Part I - Part II - Part III - Part IV - Part V

Part IV

I slept late on Day Four of the International Winter Meet in Scotland, waking as an intercom blared that the daily briefing would begin at 8:45, in just a few minutes.

The British Mountaineering Council’s Nick Colton didn’t have much to announce: There was a blizzard outside, avalanche conditions had jumped overnight to Category 5, the highest level, and, anyway, most climbers were too tired to contemplate another day on the hill after three days of long approaches and cold climbing. I was knackered, and other guests had done much harder days than I had. Canadian Sean Isaac and host Simon Richardson rode mountain bikes along a forest road for an hour or so, then hiked five hours to a remote crag, all to do a three-pitch new route. “That was a ridiculous amount of effort for three pitches,” Isaac said that night. “But they were damned good pitches!”

This morning, only two parties were headed up the hill, including the irrepressible Richardson, who was gearing up in the hall outside the lodge’s large and amazingly effective drying room with a bemused-looking Kristoffer Szilas from Denmark. The Dane had done a hard route on the Ben the day before (making the probable third ascent of the Grade VII Babylon with Ian Parnell, followed immediately by Americans John Varco and Freddie Wilkinson for the fourth ascent). Now, Szilas seemed to be wondering what he’d gotten himself into.