SCRAMBLING
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outdoor enthusiast September / October 2014
LEARNING
Curve
Ever wondered how to extract yourself from those hill walks that turn into epics? Well, there’s a course for that. New editor David Lintern gets to grip with rock and rope led by the gurus of mountain safety, in the wildest mountains in the country.
September / October 2014 outdoor enthusiast
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SCRAMBLING
D
riving over the winding mountain road to Glenbrittle on the Isle of Skye, the Black Cuillin are draped in a sun and cloud dappled camouflage that accentuates
their towering otherworldliness. This is the UK’s most challenging mountain range, where many of our best-known climbers cut their teeth before moving on to bigger but not necessarily better things in the Alps and Greater Ranges. Awesome is an overused term, but here, perhaps more than anywhere else on our shores, it applies. At least, on rare days like today, when the summer sun is strong enough to cut through swathes of midges. I’m on my way to the Glenbrittle Memorial hut for a weekend scrambling course run by the Mountaineering Council of Scotland. The McofS is the Scottish equivalent of the BMC or British Mountaineering Council, and among other things, provides subsidised learning programmes for hill-goers to improve their own self-reliance and safety in the mountains. The hut, which opened in 1965, is a charming mix of old fashioned UK youth hostel and European mountain refuge - Formica tables, dorms and dodgy showers. It’s chock full of history: old maps and newspaper cuttings adorn the walls, and you still sign in to a ledger the size of a daypack. By modern standards, it’s basic but functional, and the food is only as good as you make yourself, but we’re not here for five star luxury – we’re here for the hills. One of the great things about these courses is meeting other like-minded souls, and as the evening gets underway, Heather Morning, MCofS safety officer, introduces us to each other and to her team. All attendees are at a point beyond a casual interest in hill going, and as a result have sometimes found ourselves biting off a little more than we can chew. Over the course of the weekend, it’s clear that Heather and the other instructors are there to supply us with the knowledge to keep ourselves out of trouble. They are also, with the best will in the world, there to
Ghrunnda, one of the rockiest coires in the Cuillin. Vast glaciated
remind us of our own vulnerability. In a mobile mountain environment,
boilerplate slabs of abrasive, grippy volcanic rock spill down to meet
where rock and weather move of their own accord, a wrong decision
us on our coastal path. On the way, Sam, a trainee with his
can be…well, let’s say consequential, and leave it at that. Adding in
assessment looming, talks me through what’s required to become a
what instructors call ‘human factors’ only increases the margins for
qualified mountain instructor. So far, he’s been training for seven
error. The Cuillin, more mobile than most, is perhaps the perfect
years – longer than most doctors. He confesses it can get obsessive,
training ground for the logical next step from hill walking: scrambling
and can be an itinerant lifestyle. It’s obvious from all the instructors I
– the use of rope to aid confidence, along with some basic climbing
speak to how seriously they take the work of keeping their charges
skills.
safe, but also how driven they are by their passion for the mountains.
The evening class covers some of these basics - coiling rope Alpine-
It’s much less a job, much more a life choice and labour of love.
style, a few knots, and application – tying off, belaying, and the use of
Heather introduces simple training games to encourage us to
sling and locking crab to secure oneself to the hillside…or in this case,
slow down and think about balance and foot placement – balancing
dining room furniture! It’s a fun introduction that belies the
stones on the tops of both hands while ascending the steep, stony
seriousness of what we are here to learn.
path into the coire, later hopping from one rock to the next without
Our next day began with a simply lovely walk into the Coire a
touching any grass. Simple, fun and effective tricks of the trade,
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SCRAMBLING these guys know how to teach, and while the weather remains good, it’s worth bearing in mind we’re not exactly in a controlled classroom environment – this classroom can bite back. As we work our way further into the coire, we interrogate gentle terrain for suitable belays, explore the technicalities of ‘live’
take your hill walking to the next level
and ‘dead’ sides of the rope, and develop our pitch routines to embed the communication useful for safer travel. We are heading for a grade 1 called Stony Rake, which I would have been
The Mountaineering Council of Scotland was founded in 1970 to be the voice for hill goers and mountaineers north
comfortable to walk up without the aid of rope, but as Sam rightly points out,
of the border. Their wide remit includes promoting and
there’s a lot to be said for practising new technique outside of dire straights!
protecting access rights and responsibilities in the outdoors,
Reaching the ridgeline, we clamber over a smashed moonscape with the
encouraging safe conduct, and covering policy issues that
famous Inaccessible Pinnacle swimming in and out of the cloud on our left – a
affect mountain landscapes.
beautiful and surreal scene. Navigation can be tough in the Cuillin, as magnetic
They played a pivotal role in expanding the Scottish
rock can confuse compass needles. Our tutors aren’t precious about the use of
access rights in the early 2000s, which means that visitors
GPS – it’s regarded as another tool in the box along with map, compass and the
have some of the most liberal ‘rights to roam’ anywhere in
skills to use them.
