The White Line, Ledge Route & Gorm Gully

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I was out on the final day of an Introduction to Winter Climbing Course, for Moran Mountain today.  Sele, Gavin and I decided to head back to Meall Gorm, and as luck would have it, the road was opened, allowing us to park opposite Gorm Gully.  It wasn’t quite the quick approach I had hoped for due to the large quantities of soft graupel leading up to the gully.  That said, it was quick enough!  Gavin and Sele led the route by themselves, with me offering coaching along the way.  I also ploughed a trough through the soft graupel for them to follow!

The final pitch gave the best climbing of the day, with a well protected steeper pitch with a mixture of ice and frozen vegetation.  We then traversed 200m across to descend an easy diagonal gully close by.  It’s been a great week in the NW Highlands, with generally great conditions and routes in condition that often aren’t.  As ever, we hardly saw another soul up there all week.  Not too sure why, as when it’s as good as it has been, it’s a magical place!

Chris, Mike and John climbed The White Line on Ben Nevis for day 4 of their Advanced Winter Climbing Course.  The snow is slowly but surely consolidating, and the ice up high is looking brilliant!  It’s looking like a stunning weekend of winter climbing ahead!

Finally, Jonny was out, with Mick, Brian and Conal.  They were after an interesting route up Ben Nevis, and so made an ascent of Ledge Route, and with time on their side, made the most of the conditions, by continuing around the CMD, giving a fantastic mountaineering day out.

Escape from Colditz, Blaven & catch-up

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So, what’s been going on since the last post?  Quite a bit, which probably explains the lack of blogging over the past few days.

I’ve been running an Intro to Winter Mountaineering course for Moran Mountain, up in the NW Highlands.  On Sunday, we chose to stay low, to avoid the worst of the winds and made an ascent of the brilliantly named Six Track Mono Blues Gully on Meall Gorm, which must be contender for the most accessible winter climbing cliff in the UK.  Being in the lee of the mountain gave us plenty of shelter, and Sele, Gavin and Dave (who joined us for the day) enjoyed their first foray in NW Highlands.

Hannah wrapped up a Winter Skills & Summits course by making an ascent of Stob Coire Raineach in Glencoe.

Rod and his team of mountaineers were also out in Glencoe, and made an ascent of the Zig-Zags in order to stay out of the worst of the winds.

On Monday, Chris kicked off our Advanced Winter Climbing Course by climbing Scabbard Chimney on Stob Coire nan Lochan.  Chris and John then had enough time to fire up Dorsal Arete too.  Not bad going for day 1!

I headed round  with Gavin to climb the ever faithful George, which is more often in condition that not through the winter.  It’s worth noting that the tunnel through route has collapsed recently, and so the options are to climb on the right, up awkward slabs, which are better and more secure when well iced (which it wasn’t today), or a short chimney slightly further to the right. Umbrella Falls was climbed that day and reported to be in good nick.

On Tuesday, Chris and John, on the Advanced Winter Climbing Course were joined by Mike, and they climbed Morwind on the East Face of Aonach Mor, whilst I was out with my Intro Winter Climbing team sampling the delights of one of the deep, atmospheric gullies of the NW Highlands, Deep North Gully on Beinn Alligin.  We continued over the Horns to give a brilliant day out.

Today, Hannah enjoyed a day of personal climbing with Steve.  They stayed low on Ben Nevis, to avoid the suspect slopes, and climbed Gutless, an under-graded and under-rated chimney on the West Face of the Douglas Boulder.  Chris and his team climbed Castle Ridge. Several other teams also out enjoying the good weather by making ascents of The Curtain, Waterfall Gully, Tower Ridge, Vanishing Gully and possibly Stringfellow.  Still quite a bit of avalanche prone slopes though, so care and careful route choice required.

Finally, I decided to venture to Skye with my team, and climbed the short but good value Escape from Colditz III, on Blaven.  The route takes a deep leftwards trending fault on Winter Buttress, and follows a narrow, icy ramp, underneath a curtain of icicles.  We climbed the route in two pitches, offering interesting climbing all the way on dribbling ice.

Avoiding the worst of it: E Ridge of the N Buttress, Stob Ban

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I thought that I had a bright idea of starting early this morning to then finish early, and be down before the thaw and rain hit this afternoon.  It turns out that Matt, who was out with Michael for their second day, had a brighter idea, and started shortly after us, ensuring there was a track all the way in to and along the East Ridge of the North Buttress of Stob Ban.  Work smart, not hard.

