We consider bouncing cosmologies in which an ekpyrotic contraction phase with w \gg 1 is followed by a bouncing phase with w < -1 that violates the null energy condition .
The bouncing phase , induced by ghost condensation , is designed to produce a classically nonsingular bounce at a finite value of the scale factor .
We show that the initial curvature and anisotropy , though diluted during the ekpyrotic phase , grow back exponentially during the bouncing phase .
Moreover , curvature perturbations and anisotropy are generated by quantum fluctuations during the ekpyrotic phase .
In the bouncing phase , however , an adiabatic curvature perturbation grows to dominate and contributes a blue spectrum that spoils the scale-invariance .
Meanwhile , a scalar shear perturbation grows nonlinear and creates an overwhelming anisotropy that disrupts the nonsingular bounce altogether .