North Craig in Glen Prosen in the Southern Cairngorms with the new routes climbed by Henning Wackerhage and Arno Alpi marked. Red - White Plains Drifter (IV,5 45m); Yellow - Whitewash (IV,5 50m); Blue - White Sun of the Desert (III,4 45m). The central arête in the photo is taken by the summer HVS High Plains Drifter. (Photo Henning Wackerhage)
On Saturday December 17, Henning Wackerhage and Arno Alpi took a chance, and visited North Craig on Mayar in Glen Prosen. This glen is rarely visited by climbers, and lies south of Glen Clova. Their optimism paid off, as the south-facing crag (which up until now was home to just a single rock route) was attractively icy, and they climbed three new single pitch ice routes.
“We encountered thin and hollow sounding ice making the climbing interesting at times,” Henning explained on his blog. “But after a prolonged freeze on an icy day with sunshine most routes should be up to a grade easier, deserve more stars and the crag will be a mini Beinn Udlaidh (so we hope!). Presumably conditions will be good here if Look C Gully in Corrie Fee is in nick. We started with the most icy route. Unfortunately the ice was quite thin and hollow sounding in places. Nonetheless, it is a rare privilege to climb ice in the sunshine in December in Scotland!”