Nick had to leave us after yesterday, due to family commitments, so Keith and I set off for what we hoped would be a quick hit, before the worst of the rain and thaw hit this afternoon.  As we were first in the car park, we ended up ploughing our way, in what started off as clear and calm conditions, to the East Ridge, noting a number of avalanches that had clearly occurred recently out of the higher east facing gullies.  Fortunately, the approach to the East Ridge is relatively safe due to the lesser slope angles, lower altitude and opportunities to remain on and link ‘islands of safety’.

Having climbed a fair few harder routes, Keith flew up the route, but enjoyed the flowing nature and easier moves that the ridge presented.  On topping out, we decided to ‘bag the Munro’, so with goggles on (first time for me this year), we carefully made our way over the snowy crests and subsidiary tops, before reaching 999m.  The weather had turned by this point, with an increase in the winds and decreasing visibility, so we didn’t hang around and made a quick descent down the north ridge, closely followed by Matt and Michael.

Tim was out with Jamie, attempting Ben Nevis via the Mountain Track.  They did well to get to 1040m, but with deteriorating conditions made the right decision to leave the summit for another day.  Sometimes, the best decision in the mountains is to turnaround.

Rod and his team of mountaineers made a snowy and successful ascent of the East Ridge of Beinn A’Chaorainn, which is generally very well sheltered from strong W/SW winds.  Again, the approach is relatively safe, as a direct route to the ridge from the forestry tracks avoids any avalanche prone terrain.

Busy week! Climbing on Aonach Mor, Ben Nevis and Glencoe

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It’s been a busy week so far!  I’ve been out for the past three days, running an Intermediate Winter Climbing course for Keith and Nick.  On Tuesday, with a poor forecast, we had a day in Glen Nevis, looking at belay construction, personal abseiling and had a wander up to Steall Falls, which neither Nick or Keith had seen up close before.

Yesterday, we made up for the lack of winter climbing on Tuesday by climbing the SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder and Fawlty Towers, which was nice and icy, if a bit soft, and gave a nice contrast in its style of climbing to the more mixed and rocky SW Ridge.  Plenty of other folk also chose to stay low and avoid the avalanche hazards further up.  One team started up Vanishing Gully, and swiftly retreated, finding the surface ice to be a bit soft following Tuesday’s thaw.  Observatory Gully was devoid of folk, and only a few ventured high into Coire na Ciste.

Today, with westerly aspects looking like the safest place to be, we climbed the brilliant Western Rib on Aonach Mor.  Keith and Nick enjoyed the long, mountaineering nature of this route (and the access via the gondola!), particularly in the middle reaches of the route, which is a bit more mixed, rather than steep, and at times, soft snow lower down. No one else on our route, and a few teams on Golden Oldie.

Andy was out with Jonny and John over the past couple of days, they climbed Curved Ridge on Buachaille Etive Mor yesterday and were on Ben Nevis today.

Rod has a group of four friends on a private guided mountaineering course.  They kicked their course off by making the most of the weather and climbed Ledge Route on Ben Nevis.

Lastly, Matt was also out today, on the first day of three with Michael.  They too made the most of the good weather, by climbing Curved Ridge, which they enjoyed, and reported it to be quite snowy.

Matt & Michael trailblazing up Curved Ridge today.

Matt & Michael trailblazing up Curved Ridge today.

With regards to conditions, route choice will be critical over the next couple of days, as strong SW/WSW winds continue to transport snow, before a sudden rise in temperatures accompanied by heavy rain hits us around lunchtime tomorrow, which is likely to lead to spontaneous avalanches releasing and cornices collapsing, particularly on N-E aspects.  Take care out there!

 

The land of the rising sun: Eastern Slant, Aonach Dubh

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Today I was out with Keith and Nick, on their first day of a five day Intermediate Winter Climbing Course.  With an outstanding forecast, it being half term, and Keith having climbed at a number of venues before, I decided to go to the slightly lesser travelled Far East Buttress on Aonach Dubh.

I climbed Eastern Slant for the first time back in January, and thought that despite the soft snow/slightly unfrozen vegetation, that the route itself was brilliant, and offered some quite unique climbing situations, particularly with the long and well protected traverse on pitch 2, so we headed up to Far East Buttress, but this time, with the sun shining on the crag (last time was very stormy!).

The approach was over firm snow, which made life nice and easy, so we were climbing in no time.  Whilst the turf was frozen solid, some of the snow and ice was starting to deteriorate from the sunshine (yes, sunshine!), but the route was in good nick overall.

