After the excellent AGM and annual dinner for the British Association of International Mountain Leaders - highlight of which was the after-dinner speech by ex-president Richard Villars - he heads up a first response medical team for disasters and leads a life that makes James Bond look pretty tame! - my wife Anita and I headed back to Wales and I drove up to Llanberis Pass to see if the ice had survived the mini-thaw on Saturday. Sure enough, Craig y Rhaeadr was looking plastered still. Surprisingly, nobody had tackled any of the routes yet.
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| Issie Inglis makes the BAIML Presidential speech |
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| Tim Jepson on Central Icefall Direct |
Accordingly Tim Jepson and myself went up to have a look this morning. A nice leisurely start - this is practically a roadside crag so there's no need to rush - but! another team had already started and were half way up the first pitch when we left the road. Well, we hung around and enjoyed watching them, it was my friend Matt Stygall leading the middle pitch. Although they made efficient progress, there was the odd lump of ice coming down, and with the reputation of the big icicle for detaching itself we decided to wait until they had finished before embarking. All the pitches are serious so you can't afford to get knocked off. In the meantime though I was starting to have doubts as I had decided to start climbing without leashes on my axes. This is the modern way to climb ice and it is without doubt the way to do it these days -however in retrospect this probably isn't the best route on which to try out a radical change in style!
I've waited 28 years to climb Central Icefall Direct, and because, surprisingly, Cascade (it's easier neighbour) was looking less well-formed, the choice was an ignominious retreat or at least an attempt, so eventually we threw caution to the winds and launched off up the route. It was utterly brilliant, well worth the wait.
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