Think Winter

As you become more comfortable with the skills required to climb easier winter gullies, you’ll want to push yourself on to something a little more challenging.

And Grade III is where winter climbing starts to get technical.

While a Grade II climb may contain some minor pitches, Grade III gullies will contain ice in quantity, with at least one substantial pitch and possibly several lesser ones. On buttress climbs at this grade you may find them more sustained, although they’re likely to be technical only in short sections.

Climbing and protecting yourself on this steeper ground requires building up your winter skills, and the videos on this page will help you do that.

The films, produced for BMC TV in association with the Association of Mountaineering Instructors (AMI), Lowe Alpine and DMM, feature Heather Morning from Mountaineering Scotland and Richard Bentley from Mountain Motion, as they explain the skills you’ll need to climb grade III mixed ground.


Grade III climbing in Red Gully in the Northern Corries.