Night climbing - Scottish winter

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 ollie1 05 Dec 2019

Are there any threads or articles out there already about night climbing in Scotland in winter?

Cheers - Ollie

 Michael Gordon 05 Dec 2019
In reply to ollie1:

Plenty articles, though maybe not so many online. I imagine there'll be some of that in the book about Alan Mullin. 

 Pay Attention 05 Dec 2019
In reply to ollie1:

I imagine, based on my own experience due to a lack of planning, there's be more articles on night climbing in winter as an involuntary experience rather than as a carefully chosen proposition.

I may be wrong but.

 Basemetal 05 Dec 2019
In reply to Pay Attention:

I was thinking the same  -moonlight traverses excepted. 

Beginning in the dark and ending in the dark aren't too unusual. Planning to do  the middle in the dark as well might be a good way to catch the best of these milder winter days. 

Just need to find a way to keep awake at belays

 innes 05 Dec 2019
In reply to ollie1:

I'd recommend "Mountaineering in Scotland" by WH Murray if you're interested in writings about night climbing in winter.  It's a classic collection of essays - a 'must read'.  

 rogerwebb 05 Dec 2019
In reply to innes:

'Thirty hours on Ben Nevis' by Charles Inglis Clark (after whom the CIC hut is named). An epic on and around Tower Ridge in 1908.

You can find it in A Century of Scottish Mountaineering or possibly now on the SMC website in Journal X 1908.

The weather was so wild that when they topped out 'we were unable to get a light to take compass readings'. 

Well worth tracking that story down. It is a pity that the author didn't survive the war. 

 bouldery bits 05 Dec 2019
In reply to ollie1:

If you go out deliberately night climbing but end up put for longer than you wanted, have you become be-dayed?

 wilkie14c 05 Dec 2019
In reply to ollie1:

My best ever winter days have been at night, if you are lucky to get a clear night on a full moon you’ll have an unforgettable day (night)

 DaveHK 05 Dec 2019
In reply to bouldery bits:

> If you go out deliberately night climbing but end up put for longer than you wanted, have you become be-dayed?

It's only an issue if you're a vampire.

 gavmac 05 Dec 2019
In reply to ollie1:

https://www.alpinejournal.org.uk/Contents/Contents_2001_files/AJ%202001%202... 

Reminded me of Steve Paget and Alan Mullin on The Steeple.

Post edited at 21:29
 petegunn 05 Dec 2019
In reply to ollie1:

I rather like this from the smc guide:

"Although some famous hero's of the past seemed to thrive on late starts and climbing through the night, do not attempt to emulate them unless you enjoy being frightened and uncomfortable"

 99ster 06 Dec 2019
In reply to gavmac:

> Reminded me of Steve Paget and Alan Mullin on The Steeple.

Love the last sentence:

"Winter climbing in the Great Wilderness is not something to be undertaken lightly - after topping out on the most remote Munro in Scotland, the pair were then faced with a ten-hour walk back to their car."

 Heike 06 Dec 2019
In reply to ollie1:

It can be fun (or scary or tiresome)! Did some ice climbing in the great winter of 2010 at night - simply because I had a wee baby boy and had to wait til hubby got home before I could get out. A good head torch is recommended! Don't know any articles about it though. I have also ended up climbing in the dark due it taking a bit longer than planned, I remember an atmospheric climb up Curved Ridge after doing North Face Route in late November and climbing in the dark in Chamonix to get back to the top station or to climb back down to the hut. 

OP ollie1 06 Dec 2019
In reply to ollie1:

Thanks all. Up there first/second week in Feb so if one of you could arrange for the snow and ice to be perfect, sky to be clear, moon to be bright and wind to be non existent that'd be grand.

When you fix a specific week in Scotland in winter the conditions are always great yep?

 profitofdoom 06 Dec 2019
In reply to wilkie14c:

>...... if you are lucky to get a clear night on a full moon you’ll have an unforgettable day (night)

Till the clouds roll in....... actually my problem with Scotland in mid-winter is the long hours of darkness...... anyway hope you have fun 

Removed User 06 Dec 2019
In reply to ollie1:

> Thanks all. Up there first/second week in Feb so if one of you could arrange for the snow and ice to be perfect, sky to be clear, moon to be bright and wind to be non existent that'd be grand.

> When you fix a specific week in Scotland in winter the conditions are always great yep?

Hmmm, I think most people are telling you the opposite. But if you decide to climb in the middle of the night, make sure no one phones the mountain rescue after seeing your head torches half way up something.

 Basemetal 06 Dec 2019
In reply to ollie1:

Full moon (Supermoon) due Wed 19 Feb. 

 Root1 06 Dec 2019
In reply to bouldery bits:

> If you go out deliberately night climbing but end up put for longer than you wanted, have you become be-dayed?

Damn you you got there first!

It was a comment somemade during a moonlit ascent of Central Gully Great End in the early eighties. One guys  crampon came off and he spent ages trying to fix it, when someone commented " Never mind the worst that can happen is that we might get bedayed"

 Basemetal 06 Dec 2019
In reply to Root1:

"Ah, Bidets are here again..."

 Root1 08 Dec 2019
In reply to Basemetal:

> "Ah, Bidets are here again..."

You really should always carry a bidet in winter, just in case things gets really serious.🙄

 leon 1 08 Dec 2019
In reply to Root1: Agreed. I used one to help clean Savage Slit.

Post edited at 10:16
 Dr.S at work 08 Dec 2019
In reply to leon 1:

> Agreed. I used one to help clean Savage Slit.

No need to bring the NumNums into this!

 Root1 08 Dec 2019
In reply to leon 1:

> Agreed. I used one to help clean Savage Slit.

Thanks! theres now an image in my head that can never be forgot.


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