from other climbing nations.

Why hadn't the event run in the past few years?

Simon: The 2020 event took place just before the first COVID lockdown. The pandemic then made travel difficult for a couple of years. Although we did run a mini winter meet in 2023, this year was the first time we have been able to run the full event. To ensure all the supplies are in place at the CIC Hut, we need a two-year timeframe to plan the event.

Climbing with a new partner — especially in winter — can be daunting. How do you carefully vet and match climbers' abilities and experience?

Simon: We ask host climbers to summarise their Scottish winter experience and list five climbs they have done in recent seasons. Similarly, we ask the guests to summarise their mountaineering experience. We then have a small team who match skills and experience to create host-guest pairs.

Alistair: We also expect hosts to be sensible with route choice and establish a climbing relationship in the first couple of days before possibly attempting harder routes. Occasionally language barriers can be an interesting crux!

What are the requirements for becoming a host or a guest?

Simon: The key requirements for hosts is that they are competent winter climbers and have knowledge of the Scottish mountains. We expect hosts to be competent Grade IV climbers, but the most important skill is being able to navigate in a whiteout. It’s very important that nobody gets lost! The guests are nominated by their national organisation. We do make it clear that Scottish winter days are typically long and their representatives need to be walking fit.

Which countries were represented this year?

Simon: We had over 60 host and guest climbers attending from 17 different countries including Canada, South Africa, South Korea, Slovenia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Denmark and for the first time, China.

Did you have any returning visitors?

Simon: Not this year, but we have had one or two in the past. In general, we try to encourage guests who have not attended the meet before. For hosts, we like to have a mix of old hands and those who have not attended before.

The event seemed to attract a good balance of participants. How many women took part?

Simon: We made a big effort this year to attract a greater number of women and 14 took part.

Weather and conditions for Scottish winter climbing are increasingly fickle. How do you plan for this when organising such an event?

Alistair: We choose the first week in March, because that is normally when conditions are the best and the days are starting to get a little longer. However, the hosts also have a great knowledge of alternative options in the event of bad/mild weather and Scotland has fantastic winter alternatives when winter goes into retreat. This year, multiple rock climbing alternatives were visited by various parties and remoter routes including Ardverikie wall, Angels Ridge and Afterthought Arête (Loch Avon basin) were all climbed in great 'summer' conditions.

What was the itinerary, and how did it change due to weather/conditions?

Simon: The original BMC meets were based at Glenmore Lodge, but we now start and finish at Glenmore Lodge and cycle the climbers through various huts in between. We are very grateful to the Scottish Mountaineering Club and Mountaineering Scotland for providing their hut accommodation for free. This allows us to keep the costs down and everyone gets the opportunity to stay in the magnificent CIC hut on Ben Nevis.

This year we knew a big thaw was coming in after the second day, so we encouraged everyone to make the most of the winter climbing opportunities at the beginning of the meet. Some great climbs were done in the Northern Corries and on Ben Nevis. The meet then flipped into rock climbing mode with many climbs done on Speyside and the Moray coast

What were the highlights?

Simon: The climbing highlight was the second ascent of Red Right-Hand (VIII,8) on the Minus Face by Ryan Balharry and Andrej Jez from Slovenia. This legendary route was renowned for its technical climbing with very long run outs and it did not disappoint! The other highlight on the Ben was the second ascent of Catriona (VIII,8) by Callum Johnson and Zac Colbran from Canada. There were also two new routes climbed.

For all the climbers, the undoubted highlight is staying at the CIC hut with magnificent hospitality from custodian Robin Clothier and Carol Hawthorn and her two granddaughters, Mairi and Kirsty. To be welcomed back to the hut after a day's climbing, by a smiling Robin, giving you a warm glass of mulled wine is something many British climbers will never forget! Heather Morning provided fantastic home cooking at Mill Cottage too and the other huts were supported by very enthusiastic hut hosts, who made sure that everybody was well fed and comfortable.

Do participants have time to enjoy any Scottish cultural activities? (whisky, ceilidhs, etc.!)

Simon: I don’t think anybody had the energy to attend any ceilidhs, but on the poor days, there was the odd visit to a distillery or two!

