Early bird catches the worm: No. 3 Gully Buttress

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We’ve just had a cold snap, which started yesterday afternoon, and finished at about midday today. So with an earlyish start, Stuart and I made the most of the cold weather

window, and had fun climbing No. 3 Gully Buttress on Ben Nevis. On the approach, the sky had a reddish tinge, which is normally a sign of inclement weather in the pipeline.

Overnight, a light dusting of snow had fallen and things were looking a bit more wintry this morning as we approached Coire na Ciste. Whilst visibility was still quite poor once in the corrie, the icefall at the foot of No. 3 Gully Buttress was just about visible. Stuart was keen to step up his winter climbing and so we tackled the icefall direct, giving a brilliant step of grade 4 ice, which was in good condition. The ice on the shallower sections above was a bit hollow in places, but much of it could be avoided.

No. 3 Gully Buttress, Winter Climbing Course

Good ice on the fist pitch

 

Winter Climbing Course

Stuart above the icy step on pitch 1


After the crux step, we climbed the direct finish, which gives a fun pitch of mixed steps, grooves and corners, before a final squeeze chimney marked the end of the difficulties. It was all wintry enough from the overnight snow. We topped out just as the freezing level met the summit plateau, so aware that the winds were going to pick up, we descended No. 3 Gully, and spent some time looking at various snow and ice screw belays throughout our descent.

No. 3 Gully Buttress, Winter Climbing Course

Looking down the direct finish

True to the saying ‘red sky in the morning, shepherd’s warning’, the winds and rain picked up dramatically early afternoon, but it’s going to turn quite wintry again this evening, and looks to stay cold for the foreseeable future… Winter’s not over yet!

 

 

Up No. 3 Gully, down Tower Gully, Ben Nevis

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Today I was joined by Daniel and Peter, with the aim of reaching the summit of Ben Nevis via a fun, wintry and adventurous route. An ascent via No. 3 Gully seems to fit the bill nicely, and so we ventured up into Coire na Ciste and up No. 3 Gully, which was in good nick, with some firmer snow towards the top.

No. 3 Gully

On the way up to No. 3 Gully

No. 3 Gully

Ascending No. 3 Gully

No. 3 Gully

The final steepening of No. 3 Gully

We wondered over to the summit, which felt like it could pop out of the clouds at any minute, but alas, it wasn’t clear enough, so we spent our time on the summit under a watery sun. That said, it was quite dry on the summit.

Ben Nevis

On the summit of Ben Nevis

On the way back, we had a peak down into Tower Gully, which looked quite inviting, with only faint steps in soft snow, so made our way down there.  With the snow being quite soft underfoot, if felt very friendly. We were able to remain on the snow until quite low down in Observatory Gully. The combination of ascending No. 3 Gully up to the summit and then descending Tower Gully gave Peter and Daniel a great day of winter mountaineering, and allowed them to fully explore one of the finest mountains in the UK.

Tower Gully

Looking up Tower Gully

Tower Gully

Descending Tower Gully

Plenty of action! Glencoe, Ben Nevis & Beinn Dorain

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There’s no denying that this winter, we’ve been lucky to enjoy plenty of cold, clear days. Yesterday was no exception.  However, the SE winds were due to be quite bracing at times, so seeking shelter seemed to be part of most teams’ plans. For Nick, Keith and myself, as well as our Advanced Winter Climbing team; Mark, Jon and Spenser, Stob Coire nan Lochan was to provide that shelter for the day.

Stob Coire nan Lochan, Glencoe

The cliffs of Stob Coire nan Lochan

Both teams started up the classic route of Twisting Gully, which whilst being a bit on the lean side, provided some great mixed climbing. We continued up the true line, whilst Mark and his team peeled off to finish up the upper chimneys of Twisting Grooves. Nick and I then went on to climb Pearly Gates, which starts part the way up Broad Gully. This gave us a couple of enjoyable and atmospheric pitches, with a grandstand view of the multiple teams on Dorsal Arete.  From the top of Pearly Gates, with such clear skies, we couldn’t resist the temptation to head to the summit of Stob Coire nan Lochan to take in the views.  Amazingly, despite some strong gusts whilst on Twisting Gully,  it was completely still on the summit.

