The contrast between a young family man and a "hard-core" winter climber is an interesting one. Alan was first introduced to climbing through the army where he spent some eight years from the ages of 16 to 24. It was here that he also met his wife, Marion, and at the age of twenty they had a child together. During his time with the army, Alan sustained an injury, leading to a spinal operation that would mark the end of his army career. However, his interest in winter climbing continued and his army training proved useful in dealing with the physically demanding, gruelling days which can be associated with Scottish winter climbing.

>> The Lamp Direct Photo: Alan Mullin Collection

Alan took to winter climbing like a duck to water and being fit, young and strong, he progressed through the grades quickly. He didn't know many other climbers and so soloed the majority of his earlier lines. His first solo was in fact Jacobs Ladder in Coire an t-Sneachda in lean conditions, a grade II.

"It was my first ever winter route in Scotland and I was so happy to have not died soloing it, as it was mental and I had never climbed like this before."

Two years later Alan was leading his first mixed, grade VI's. Up to this point his climbing had been very much self-motivated and self- taught but in 1997 he teamed up with the seasoned winter climber, Andy Nisbet and together they shared some new lines.

"It's a thinking person's climbing and I think too much anyhow. You have to think all the time about it - where to go, where to put in the pro, whether the ropes will run right. I like all of that whereas with ice climbing you bang your way up it and hope your forearms don't get too f***ing pumped!"

The season of 1997 started off well for Alan and Steve and they quickly worked their way through many Cairngorms mixed climbs, such as Savage Slit (V,6), The Migrant (VI,7), Red Guard (VI) and latterly, Cairngorm test pieces such as the second ascent of The Crack, VI,8 in Coire an Lochain and a first free ascent of Smokestack Lightening (VI,7), climbed with Nisbet. The latter climb was Alan's first grade VI lead. Having never led a grade V before he found the climbing desperate and "thoroughly terrifying."

>> Big Daddy Photo: Alan Mullin Collection

However, bad memories are short lived and it wasn't long before Alan felt the urge to up the tempo again. So, he and Steve came up with the idea of climbing The Steeple, the classic, nine pitch E2 on the Shelterstone in the Cairngorms. This was an awesome objective but they wanted to push themselves hard and this route seemed like an ideal challenge. It was their "ultimate challenge", being long, sustained and technically desperate. That season they made two attempts on the route but had little success.

After getting off to a good start the next season with the first ascent of The Dark Angel (Evil Spirits), a grade VII,8 in Hells Lum, Alan was ready for his next big challenge. He and Steve now turned their focus to the other Shelterstone classic, The Needle, a superb ten pitch E1. On their first ground-up attempt, which was tried onsight, the pair put in an impressive effort, involving 17 hours of arduous climbing to result in The Needle/Bad Karma Variation at grade IX,8. Their ascent avoided the summer 5b crux and despite having to resort to two rest points on the Crack for Thin Fingers, it was nonetheless a superb achievement.

Of this ascent, Simon Richardson wrote: "as a piece of mountaineering it was awesome. I can't think of an ascent in recent Scottish winter climbing history that comes close in terms of logistics and commitment involved in climbing a ten pitch route with five hard pitches, onsight, in a single push."

Others were however less praising of their achievement, condemning not only their style (the two rest points) but also the winter conditions in which the line was climbed.

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