the world. They lobby members of parliament and other
Our next challenge is a short but steep and slimy descent, using only rope
decision-makers on land use to protect mountain areas,
and sling. I’m shown the South African abseil, which is quite honestly a tech-free
especially against industrial development. They also provide
revelation. One of the most interesting things about this first day was the
free and subsidised, high quality information to help hill
complete absence of harness and rock protection. Heather admits she is ‘old
goer’s skill up and look after themselves and each other,
school’ – her remit is first and foremost to promote mountain safety to those
especially in the winter when weather conditions mean
who may find themselves out of their depth, and this course aims to give us the
higher risks.
skills to extricate ourselves with the very minimum of equipment – a rope, a sling, and a locking carabiner. Having fairly rudimentary climbing experience, I
New members offer
found this back to basics approach really refreshing. It helped me to understand
The MCofS are currently running a new members offer - half-
what the harness, belay device and other modern tools I’ve used before are
price if you join by direct debit, plus a free gift worth up to
designed to do. To approach things ‘principle first’ felt instinctively right. I’ve
£25!
quipped in these pages before that climbing is just about friction and angles,
Go to http://www.mcofs.org.uk/join-us.asp
and this was borne out by fixed and body belays and confidence roping, all of which have direct parallels on more complex terrain with more hi-tech gear. Not
Membership includes:
all instructors are advocates of the back-to-basics method, but it worked for me.
• Liability insurance and access to BMC travel and holiday
After a quick dash sans backpack to the summit of Sgurr Sgumain, we
insurance schemes.
descend via the Great Stone Chute, which as the name suggests is steep, loose
• Subsidised mountain skills training courses like the one
and knee testing. Down at sea level, day-trippers bake in the sun and I turn to
described here.
look back at this truly Alpine scene with a new sense of potential. It’s a
• Access to climbers’ huts in Scotland and the rest of the UK.
long-held ambition of mine to do the full traverse of this range, around a dozen
• Discounts on gear, clothes and services.
Munros and 4000ms of ascent – today, that possibility might have moved just a
• Discounts on Alpine hut costs. • Access to specialist financial services for hill walkers and climbers.
The Scottish Mountaineering Club guidebook Scramble routes can be hard to find - even in good weather, you’ll need: Skye Scrambles http://www.smc.org.uk/ publications/?ID=27, which details route guides, descriptions and photographs.
Need help in the hills? Even more than that, you’ll need to know what to do when you’re presented with sheer cliffs, exposed, wet rock and your own and other’s sweaty palms. For more info, go to: http://www.mcofs.org.uk/mountain-safety.asp. Those wanting to hire a professional instructor for training or expeditions are strongly recommended to use the Association of Mountain Instructors directory of qualified personnel: http://www.ami.org.uk/find-an-instructor.
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outdoor enthusiast September / October 2014
fraction closer. The following day found us walking into an equally beautiful spot,
aspects of newly-found rope skills and slightly nervous footwork. And as I move slowly over the grippy gabbro and greasy basalt dykes, it’s
following the track by the popular ‘fairy pools’ at the other end of the
easy to understand the fascination some climbers develop for
ridge to attempt a historic route called Tuppenny Buttress. This slabby
patination in the rock. All in all, it’s a rare and beautiful situation up
grade 2/3 scramble nestles at the back of a series of remote, seldom
here, with only the birds and my expert climbing buddy for company.
frequented coires stacked like Russian dolls. It’s a place of high drama –
Heather allows me to lead off the last pitch and ‘top out’ the route.
the foot of our route is a first sloping, then steepening wall of black rock
Today, I have a sense of real accomplishment to add to yesterday’s
that seems to suck the light right out of the sky. It’s so named because of
sense of potential. We walk up to the col and look over to historic Loch
two King George V pennies found on a ledge by climber Willie Jeffrey.
Corruisk, Blaven and the south of the ridge awash in sunshine, while
One of these pennies was dated 1915, the year that a famous attempt
the summit tips remain decapitated by moody, ashen clouds. It really
was made on neighbouring Central Gully. No pennies in evidence for us,
does feel ancient and forbidding here – there remains only one Black
and today we’re using harness, belay plate and a variety of protection.
Cuillin. What remains right now, however, is another steep and
I’m treated to 1:1 tuition with Heather, and gradually the skills,
crumbling descent and a walk out down through coire after coire,
techniques and routines from the previous day start to fall into place.
through Alpine pasture and past babbling burn. It has been a fun and
Instinct, and the drop below, means trusting my weight to the rope
challenging learning curve all-round, but perhaps above all a
proves testing at first, but I know I am in the best hands possible. As we
fascinating insight into the dedication and professionalism of our team
move higher, protection becomes more scarce, and we’re forced to use
of mountain instructors, whose generous sharing of skills and expertise
less than ‘bomber’ belays - this all feels a lot more like real climbing to
have increased my confidence in problem-solving and options in
me. But, as I relax, a satisfying rhythm emerges – silent belaying alone in
route-finding no end. They’ve made it easy - the next challenge is to
breathtaking surrounds, mixed with a concentration on the technical
make sure I keep practising those skills I learnt. oe
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