Mountain Diary and Conditions

Welcome to the West Coast Mountain Guides diary and conditions page, which we will update regularly throughout the year.  During the winter, there will be plenty of up-to-date information and reports regarding the latest mixed and ice climbing and mountaineering conditions in the Scottish Highlands, and in particular, on Ben Nevis, Aonach Mor and in Glencoe.  We’ll also be posting accounts of our latest trips, both work and play. 

If you have any up-to-date conditions reports and photos that we can include in our blog, please drop us an email:
info@77.104.174.8

White Shark, Aonach Mor

/0 Comments/in , ,
Ken: For day four of our Advanced Winter Climbing Course, Ryan and I took the gondola at Nevis Range, and abseiled down Easy Gully to then climb one of the classics of the crag, White Shark. We were in the clouds, and along with the rime on every surface, everything looked almost uniformally white. That is, until we started making our way up the route, and revealed ice that proved to be a little brittle in places, so took a bit more work to secure the tools. That said, the climbing was steady away. The crux ice fall was a bit on the lean side, and whilst easily thick enough to climb, required a tricky traverse to gain the hanging groove that binds the left hand edge of the ice fall. We made a short rising traverse to the right on the final pitch to avoid the cornice. Ryan did a great job climbing the route, which was definitely a bit trickier than usual. Apologies for the lack of photos. With everything being so white, nothing really stood out in the photos.

Steve and his Intro Winter Climbing team were on school house ridge , where Mike and Chris led themselves with Steve alongside, offering coaching.

Cirrus and East Ridge North Top

/0 Comments/in , ,

Ken and Ryan headed south today to Beinn an Dothaidh. Without the pressure of other teams, they first decided to climb up the crest of the small cone shaped hillock, mentioned in the approach desription in the guidebook. This gave a surprisingly good 40m pitch of abut III,4. They then continued into the cloud and up to the main crag, where they climbed Cirrus. The ice on the first couple of ice falls wasn’t brilliant, but good enough to climb, but not without needing to throw a few shapes.

With a bit of coaching from Steve; Chris and Michael led themselves up East Ridge of North Top Stob Ban. They strung 5 pitches out swinging leads which resulted in a gradual progression to becoming an efficient team. Great weather overall with super views and very little snow and wind throughout the day.

Lots of rime on Shelf Route, Buachaille Etive Mor

/0 Comments/in , ,

Ken: I was back out with Ryan, for day two of the Advanced Winter Climbing Course. With strong easterly winds on the cards, we chose to seek a bit of shelter in and around Crowberry Gully on Buachaille Etive Mor, but the winds didn’t seem to ever really materialise, but that didn’t matter, as we had great fun on a very snowy and rimed up Shelf Route, which overlooks Crowberry Gully. The route was barely recognisable from when I last climbed it last season. The tricky steps were about half the height today. The snow started off very firm and great for axes, but by the top pitch, had turned to fairly loose stuff, and so axe placements needed to be searched for. We continued up Crowberry Tower, before dropping to the col at the top of the Left Fork of Crowberry Gully, and continuing to the summit. We saw one other team in Crowberry Gully, and Scott and Chris with their mountain medic teams on Curved Ridge.

Steve was out with Mike and Chris, on day two of their Introductory Winter Climbing Course. They headed up to Ben Nevis, where they looked at various anchors as well as developing their avalanche awareness.

Slow Thaw: Zig Zags and No. 6 Gully

/0 Comments/in , ,

Today marked the start of our March intro and advanced climbing courses. Steve was out with Michael and Chris, their aim to become competent and independent winter climbers. They kicked things off by climbing the zigzags on Gearr Aonach, taking time to look at rock anchors, moving together and abseiling; all foundation skills which will be used throughout the week.

Ken is running the advanced climbing course with Ryan. Over the years Ryan has climbed a number of classic and esoteric routes with Ken. With the very low temperatures over the past week due to come to an end, they made an ascent of No. 6 Gully on the West Face of Aonach Dubh; which when in condition, gives a great ice climb with a fantastic crux pitch. The surface of the ice was starting to show signs of the slow thaw, but the ice was still completely solid underneath. The climb should still be ok for the the next few days, as the freezing level looks to stay just below the base of the route, but with different forecasts predicting different freezing levels, a cautious approach is required.

Other West Coast Mountain Guides climbed Raeburns Easy Route and Deep Cut Chimney.