With it being possibly the nicest day of the year, we decided to make a journey of it and after topping out, we headed round over Gearr Aonach and descended the Zig Zags, which were surprisingly icy.

Many teams climbing on Stob Coire nan Lochan, no one else on Far East Buttress, all change tomorrow!

Great (Valentine’s) day on North East Buttress, Ben Nevis

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Rob and Dave were keen for something longer and harder than the SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder for today, so for two fit chaps, who have a fair bit of alpine climbing under their belt, and all of us wanting to avoid avalanche hazards on westerly aspects, North East Buttress seemed to tick all the right boxes.

I was pleasantly surprised to find no one else heading up that way this morning, giving us pole position on the route.  As it turned out, we were the only ones in that race today, which was fine by me.  The approach slopes were reasonably scoured, and sported some raised footprints, a good indicator that snow had been eroded by the winds on that slope.

We were soon into proper climbing terrain, and with the snow still mostly unconsolidated, a bit of care was required with axe and crampon placements.  Both Rob and Dave quickly got to grips with the need for efficiency at the belays, so we made good progress up the buttress.

The chaps struggled a bit with the notorious Man Trap, a short but slightly over-hanging wall, with very limited axe placements and poor, sloping foot placements, but cruised the 40 Foot Corner, which today had ok snow on the ledges, but absolutely no chance for any gear due to a thin layer of ice.

It’s been a great couple of days with Rob and Dave, who have expanded their comfort zones and tackled possibly the best route of it’s grade on Ben Nevis.  What a great way for us all to spend Valentine’s Day!

Hannah and Lena were also hard at work, on Aonach Mor, delivering a day of skills to 8 members of the Wessex Mountaineering Club.  They are up for a week, and were after a one day introductory day, so that they can practice their new found skills and be more self-reliant for the rest of their time up here.

Care required! SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder, Ben Nevis

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Yesterday, Hannah was out on a personal climbing day with Steve, they made the long, but worthwhile approach (2nd time for Han this week) to Church Door Buttress on Bidean nam Bian, where they climbed yet more esoterica – the brilliant part caving, part winter climbing expedition that is Crypt Route, which Han seemed to enjoy more and have less problems in than Steven (who is quite tall).  They reported good conditions, and not another soul about up there.

Chris Thorne was out working for West Coast Mountain Guides.  He was with Pete, and they climbed Hadrian’s Wall Direct on Ben Nevis, and reported the approach to be fine, unlike many other areas of the mountain.  The strong easterly winds and cold temperatures (coupled with in places, a shallow snow pack), has led to both the accumulations of windslab and formation of facets within the snow pack, leading to a number of human triggered avalanches in multiple locations.  Many teams abandoned their plans or stayed low yesterday.

I was on an Avalanche Workshop, organised by Alan Kimber, on behalf of the Chris Walker Memorial Trust.  As ever, it was an informative day spent partly inside, discussing theory, and then a circuit of Nevis Range, looking at the rather interesting (and potentially hazardous) distribution of windslab and facets.  Hannah attended a similar day today.

Windslab releasing rather too easily.

Windslab releasing rather too easily. NE aspect, Aonach Mor.

Chris was back out with Pete today, and they climbed Raeburn’s Route and Pinnacle Buttress Grooves on Stob Coire nan Lochan.  Conditions look good up there.

Lena was out delivering a day of winter skills to Alex on Buachaille Etive Beag in Glencoe, they had a productive and enjoyable day.

I had a late start with Dave and Rob, who had caught the sleeper up from down south.  Unfortunately, with various delays, they didn’t arrive in Fort William until midday, so with the expectation of finishing a bit late, we headed straight for Ben Nevis.  On the approach, we bumped into two teams walking out, both of whom had been caught in avalanches, but were fortunately ok, if a bit shaken.  One team were caught in a release whilst heading up to Point 5 Gully, another up towards No. 3 Gully Buttress.  The strong overnight winds have continued to redistribute the snow, and so there are some significant instabilities now on NW-S aspects.

With a late start, we made for the SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder, which gave a safe approach and enjoyable climb, which both Dave and Rob flew up.  We then abseiled and descended the East Gully, before yomping out to be back at the van for 5pm.  Not bad going! The snow on the ridge is quite soft and very dry, but the turf is very well frozen at the moment.

We saw teams on Waterfall Gully, Central Gullies of Creag Coire na Ciste, The Gift, Comb Gully, Tower Ridge and NE Buttress.

