Come for the climbing, love the experience

Arriving at Aviemore Youth Hostel, with a car packed full of winter kit and guidebooks, I felt anxious. Winter 2019/20 so far hadn’t been a great one, and although I’d been winter climbing for a few years, I didn’t always feel like a winter climber. I’m not sure where the confidence to apply as a host climber had come from a few months ago, but I didn’t feel any of it now! I was nervous of who I was going to be paired up with, which routes and crags we were going to head to, and my main worry was that my guest climber would be disappointed with being paired with me. I didn’t, and still don’t, climb hard, but I thought that would be what this week was all about.

I walked in the door, checked in with the Mountaineering Scotland team, and immediately blurted out how nervous I was. Helen assured me that it wasn’t about climbing hard, just about showing the guest climber a good time using your knowledge of Scottish winter. I was paired with Neil from Ireland, who had been winter climbing in Scotland once before. We were happy on similar grades, and Neil just wanted a good week of climbing, and learning a bit about planning around avalanche forecasts, something I felt happier doing than climbing hard!

Over the course of the week, all of the climbers moved around three locations, and we enjoyed climbing in the Cairngorms, on Ben Nevis, and in the Southern Highlands. Once we actually started the week of climbing, my worries disappeared, and I even climbed my first Grade IV routes. Walking down from Platform Rib on Nevis, Neil’s foot dropped into a stream bed, and he stabbed his calf with his crampon. After a trip to A&E, and a very snowy drive to Lagangarbh hut, Neil took the next day off. Despite the heavy snow, it turned into a lovely day, so with another host climber Paul, we went to Beinn Udlaidh. Paul brought some short skis with skins, which really made the walk in and out much better, and there was lovely ice in the corrie that we had all to ourselves!

My initial perception of the International Winter Climbing Meets was hard climbing and that they were for hard climbers putting up new routes or second ascents. But what I actually found was a week spent with people who all love winter climbing, with opportunities to explore new areas, learn about climbing in other countries, and chat all about it over lovely meals from the hut hosts. So as the next meet is coming round in March 2025, don’t let you climbing grade stop you from applying, I’m definitely hoping to be back!