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| Ben Nevis |
The power of social media to put people in touch and bring back long-forgotten memories sometimes amazes me. This evening I received a Facebook note from a Peter White in Canada saying he'd been looking through old guide books and that on this day 35 years ago we climbed the Right-Hand Variation of Central Gully on Trident South Buttress. He finished by remarking that I probably didn't even remember him. Initially he was right - I not only didn't remember him but the name of the climb meant nothing to me. So I googled South Trident Buttress, found it was on Ben Nevis, and suddenly it all came back.
In February 1983 I took a snow and ice climbing course at Outward Bound Loch Eil, where I worked occasionally in the summer leading backpacking trips. And on the 28th instructor Peter White led me up this climb on a day of fine weather. It's a grade IV, harder than anything I'd done before, and I remember finding one pitch extremely tough, my arms aching from pulling on the axes which I was hitting too hard into the ice. I also remember the elation at finishing the climb. It was a great day.
That remains the hardest winter climb I ever did as that same February I also took a cross-country ski course with Cameron McNeish in the Cairngorms and skiing easily won over climbing. I really enjoyed the winter climbing I did but once I'd been ski touring I was hooked and snow in the mountains meant swooping over the snowfields rather than climbing up the steepest slopes.
I'm grateful to Peter for reminding me of this climb. I don't appear to have kept any notes at the time - the course was probably too intense - though I may some have some slides somewhere - and I could well have forgotten it forever. Being reminded of that day and that course has made for an upbeat evening.
