Ben & Jess’s plans for March 2019

• We will be in Scotland March 3rd to 16th this of this upcoming winter – nearly 2 weeks.
• Of course our number one goal on the trip will be to climb some of the wonderful, classic, and historic ice routes in Scotland!
• We plan to make a circuit throughout our trip – from Glasgow, to Fort William, to Tain (where Jess’ aunt lives), to Aviemore and the Cairngorms, and ultimately back to Glasgow.
• Although we’d love to conduct this trip entirely by public transit, in our research we’ve found that it’ll likely be much more affordable to rent a car for the week. This will also give us the possibility of climbing in places a little farther off the beaten track like Glen Coe if the weather isn’t ideal on our first-choice routes.
• The couple places we will definitely visit are Ben Nevis and Coire an t-Sneachda in the Cairngorms – we will also visit other climbing cliffs, but will determine exactly which when we get more up-to-date weather reports.
• If weather allows, we’d love to climb the NE Buttress of Ben Nevis as it’s a route with a lot of history behind it – first climbed before the turn of the 19th century, it’s now commonly classified as Scottish Grade IV, not easy even with modern climbing gear.
• We would also love to climb Zero Gully or Point Five Gully if possible – these routes were some of the first to ever be climbed with curved ice picks, a hugely important Scottish invention, and a hugely important milestone in the history of ice climbing.
• Passing through Tain will allow us to visit some of Jess’ family in the area.

Slides from presentation to VOC on 10th January 2019 – text is left to your imagination!!!