[ad_1] For Derek's final day and with high winds and an incoming thaw on the cards, we stayed low and climbed the atmospheric 999 on the west face of Gearr Aonach. Either there was an unprecedented volume of snow on the first ascent or the grade is a mistake, as the climbing is quite technical […]
[ad_1] Blue skies, sunshine, plenty of snow, firm snow, useful ice, route and summit to ourselves, I'm not sure that it gets much better! After an ascent of Gutless on the Douglas Boulder yesterday, Derek and I climbed Shelf Route on Buachaille Etive Mor today, which was nothing short of brilliant and well worthy of […]
[ad_1] The last few days Dave has been out introducing Tom, Suzie and Neil to the delights of Scottish Winter Mountaineering and the Ice Factor. We visited Stob Corrie nan Lochan and descended broad gully, covered more than a normal mountaineering course at the Ice Factor during the worst of the weather and on our […]
[ad_1] Today Dave was out teaching Euan and Fiona the magic of winter leading and sharing our passion for the Scottish mountains. The biggest risk today was the amount of teams all heading to the same location, Dorsal Arete, we arrived first stayed on the harder line and kept out of all the ropes charging […]
[ad_1] With more snow overnight and high winds forecast for after midday, we decided to stay low with vis and climbed the Spur on Sgurr An Fheadain. This great route is under graded at I and is easily a II, with many tricky sections. The crux of the day is the snow, and traveling safely, […]
[ad_1] Today we've been exploring the amphitheatre of the North Coire of Sgurr a Mhadiadh on the Isle of Skye. Unfortunately the wind and poorly bonded snow ment we didn't explore the upper rake onto the summit. But we now have a better idea of conditions for tomorrow, It's always worth planning in an orientation […]
[ad_1] The thaw from last week hasn't left us with many route options, so for Neil and James' second day, we decided to go for Tower Ridge, a route that can be climbed in almost any condition and is always good fun. As we walked in this morning, there was a slight dusting of fresh […]
[ad_1] I was back on Ben Nevis today, this time with Neil and James and we climbed No. 3 Gully Buttress, which despite the thaw, was holding on to snow and ice quite well. The first pitch still has a short step of ice, just watch out for the bergshrund at the foot of it. […]
[ad_1] For Peter's final day, we enjoyed our third day of adventures on Ben Nevis and this time, rattled up North East Buttress. Despite the thaw, there was still quite a bit of snow on the easier angled sections and we opted to wear crampons from the start. There was also still quite a bit […]
[ad_1] With a bit of a thaw in progress, picking have been a bit slim over the past couple of days, but there are still some excellent adventures to be had, particularly on Ben Nevis. I've been out with Peter, who has come over from the Netherlands to get stuck into a bit of Scottish […]
