Normally, summertime is my slow season. I like to do just about all the disciplines in climbing and the cool seasons are generally good for any one, at any random time. In fact it’s a bit of a joke to say we have season changes here at all. It all happens in a big jumble and you never know what the conditions will be good for next. Going with the flow is the answer, and knowing lots of crags that stay dry in the rain.

Sky Pilot is one of those everdry crags that keeps a Scottish climber from going quite insane during the rainy season (NB. In Scotland, their are four rainy seasons per annum). So I have been getting to know the place well this summer.

My goal for the summer was to climb a stunning, but super hard and rather uncomfortably dangerous arête on the north face of Ben Nevis called Echo Wall. Requirements for this were at least 9a sport climbing fitness, a willingness to die young and a double helping of bottomless patience. I could just about manage the latter two, but the former was hard to keep up when I was spending the whole time just walking in and out of the north face all the time, watching my legs get bigger and forearms shrink. CLICK HERE to read more about the Echo Wall MacLeod Leads Hardest Headpoint Yet

The rainy season (spring edition) decided not to arrive this year in Scotland and instead we had the driest, sunniest spring in my lifetime. That was cool, except that approximately 1000 odd tonnes of snow banked neatly above my Echo Wall project was well poised to hand the last laugh to The Ben. All that training, and I was going to get stumped by a three month long dribble down the one piece of rock I wanted to climb, when every other crag in the highlands was bone dry. I could almost laugh at the irony.

I was, shall we say, quite dissatisfied with this situation and something had to give. The ice had to be moved. Seven days of spadework later, the ice was piled up in the gully 200 feet below, the route was dry, and my biceps were looking healthier than before. It was also a nice break from the normal climbing routine of greasy food elimination. I ate 5000 calories a day for a week straight. And Claire makes a fine gingerbread.