If anyone knows the team who were avalanched beneath Point 5 Gully, can you let them know that I have handed an ice axe and glove in to Fort William police station.

 

Mont Blanc prep on Ledge Route, Han on Comb Gully

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After three days of brilliant personal climbing, it was back to work for me today.  I was out with Conrad, who has an upcoming trip to Mont Blanc this summer, and wanted an MOT to see where he was at in terms of preparing for the highest peak in the Alps.  After a rather eventful start, with my van getting stuck on the Ben track (thanks to all those who helped!), we made our way up to Ledge Route.  For Conrad, it was his first experience of the mountaineering side of Ben Nevis, a world away from the pony track, which he had been up before in summer.

We made swift progress upwards, looking at some of the ropework he’ll need when in the Alps, and soon found ourselves on the summit plateau.  With plenty of time left in the day and to get further practise in, we descended No.4 Gully, shot over to the Douglas Boulder and made a traverse of the west and east gullies.

Hannah was out with Steven on a day of play.  They decided to climb Comb Gully, which they said was in sporting nick… great axes, not so great for ice screws.  They descended Ledge Route as neither of them had been up or down it before in winter.

Quite busy on the mountain today, with teams on Castle Ridge, Waterfall Gully (first pitch looks good), Wendigo (first pitch doesn’t look great), Central Gullies of Creag Coire na Ciste, Une Journee Ordinaire, plenty of folk around Thompson’s/No. 3 Gully Buttress, White Line & Beam Me Up Scottie, Vanishing Gully (still looked quite thin), Tower Ridge and Great Chimney.  Observatory Gully seemed very quiet.

I got back to find that my van had been winched out and left in the top car park, so huge thanks to Mike Pescod and Rob Skinner for making it happen!

More subterranean adventures: Flake Route, Bidean

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Continuing yesterday’s theme of squeezing into tight spaces, Hannah and I had a rare day off together, and so ventured up to the brilliant Church Door Buttress on Bidean nam Bian, to look at Flake Route.  Whilst the approach feels long, we took a couple of hours from the car park to the foot of the route, just next to the esoteric and truly subterranean Crypt Route.  Flake Route by comparison is quite ‘en plein air’.

The route moves straight into a deep and narrow slot (but not quite as narrow as The Clanger which I climbed yesterday), so we decided that leaving the packs at the foot of the buttress was a wise move.  Gaining the crack was fairly straight forward, although making progress, at times, once established in the body width chimney, was a bit tricky (yet secure), with plenty of body wedging and arm barring, along with useless foot pedalling, as some of the snow was quite unconsolidated.  From just beyond the exit of the slot, Hannah took over, and led a fairly straight forward pitch to converge with West Chimney, which Steve & Dot and Mike with his two clients were enjoying themselves on. Steve was grateful that the tunnel pitch on West Chimney is no longer!

A number of routes all finish up Raeburn’s Chimney, which probably forms the crux of Flake Route, just,  so we all moved efficiently to minimise hold-ups.  It turns out we weren’t the only ones enjoying Bidean today, a number of top end climbers were also trying some harder lines, which didn’t finish up Raeburn’s Chimney.

 

Caving on Ben Nevis: The Clanger

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With a rather colourful avalanche forecast for Glencoe and Lochaber, Dot, Steve and I decided to play it safe and head back to Ben Nevis, as we were quite confident that conditions wouldn’t have changed much from yesterday.  The surface snow up to at least 1000m had thawed and refrozen ever so slightly through the night.

We went in again, with a few ideas, but found ourselves on steep ice leading up to the corner of The Clanger.  I led the main corner pitch, which gave good climbing, but not much gear, so care required.  Steve then took over, as we figured someone needed to get through the yawning, narrow slot that The Clanger is renown for, so with a bit of grunting, cursing and removing of helmet and rack, Steve wriggled his way through, and found himself popping out part the way up the steep chimney we had climbed yesterday.

I must admit, being a bit bigger than Steve, I was a bit apprehensive when it came to my turn to tackle the slot, but somehow managed to exit the narrowest part of the slot by pushing myself out nearly horizontally.  Dot followed, with seemingly little trouble, but had to push the one pack we had between us through first, before following it. Two abseils then took us back to the packs.

I don’t think that Steve found it particularly enjoyable, but I quite liked the esoteric nature of the route..

Other teams on Green Gully, Stringfellow, Tower Ridge, Wendigo and Fore ‘n’ Daft.