Twisting Grooves

Spenser in one of the twisting grooves on Twisting Grooves

 

Twisting Gully

Nick on Twisting Gully

 

Stob Coire nan Lochan

Clear views from Stob Coire nan Lochan

Further down Glencoe, Henry and his Introductory Winter Climbing team climbed Curved Ridge, which they reported to be in good condition. Whilst Stob Coire nan Lochan had lost much of its rime ice overnight, particularly from easterly aspects, Buchaille Etive Mor still seemed to be holding onto it well, particularly in sheltered locations such as in the vicinity of Crowberry Gully.

Andy was out with Ali and Max on the first of two Private Guiding days. They climbed Fawlty Tower on Ben Nevis and again, reported good conditions with plenty of frozen turf.

Fawlty Towers, Ben Nevis

Good conditions on Fawlty Towers

 

Fawlty Towers

Descending Tower Ridge after climbing Fawlty Towers

Lastly and by no means least, Hannah was out on a personal climbing day with Duncan and Steve. They headed down to Beinn Dorain, by the Bridge of Orchy, where they climbed the brilliant 3 star VII,7, The Messiah. You can read more about their day on Steve’s blog. Sterling effort by the trio, and a good decision to head south, as the mixed routes on Stob Coire nan Lochan were no longer in condition.

The Messiah

Hannah leading up to the crux pitch of The Messiah

 

The Messiah

Steve on the crux pitch

 

The Messiah

Duncan on the final pitch

Daim Buttress & Turf Walk, Aonach Mor

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Mark and I were both back on Aonach Mor today, and whilst we were able to catch the gondola up in the morning, wind stopped play at some point this afternoon. I was out with Keith and Nick, two regulars that can’t get enough of the wild conditions that Scottish winter can throw at us. Last year, we climbed Western Rib, and so today, thinking that going high would be best to ensure frozen turf and cold conditions, and with the promise of an easterly wind (it turned out to be more southerly/south easterly), we headed for Daim Buttress, which runs parallel to Western Rib.  The turf was generally very well frozen, and with plenty of rime on the rocks, it all felt very wintry. Not a hint of the temperature inversion that some forecasts were suggesting, although the freezing level did rise slightly throughout the day. After we had complete all the technical pitches, Nick took his turn on the sharp end, and lead the final couple of pitches, with me climbing alongside, to the summit. Nice to drop out of the cloud and escape the winds on the descent!

Daim Buttress

Keith enjoying the long and turfy Daim Buttress

 

Daim Buttress

Nick on the sharp end on Daim Buttress

 

Daim Buttress

Fleeting views looking across to Carn Mor Dearg

 

Meanwhile, Mark was on the opposite side of the mountain. He was delivering the first day of our Advanced Winter Climbing Course to Spenser (Jon, the other participant had to delay his start of the course by a day). They descended Easy Gully and enjoyed the frozen delights of Turf Walk, which they reported to be in good wintry nick. They also found their route to be quite sheltered today.

Finally, Henry was out with Ian and Anna, for an Introductory Winter Climbing Course. They spent their first day looking at some core winter skills before climbing the Dragon’s Tooth in Ballachulish. Henry said that they were reasonably well sheltered from the winds where they were today.

More chimney action: The Guardian, Aonach Mor

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Nick wanted  a slightly shorter day than yesterday, as had to get down to Glasgow this afternoon in order to catch an evening flight, so we settled for climbing on the East Face of Aonach Mor.

Coire Lochan, Aonach Mor

Another glorious day

Surprisingly, it was very quiet as we geared up on the summit plateau of Aonach Mor, with just Mark with two friends who went on to climb Grooved Arete. From the bottom of Easy Gully, we went the other direction, to The Prow area, where we climbed The Guardian. The route, whilst fairly short, packs a lot of high quality climbing into it’s two steep, contrasting pitches. The first follows a corner groove steeply, before a series of turfy ledges out right lead up to a steep step to gain a rocky slab, which has just enough turf dotted here and there to allow secure progress. From here, the route enters the main event, a wide and steep off-width chimney, which is surprisingly accommodating with plenty of good hooks and ledges for feet. It’s also very well protected. On exiting the chimney, easy snow slopes and a final steepening leads to the exit slopes. Today, a few moves to the right avoided the small cornice that’s present at the moment. The turf is well frozen (which it needs to be) but there is some cruddy ice low down. Overall, the climb is excellent, and quite reminiscent of Deep Cut Chimney on Hell’s Lum.

