Mountain Diary and Conditions

With such a good weather forecast, Steve and I thought that we should capitalise on it, by tackling Sgurr Mhic Choinnich, The In Pinn and Sgurr na Banachdich for the first day of our four day Skye Munros Course.

We made steady progress up the An Stac Screes and from Bealach Lagan, made a return journey to the summit of Sgurr Mhic Choinnich. Despite the sunshine, there was quite a chilly easterly breeze, which was particularly noticeable on the crest and Coruisk side of the ridge. We continued beneath An Stac, before tackling the In Pinn, which was surprisingly quiet. Following an ascent of the East Ridge and abseil descent of the West Ridge, we walked over the Sgurr na Banachdich, bagging the third Munro of the day.

We had a bit of graupel (snow) on the descent, but it clearly had been much wetter down at Glenbrittle Campsite.

We still have spaces on our final Skye Munros Course of the season, running 10-13 September 2019, so get in touch if you fancy tackling all the Munros on the main Cuillin Ridge.

Some years, the transition from winter to summer seems to take a while, whereas others, it seems to happen almost overnight and this year is definitely one of the latter. The weather in the Highlands recently has been incredible, with wall-to-wall sunshine almost everyday. When it's like this, there really is no better place in the world!

Ben and Paul (both fully qualified Mountaineering & Climbing Instructors) kicked off our Skye season this year, with a team of motivated and determined hillwalkers, keen to get some of the Cuillin Munros ticked off over four days. For the first day, they enjoyed a brilliant day on the southern Munros; Sgurr nan Eag and Sgurr Dubh Mor. On day two, they climbed through the clouds to enjoy an inversion on Sgurr a' Mhadaidh and Sgurr a'Ghreadaidh. Yesterday, with tired legs and thick mist and drizzle, they tackled Sgurr na Banachdich. For their final day, they made the most of the better than expected weather, by tackling Sgurr Mhic Choinnich and the In Pinn.

There's very little snow on the Cuillin this year (unlike last year), so no winter kit was required.

If you fancy tackling all 11 Munros on the main Cuillin Ridge over 4 days, with fully qualified Mountaineering & Climbing Instructors, we have availability on the following courses (£489):

7-10 May (1 space)
10-13 September (3 spaces)

For further info, please get in touch or visit:
http://51.38.64.114/…/guide-skye-cu…/

I was back out with Marcin and Pawel today and with such a good forecast and cooling temperatures, we ventured back up to Ben Nevis to see what was on offer.

There's a reasonable amount of snow-ice on the mountain, but many routes are missing just enough to make them unfeasible at the moment. We plumped for the Central Gully Right-Hand on Creag Coire na Ciste, which looked to be in reasonable condition. There was a fair bit of verglas on the rocks beneath Creag Coire na Ciste, a good indicator that things had cooled down.

The route was a bit on the lean side and required a few mixed moves here and there. After the first few moves on the main pitch, there was very little in the way of gear, so be prepared for quite a long run-out. Marcin and Pawel both climbed the route well and enjoyed the steeper sections. There was little in the way of a cornice at the top and an exposed but easy traverse to the right gained the plateau with little difficulty.

Ali was out with Matt, in Comb Gully, which he reported to be quite goey for the grade. A couple of teams in No. 2 Gully and on Green Gully, where the first pitch looked to be broken in places. No. 3 Gully Buttress looked ok, if a little bit more rocky at the top than of late. South Gully had what looked like a giant serac barring the exit. North Gully was complete. The major gullies will be in excellent condition for the next wee while, but we could do with a bit of snow for the steeper routes to be in good nick. It is still definitely winter up there and who knows how long it will continue for.

For the past couple of days, I've been out with Phil, Marcin and Pawel. I was out with Phil last winter, but for Marcin and Pawel, it's their first time in the Scottish Highlands. We opted for Castle Ridge on Ben Nevis yesterday, which was largely snow free until we gained the summit of Carn Dearg. There's still plenty of snow on the summit plateau of Ben Nevis and we were able to stay on snow for much of the way down the Red Burn.

Today, we decided to stick with the theme of classic rocky scrambles and made an ascent of Curved Ridge on Buachaille Etive Mor. The approach and route were largely snow-free, however, there's quite a bit in the basin at the foot of Crowberry Tower and on the final slopes. With a drop in temperature on the cards for the weekend, this will firm up and it will be worth carrying an axe and crampons. We avoided much of the snow by traversing above Rannoch Wall and made an ascent of Crowberry Tower. Still plenty of snow in Coire na Tulaich too.

With the clocks going forward this weekend, we're looking ahead to our Spring and Summer mountaineering courses and guided trips. We still have spaces on the following courses:

⛰️4-Day Skye Munros £489
-11-14 June 2019
-10-13 September 2019
👉http://51.38.64.114/…/guide-skye-cu…/

⛰️1-Day Curved Ridge, Glencoe £99
-2 June 2019
-23 June 2019
-4 August 2019
-15 September 2019
👉http://51.38.64.114/…/curved-ridge-…/

⛰️1-Day Aonach Eagach, Glencoe £99
-15 June 2019
-22 June 2019
-3 August 2019
-14 September 2019
👉http://51.38.64.114/…/aonach-eagach…/

⛰️ Private Guiding also available throughout the year
👉http://51.38.64.114/mountain-guide-…/

Uncertainty, adventure, spindrift, strong winds, snow, poor visibility, good ice, bad ice, firm snow, soft snow. Yep, we had it all today and it was great to be out in it.

I was out with Chris, who was keen to climb Tower Ridge and the forecasts were such that there was a chance that it could have been fine, but whilst gearing up, the winds picked up a notch and served as enough of a warning for us to change our plans. We skirted around the base of the Douglas Boulder and underneath the western flanks of Tower Ridge, before making our way up towards Comb Gully, our plan B for the day. I've always enjoyed the journey from the western flanks of Tower Ridge back into Coire na Ciste, as it feels like a cunning route through an otherwise very steep-sided gulch.

Comb Gully was good fun as always, although it is quite lean, with only just enough snow-ice to make steady progress. Whilst I had a set of ice screws with me, the snow-ice just wasn't dense enough to allow for good enough placements. That all said, the snow-ice was generally excellent for axe placements.

We had torrents of spindrift piling down at times, giving us the full Scottish winter experience and topped out into strong winds and poor visibility, with rime building on our kit and clothing. We descended via the Red Burn, which was largely full of helpful snow.

Mike, of Abacus Mountain Guides, who I was working for today, was next door, on Clough's Chimney and reported it to be good fun too.