In reply to Ian Parnell:
> Good effort Rad and Creag' Aphrodite was perhaps THE last great winter problem.....
Is is just me, or does anyone else reel at the thought of such an immaculate piece of rock as Aphrodite covered in crampon scratches?
I don't pretend to be a winter climber or to understand what makes winter climbers tick, but I have experienced such damage first hand (Snicker Snack on Gable Crag) and I honestly thought it looked terrible.
I know this argument has been done to death in the past, but as standards increase and the cutting edge climbers venture onto blanker rock - previously only the preserve of high standard rock climbs - then I for one feel pretty troubled. The Shelter Stone slabs are unique in Britain. Nowhere else have I encountered such continuous, blank, clean rock in the mountains - and it deserves to be preserved and cherished.
To think we used to moan about chalk....
Neil