More like it

/2 Comments/in , ,

(Steve); With all this alpine weather we’ve been experiencing there’s a danger of getting soft! Today was back to business as usual with plenty to of wind, spindrift and frozen gear. I took Malcolm and Andy up a bomber Hadrians Wall Direct.

Team hit on Vanishing Gully

/0 Comments/in , ,
Ken: The winds continued to blow through the night and into today, but rather than clear skies, which we’ve been enjoying recently, today was much cloudier, giving Ben Nevis a far more serious feel. For the final day of our CIC Hut Week, I took Pete and Ivo into the gulch, which sits below the west flank of Tower Ridge, and set up a top-rope on a brilliant pitch of grade III ice, so that Ivo could have a go leading the pitch, with a top-rope attached. The gulch was well protected from the strongest gusts.

Above us, Niels took Meirion up Vanishing Gully. This was Meirion’s first grade V route, so a great way to finish his five days up here. We then followed Niels and Meirion, by also making an ascent of Vanishing Gully. The crux pitch, whilst steep, has great hooks and footholds all the way up the steepest section. The peg belay, however, is not so great, and definitely needs backing up with ice screws.

It’s been a great week up at the hut, and despite some rather windy conditions, we’ve managed to duck and dive and have climbed some interesting routes, both classic and esoteric, all over the mountain. A huge thanks to Graham, Ivo, Pete, Meirion and Niels for putting in heaps of effort and enthusiasm throughout the week!

Comb Gully Buttress, Italian, Green & The Curtain

/0 Comments/in , ,

Ken: The winds have been a bit of a feature of the day up on Ben Nevis today. Despite the winds, the day started off clear, and both Niels and I headed up high with our respective teams.

Pete, Ivo and myself climbed Comb Gully Buttress, which gave a series of brilliant steps of ice, the first of which was by far and away the steepest. We topped out under clear skies, but were buffeted a bit until we were back in Coire na Ciste. We then had a quick hit on the Curtain.

On the otherside of The Comb, Niels, Graham and Meirion climbed Green Gully before enjoying a quick hit on Italian Right Hand, which is currently in stonking nick.

One brave team were climbing Orion Direct, and seemed to be making good progress.

ADVANCE WINTER CLIMBING

/0 Comments/in , ,
A participant needs to cancel their place on our Advance Winter Climbing Course starting next week (5th-9th March). Ideally participants will already be climbing grade III and be interested in progressing their winter climbing to grade IV/V.
Conditions are amazing for ice climbing at the moment – come and join the fun!

http://51.38.64.114/courses/winter-climbing-courses-scotland-advanced/

info@51.38.64.114

Jubilation, Fore n Daft, Comb Gully & The Curtain

/0 Comments/in , ,
Ken: Two contrasting days for our two CIC Hut Week teams today. Myself, Pete and Ivo climbed two lesser travelled routes; Jubilation and then Fore n’ Daft. Both routes were great fun, with plenty of excellent ice to climb. We were in the sun whilst climbing Jubilation, which made it all feel pretty alpine. The first two pitches gave fairly sustained ice, before a straightforward snow slope brought us to a final pitch of grade IV ice, which Pete led. We then descended No. 4 Gully, and climbed Fore n’ Daft, which definitely warrants one star, and gave two pitches of absorbing (and surprisingly steep) ice climbing before we gained the final slopes of North Gully.

Meanwhile, Niels, Graham and Meirion climbed two classics; Comb Gully and The Curtain, both of which were in great condition.

There were quite a few teams on Vanishing Gully and Italian Right Hand. The weather was nowhere near as bad as some forecasts were suggesting.

Observatory Buttress & Tower Ridge

/0 Comments/in , ,
Ken: Today’s weather was almost identical to yesterday, with a bitter start, which gave way to clear skies and a drop in the wind.

Our two CIC Hut teams had another great day on Ben Nevis, with Niels and his team climbing Tower Ridge, which is currently in excellent condition, with icy variations possible.

I climbed Observatory Buttress with Pete and Ivo. The initial pitch was quite thin in places, but perfectly climbable, and the ice a bit brittle until after the crux steeping. There after, the ice was excellent. We were greeted with clear views from the summit, which were, as always, most welcome. Plenty of teams enjoying Point 5, Orion Direct, Zero Gully and one team on Rubicon Wall.