The Guardian Aonach Mor

Top of pitch 1

The Guardian Aonach Mor

Looking up at the chimney

The Guardian Aonach Mor

Looking down the chimney

Nick found the climbing challenging, but enjoyed it throughout. We did contemplate a second route, but thought we should quit whilst we were ahead, so that he wouldn’t have to rush for his flight. Thanks to Nick for a great couple of days. Unfortunately, it looks like he’s taking this cold, clear weather away with him.

The Guardian Aonach Mor

Topping out

Meanwhile, Lou and Steve were also enjoying the good weather, whilst climbing Curved Ridge to the summit of Buachaille Etive Mor. It seemed that it was windier in Glencoe than in and around Ben Nevis today, but they were on their way down before the winds really picked up. Tom was out again with Jan and Ariana. They too were in Glencoe, and had a productive and enjoyable day on Meall a’Bhuiridh. Lastly, Hannah was out with Chris and Andy on the Ballachulish Horseshoe.

 

3* Climbing to Ourselves: Shelf Route

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It’s been another stunning winters day in the Scottish Highlands, with clear skies and cold temperatures. When it’s like this, there’s no where else I would rather be. I was out with one of my favourite regulars, Nick. Favourite because he has always brought with him good weather and great climbing conditions, and today was no different.

Nick doesn’t mind a bit of adventure and so with the forecast looking great and with it being the start of half-term week, we decided to pick a route that was hopefully going to be away from the crowds, and Shelf Route on Buachaille Etive Mor seemed like it might fit the bill. As we drove through Glencoe this morning, most of the car parks were filling up fast, and the one for the Buachaille was no different, but despite this, we saw very few folk on the approach. By the time we reached the foot of Crowberry Gully, it was clear that we were at least the first team to head for Shelf Route. Perfect.

Shelf Route

Looking up the first chimney of Shelf Route

 

Shelf Route

The route ahead

Shelf Route

Looking back down

The route is quite long, and largely consists of short, steep chimneys interspersed with easier sections. There’s fun to be had on every pitch, particularly the final crux, which is a bit more sustained than the chimneys before it. We were largely sheltered from the wind, but Nick didn’t appreciate the spindrift picking up just as he was ‘in the zone’ on the final pitch. The route thoroughly deserves three stars, it’s an excellent route and very atmospheric.

Crowberry Tower

Crowberry Tower

Plenty of teams on Curved Ridge and we could see a steady stream of folk heading up to North Buttress.

 

Buachaille Etive Mor

Views from the summit

Hannah and Lucy were out with a returning group from Essex, who are on their second attempt at summiting the three national peaks (Ben Nevis, Scafell and Snowdown) in one weekend, in winter. They will be heading south now, starting the night shift. All the best to them.

Lou was out with Steven, who is keen to reach the summit of the local Munros via mountaineering routes. Today, they tackled Ledge Route to get to the summit of Ben Nevis.

Finally, Tom was out with Jan and Ariana, on the first of their two day winter skills course. They had a look at core winter skills on Aonach Mor.

It’s great to see so many folk making the most of the great wintry conditions we have right now. Long may it last!

Another fine day: Morwind, Aonach Mor

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For Jess and Rich’s final day, they wanted to climb something challenging, and with the need to get away fairly swiftly for their drive back to Yorkshire, we made use of the gondola at Nevis Range, and made our way up to the East Face of Aonach Mor. It was completely still on the summit plateau, which boded well for the day ahead. Abseiling into the East Face, via the line of Morwind, gave us the opportunity to have a look at abseiling off a snow bollard and setting our personal multi-pitch abseils up with a cow’s tail and a means of back-up.

The initial chimney of Morwind, may well be graded for a greater accumulation of snow. Currently it’s quite a long and tricky step, and got both Jess and Rich thinking and having to work quite hard to unlock the sequence of moves required to escape it.  Both managed to find ways to rest whilst in the chimney, and managed to use traditional back-and-foot techniques to thrutch their way up. Jess and Rich enjoyed the remainder of the route, which doesn’t ease up until the upper snow slopes.

East Face Aonach Mor

South of Easy Gully today

 

Morwind

Jess clearly enjoying herself

Conditions on the route were pretty good, with the turf well frozen and some useful ice. Again, a bit of consolidation would help the snow to no end, but all things considered, we can’t grumble at the prolonged dry and cold spell we’re currently enjoying.

Henry, Alun and Clive climbed Left Twin and reported it to be thin (particularly on the first pitch) but climbable. Another team were slowly making progress up Tinsel Town.

