Snow & Ice

HISTORY 339

HISTORICAL NOTES Intro

Though the routes in this book span over a hundred years, from the beginning of British
winter climbing in the nineteenth century to the second millennium, many of them
were part of the foundation of winter mountaineering in Great Britain. At the dawn of How to Use

British climbing, Alpinists took to their own hills, discovering new possibilities and an Winter
appreciation for British winter mountaineering in its own right. From the rst recorded Climbing
gully climb in 1870, it was not long before the leading climbers of the day were making
rst ascents that would still be considered quite technically di cult climbs today, as Grades

well as continuing to develop easier lines. Conditions

The startling speed with which the pioneers began to push standards may have been &Ethics
because they saw little di erence between climbing in the UK and in their traditional
Alpine playground. In addition, many climbers visited the British mountains only at Tactics

Christmas and Easter (Godfrey Solly, for example, claimed never to have climbed in the Weather &
Lake District in summer), so they made rst ascents of technical rock routes even if they Avalanches
were covered in snow and ice and would now be considered winter climbs.
Equipment
It is testament to the abilities of the pioneers that their climbs were made without
modern protection, crampons, curved axes or safe belays. In 1887 Charles Hopkinson
led a party most of the way up and down Pinnacle Face on Scafell, which would now Tick List
be given grade IV. However, even easier routes could be dangerous. In 1873, George
Seatree and his party nearly su ered an accident on Sharp Edge (I), for, as was the Climbs By
norm, they had no rope or axes. Seatree did not see a rope in Lakeland until 1886. Type

Such was the danger that many climbers were reluctant to record routes for fear of
encouraging the reckless onto ‘unjusti able’ climbs (this increased after the tragic
deaths of four climbers on Scafell in 1903). It is thus perhaps not surprising that
Norman Collie did not report his ground-breaking 1891 ascent of the steep and
unprotected Steep Gill, which he described in 1926 as ‘one of the most dangerous
climbs I have ever made’. Decades ahead of its time, this was the rst grade V in the
UK and probably the world, but it went unnoticed for many years.

In Scotland, the SMC has a long tradition of recording summer and winter ascents,
although strangely Harold Raeburn's 1906 ascent of Green Gully (IV) fell into obscurity.
There was no such tradition of cataloguing winter climbs in Wales, and an anonymous
letter in the 1898 Climbers' Club Journal complained that Snowdonian secretiveness
made it di cult to know what had and had not been climbed. It is thus di cult to trace
the early years of winter climbing in Wales, though C.E. Matthews was popularising it in
the 1860s and 1870s and Devil's Kitchen (IV) was climbed in 1895.

Although the identities of many rst ascensionists are unknown, the enduring
popularity of their routes is testament to these climbers' high-quality contributions to
the development of British mountaineering. For well over a century, climbers have been
honing their skills in the mountains of Scotland, Cumbria and Snowdonia, and creating
classic routes that have stood the test of time. The one hundred climbs described in
this book are some of the very best of these, o ering a fantastic apprenticeship in
winter mountaineering on routes from throughout British climbing history, all of which
provide a fantastic day out in the mountains.

Finally, despite the long history of many of these climbs, keep in mind the words of History
Rick Newcombe, author of the rst Welsh winter climbing guidebook:‘First ascents on Index
snow and ice occur every time someone makes an ascent – it's never the same twice’.
Although you are following in many mountaineers' footsteps, you too will be making

rst ascents, for these routes are made anew each winter and await your discovery.

352 ROUTE INDEX

Descending Stoney Cove Pike with views
of Ullswater and the Helvellyn range.
Photo: Dave Arthur

ROUTE INDEX 353

ROUTE
INDEX