Route choice was absolutely crucial today, with an overnight thaw and rain upping the avalanche hazard to high on NW-SE aspects above 800m. So Lee and I were after the following: W/SW facing, ridge or buttress, turfy ledges, safe approach and descent and a route that would give good climbing, so Western Rib, on the […]
Having seen tracks into and out the top of Crowberry Gully yesterday, noting that the freezing level was not going to rise significantly until the afternoon, that there wasn’t going to be a huge amount of fresh snow in the morning, and as a result the avalanche hazard wasn’t going to increase until later today, […]
It was almost too warm today, particularly in the sunshine, during the walk in to Buachaille Etive Mor. For our final day, Nick, Andy, Allen and I had a slightly more leisurely start, which may have meant that we were well behind the crowds, as we had a surprisingly quiet day on the brilliant Curved […]
Nick had climbed Tower Ridge before, but last time he climbed it, views were in short supply, and he felt it would be great for Andy to experience one of Ben Nevis’ finest climbs, so that’s exactly what we did. I knew that it would be busy, so we had an early (ish) start, which […]
I was playing back at home today, with Nick, Andy and Allan. Allan had a fair bit of summer mountaineering experience, but had never worn crampons before, whereas his friends Nick and Andy had done a fair bit in winter before, so I thought a route like Golden Oldie would be a great introduction to […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