Clear views to Ben Nevis

Great day on Curved Ridge, Glencoe

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Plan A for today had been Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis, but on seeing the avalanche forecast, which indicated that there would be a high avalanche hazard on NW-NE slopes above 900m, we decided to change plan, and headed to Glencoe instead, where we climbed the classic Curved Ridge on Buachaille Etive Mor.

On the walk-in, we spent some time talking about heuristic traps, which seems wholly appropriate. If you haven’t heard of heuristic traps when it comes to avalanches, it’s well worth reading the following articles:
http://www.northernmountainsport.co.uk/index.php?/eng/content/download/1533/7517/file/Avalanche%20article.pdf
https://www.glenmorelodge.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Avoid-Being-Avalanched-AH-TGO-Nov-2013.pdf
https://www.glenmorelodge.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Talking-Yourself-Out-of-Avalanche-Trouble-AH-TGO-Dec-2013.pdf

Curved Ridge, Glencoe

The snow on Curved Ridge is starting to consolidate and good in places, but still quite loose in others, which enabled Jess and Rich to get stuck into a variety of mixed climbing techniques. Above the crux, they took turns on the sharp end before we reached the summit of Stob Dearg, amazingly with not a breath of wind. It has been another great day with the pair from Yorkshire.Curved Ridge

Curved Ridge

Curved Ridge

Quite a few teams on North Buttress, as well as a couple of teams on Shelf Route. One team did attempt the NE Zig Zags, but retreated after the third pitch, reporting poor conditions.

Day of leading: Dorsal Arete, Glencoe

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Jess and Rich are both great students to be out with. They are super enthusiastic, keen to learn and realise that the best way to develop is to step out of their comfort zone and to rise up to new challenges, which is what this week has been about so far. We continued that theme today, by heading up to Stob Coire nan Lochan in Glencoe to climb Dorsal Arete, with them taking turns on the sharp end.

Winter Climbing Courses

Stob Coire nan Lochan this morning.

Dorsal Arete lends itself well to this, as it has ample gear placements and very convenient belays throughout. The exact line on this route can be varied depending on conditions and desired level of challenge, but I always think it’s a shame to miss out the pièce de résistance, the narrow fin of rock high up, that gives the route its name.  As Jess had to sit out yesterday, Rich, being the gentleman that he is, offered up the  crux pitch to Jess. Fortunately, Jess was up for the challenge, so with plenty of gear placed ahead for her to clip into, she made short work of the couple of steep moves required to gain the crest of the fin.  Nice work and great leading from both of them!

Dorsal Arete

Rich belaying on Dorsal Arete

Winter Climbing Course

Jess on the crux fin of Dorsal Arete

 

Conditions were not too dissimilar to yesterday, with again, less consolidation from the corrie floor upwards than lower down. The final gully of Dorsal Arete, which had been scoured, was slighty lean, but what snow was there was in surprisingly good condition compared to lower down. It was very quiet up there today, with one team ahead of us, and one team who started up Raeburn’s (Ordinary) Route on Central Buttress, before binning it. I’d imagine that the turf on the first pitch is still unfrozen.

Sticking to the ridges

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With all the fresh snow that has recently fallen and blown about, Jess, Rich and I decided to make life easier for ourselves and stick to climbing ridges over the past two days.

Yesterday, with a deterioration in the weather due for early afternoon, we opted for an early start and climbed the East Ridge of the North Top of Stob Ban. Even with an early start, the winds were still quite bracing, but manageable. It wasn’t a day for hanging about, so we made a fairly swift ascent, before we made a sharp right turn at the top and descended the north ridge. Steve was out shadowing us, as he had not been along the ridge before. Thanks to him for the photos.

Today, Jess wasn’t feeling great, so decided to give today a miss. That left Rich and I breaking trail to Castle Ridge. As the freezing levels had risen but not quite to the summits last night, before dropping back down again, we found the lower two thirds of the ridge to be in much better conditions, with frozen turf and consolidating snow, than the top third which where the rocks weren’t well bonded together and the snowy very dry and powdery. That all said, Rich enjoyed every minute of the route, and found the crux, which is quite a bit harder than anything else on the route, quite challenging. I hope that he didn’t come to Scotland expecting an easy ride!

We’ve got a mass of cold polar air moving over the UK as of this evening, so it’s going to be a cold, but fairly settled period ahead, which is great news.