CLIMB SKILLS
›HOW TO:
FIND YOUR ALPINE T
Climbing your dream alpine route comes down to two things: the right partner and the right moment. Tim Neill has some tips on how to fi nd both.
he solid foundation of any good alpine trip is your climbing partner. I was lucky that my fi rst trips were with my best mate and regular climbing partner from home. We climbed together at home in Snowdonia, on rock and snow (when there was any), and had similar aspirations and strengths. We knew each other totally – from comfort levels on technical terrain to moods. On refl ection, this is what made our trips so successful, with back-to-back routes and great summits. We were both 100% for each plan and shared all decisions. So, when you meet someone like this, this is your time, as they say. Make the most of it. We achieved a lot on those early trips, with plenty of variety too. Whether it was our laid-back ethos, I’m not sure, but if conditions didn’t look good, we did something else: either a shorter or easier climb, or sometimes just headed south to Ceuse. It’s important to have ambitions, but in the mountains they have to be realistic.
Because we climbed together at home, we were able to prepare well for the Alps together. Although we were totally obsessed rock climbers, we mixed it up before each summer trip away. We did lots of easy long routes (often in big boots with a pack), whatever the weather, and in the winter we’d often climb lots of easier routes, rather than one tricky one. We’d bivvy at the crags and top off our fi tness regime with lots of long hill-walks, running and biking. The result was a good team: able to move effi ciently on all types of mountain terrain, whether soloing on easy ground, moving together or swinging leads. We developed a good, safe system for abseils, and felt comfortable down-climbing on snow and rock.
But the one thing we didn’t have – like many Brits – was good crevasse-rescue skills. We knew enough to rope up when the glacier was snow covered, and to keep the rope tight in obviously crevassed terrain, and I think we knew how to prussic back up the rope. We
36 | 70TH ANNIVERSARY | FOR BRITISH CLIMBING AND WALKING SINCE 1944
defi nitely didn’t know how to make a good belay in snow, how to transfer someone’s weight onto to it, and whether to haul them out or check if they were OK. I’m glad we had the good sense to minimise the risk in the fi rst place, but I shudder to think what could’ve happened had our luck ran out. If you do touch the void, it’s good to have a fi ghting chance of sorting it out, but avoiding the touch in the fi rst place is the best way to roll. When people ask what routes to try on
their fi rst trip, I’ll say choose something modest, well within your grade and inspiring. Obviously we didn’t do this. We walked up from the valley to the Frendo Spur, through a lot of fresh snow, got a bit strung out, hugged on the top and walked back down. Whilst it was a big learning curve, we were very lucky, and this was the last route I did that went over guidebook time. On every alpine climb you do, you’ll refi ne your skills and realise what kit you used, and what you didn’t. We took the same amount
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