Where the snow gone? Ledge Route, Ben Nevis

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On walking up to the north face of Ben Nevis this cold, crisp morning, I was quite amazed at how much snow had disappeared over the past few days, but then again, we’ve had a stable high pressure system, which has meant clear nights and frosty conditions in the glens, but quite warm temperatures on the summits (above freezing continuously since Thursday night) .  This has led to much of the unconsolidated snow being lost through sublimation.

Coire na Ciste, Ben Nevis

Coire na Ciste, Ben Nevis

Black on the North Face of Ben Nevis

Black, black, black

The Curtain, Ben Nevis

At least The Curtain is forming!

I went up there with Tony and Kristy, to climb Ben Nevis via the brilliant Ledge Route.  For Kristy, it was her first time in crampons, which were needed certainly to get up the first few meters of No. 5 Gully, and were useful in gaining the ledge above the Curtain and for ascending the leftward trending gully above.  Once on Ledge Route proper though, it was mostly dry, bare rock all the way, so we ditched our crampons, and scrambled our way up.  They both did very well, but in particular Kristy, from whom this was the first taste of mountaineering.  We topped out in glorious sunshine, but to a very dry plateau, almost devoid of all snow.

Guide Ledge Route

Tony and Kristy just about to start Ledge Route

Happy couple top of Ledge Route

Happy couple on Carn Dearg

The temperature on the summits has just dropped below freezing, which is good news, as we are due some snow later in the week as we enter a slightly less settled week, with some gentle thaw/freeze cycles and a picking up on the winds.  It’s early days yet, and if Netweather.TV is anything to go by, early to mid December sounds quite promising, with another high pressure system in the pipeline for the middle chunk of the month. Fingers crossed!

Stunning day in the Highlands

Clear day over Loch Eil

Brilliant day on The Overseer Direct, Cairngorms

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With the forecast for the weekend not looking quite as favourable as the past week or so, Steve, Dave and I decided to make the most of the current cold and calm weather, and headed over to Coire an Lochain in the Northern Coires of the Cairngorms with an open mind.

on our way to climb the Overseer Direct, Cairngorms

A fine morning in the Cairngorms

The Overseer Diret and surrounding routes

A wintry Coire an Lochain

 

Conditions on the west have been good, but with more snow, patches of less frozen turf and bonded rocks, we thought that a change of scenery would be worthwhile, so made our way into Coire an Lochain, home to a number of steep (and less steep) mixed routes.  It was clear on the approach to the coire that no one had been in for a couple of days, and with that, many of the routes clearly hadn’t been cleared of rime and ice, so we picked The Overseer Direct, which looked less chocked up with ice and so more amenable than Deep Throat and some of the other surrounding routes for arranging protection.

Steve on pitch one of the Overseer Direct

Steve on pitch one of the Overseer Direct

The route takes in a couple of steep corners, which Steve cruised up (clearly the indoor dry tooling has paid off), before I jumped on the sharp end and climbed a slabby groove, before tackling an awkward pull onto a good ledge and a steep corner with good hooks to finish with.  Great fun!

Me on pitch two of the Overseer Direct

Me on pitch two of the Overseer Direct

Steve topping out of The Overseer Direct

Steve topping out of The Overseer Direct

Dave just after the steep final corner of The Overseer Direct

Dave just after the steep final corner

It was another stunning day in the Highlands, with views as far as the eye could see, I could get used to this.  Plenty of other folk out making the most of the conditions, with teams on a number on routes in Coire an t’Sneachda including Fiacaill Ridge, Invernookie, Fiaciall Buttress, Stirling Bomber, Finger’s Ridge, Fluted Buttress Direct, Broken Gully and The Haston Line.  Plenty of other folk out skiing, snowshoeing and generally enjoying these brilliant winter conditions.

Stunning afternoon views

Stunning afternoon views

We have a couple of thaw/freeze cycles coming up in the next week, with it cooling down again considerably towards the back end of next week, so it’s looking very promising for this early in the season.

A great day out!

A great day out!

More snow covered rock: SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder

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Chris and I decided to continue the theme of climbing snow covered rock by making an ascent of the SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder on Ben Nevis today.  After yesterday’s ploughing up to No. 3 Gully Buttress, our legs appreciated the shorter approach and the tracks of the team in front of us.  We gained the route at the entrance to West Gully, by traversing across an awkward ledge which is easier later in the season when the floor of West Gully is a bit higher.