What do you think attracts so many foreign climbers to Scotland?

Simon: Scottish winter climbing is well known throughout the world and many climbers want to experience it. The location of Scotland’s mountains close to the Atlantic means that high precipitation and fluctuating temperatures form helpful icy conditions that are found in few other parts of the world.

How do the guests respond to Scottish winter ethics, traditions and history?

Simon: The guests are always very respectful of our ethics, although sometimes they can be hard to explain. Especially this winter when the crags have often been frozen, but they have been black due to limited snowfall. Any regular Scottish winter climber will know that climbing routes that are out of condition is unsatisfying, pointless even, but unless you have climbed routes in good conditions it is difficult to explain.

Historically, the meets have had a significant impact on the development of Scottish winter climbing. Sharing of ideas, techniques and equipment have all allowed the sport to progress. One of the biggest influences took place at the turn of the century when dry tooling was taking off in North America and continental Europe. There was concern that Scottish standards were being left behind and there was significant pressure to develop bolt protected mixed climbs in the Highlands.

The overseas perspective from the winter meets reinforced our view that the ground up and onsight nature of Scottish winter climbing is something special and we need to preserve it. This is the direction Scottish winter climbing eventually did take, but it hung in the balance for a couple of years.

Are you hosting the event again next year?

Simon: The next winter meet will be in 2027. The plan is to host the meet on alternate years to a summer international meet in North Wales run by the BMC.

What are your thoughts on the 2024/2025 winter season in general? Which climbs stood out and what were your personal climbing highlights?

Simon: It was a very disappointing season. Limited snowfall followed by deep thaws meant that snow levels never built up or allowed ice to form. Despite the limited opportunities, there was still some good exploratory climbing. I was particularly impressed by Pisces in the Pocket (VI,6), a 300m-long route on Foinaven in the far north. I had a good season, personally. By following the snow line from low down in the Angus glens in January through to high up on the Ben in March, I climbed a couple dozen new routes.

Alistair: I ski tour as much as I climb nowadays but this winter was notable for a lack of either. I had some fantastic touring days in November, December and early January but then nothing on skis. Climbing was limited to an exploratory consolation route on a remote crag in the north-west, having skied past it twice before I finally managed to return to go climbing. There are several more lines to be climbed there so I will be back!

Climate change is making the Scottish winter season less predictable, but the discipline seems to be becoming more and more popular. What are your hopes for Scottish winter climbing in the long-term?

Simon: I really hope that we have a good winter season next year. We had a superb winter in 2020/21, but the lockdown meant few people were able to experience it. As the climate has warmed Scottish winter climbing has evolved — there is now more emphasis on mixed climbs that come into condition faster than ice routes which can take weeks to form. My hope is that the ethics of climbing routes when they are frozen and in appropriate condition are upheld. I am very confident that the new generation of winter climbers are determined to preserve the spirit and ethos of Scottish winter climbing.

Alistair: Interestingly, this winter was only the fifteenth mildest in the past hundred years and was actually colder than winter 2013/14 when huge snowfall all winter led to epic conditions. The problem this year was that the weather was too good with high pressure and few winter storms to bring in the snow. We have always had good and poor winters with the maritime climate and our latitude, meaning we will continue to experience variability. As has always been the case with Scotland the key is to make sure you don’t miss out when the conditions get good!

For readers wanting to try winter climbing, what advice would you share?

Simon: I would advise going on a course at Glenmore Lodge, or hiring a guide for a few days to coach the necessary skills. Scottish winter climbing is more about mountaineering than anything else, so the navigation and survival skills developed during hill walking will provide an essential starting point.

A note of thanks:

Planning for the event started two years ago when provisions were helicoptered up to the CIC hut. Many people were involved in planning the event, and we would like to thank Stuart Younie and Helen Gestwicki from Mountaineering Scotland. The hut hosts and climbers were all magnificent and contributed hugely to the spirit and atmosphere of the meet.

Finally, this event could not happen without strong collaboration between Mountaineering Scotland, the SMC, the Alpine Club and the BMC. These organisations worked together to provide the planning and organisational support, accommodation and financial assistance to make the event possible.