The route was as expected, snow covered rocks, some of which were frozen in place, some of which weren’t, but overall, the climb was in great early season condition, which in this case means covered in lots of soft snow.  Chris took well to the steeper and slightly more  sustained climbing found on the ridge compared with No. 3 Gully Buttress yesterday.

 

From the summit of the Douglas Boulder, we abseiled into a soft snow filled East Gully, and waded our way down it.  It’s all very safe in the gully at the moment, and where deep enough, enjoyable and easy on the knees.

Despite a favourable forecast, the north face was relatively quiet, with a couple of teams up by No. 3 Gully Buttress area, one team on Route I and a team ahead of us.  Interestingly, the freezing level did rise quite a bit this afternoon, and was accompanied by moderate precipitation, which I don’t think many forecasts had predicted, however, I doubt that it will change anything above 600m.  It’s still looking very promising for this coming week, with a continuation of cold and calm conditions.

Hannah was also out today with Emily, Chris’ partner.  They enjoyed a winter hill day on Buachaille Etive Beag in Glencoe and even managed to find a patch of firmer snow on which to practise using crampons.

New website & Winter 2016/17 is underway!

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We are pleased to announce that we’ve got a new website, which we’ve been working on over the past couple of weeks, and we’re really pleased with, but please have a look and let us know what you think.

Now, back to the mountains.  We’ve had quite a warm spell over last weekend, which ended rather abruptly, with quite a bit of fresh snow on Wednesday and Thursday.  Today was cold and calm, a pattern which looks to stay with us for the next 6 days or so, which for this time of year, is hugely promising.

I was back to work today, and was able to enjoy these cold and calm conditions with Chris, who arrived with plenty of rock climbing under his belt, but had yet to climb a winter route, so today was about rectifying that! Conditions are quite typical of this time of year, with plenty of soft snow, sitting on rocks, with little consolidation, so, inspired by Simon Richardson’s new book, Chasing the Ephemeral, we decided to go for the classic grade III on Ben Nevis, No. 3 Gully Buttress, which is recommended as an early season climb.  Having only climbed it later in the season, I was interested to see how it would be with next to no ice, and it turned out to be great fun, if a little trickier than the grade suggests.

Getting to the route was the toughest part of the day, as we waded through the soft snow and yet to be buried boulders, but we made it in reasonable time, and there’s now a track up that way for the weekend!

It was great to back out winter climbing again, and although a bit of consolidation wouldn’t go amiss, neither of us could complain with such stunning weather, views and enjoyable climbing.  Chris relished the challenges of awkward rocky steps, steep snow slopes, thrutching up chimneys and journeying through some pretty impressive scenery.  Not a bad first Scottish winter route!

Needless to say, very few other folk out today.  We met one team heading up towards Carn Mor Dearg, Scott was out working on Ledge Route and the CMD Arete (he owes me a beer for the track we put in), and numerous folk from the Forces, based in Ballachulish, were making a mass ascent of Castle Ridge.

With these wintry conditions set to continue for the next wee while, other routes worth considering at the moment include North Buttress on Buachaille Etive Mor and other snowed up rocky routes and mountaineering ridges (Aonach Eagach, Sron na Larig, Curved Ridge, Ledge Route).  Harder routes high on Ben Nevis, such as Slab Climb and those on No. 3 Gully Buttress may also be good sport. The turf is frozen in places and there are dribbles of ice about, but care is still required, as all this snow has insulated what’s underneath.

What a great start to winter 2016/17!

Guiding The Greater Cuillin Ridge Traverse, Skye

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Earlier this month, Ian Craigie, whilst working for West Coast Mountain Guides, achieved a possible first, by guiding, non-stop, The Greater Cuillin Ridge Traverse on the Isle of Skye.  This mammoth undertaking takes in the standard traverse of the Black Cuillin (from Gars-bheinn to Sgurr nan Gillean), before continuing over Sgurr Beag and Sgurr na h-Uamha, and dropping down into Glen Sligachan.  From here, the greater traverse reascends nearly 750m to reach the summit of Garbh-Bheinn, and finishes by tackling the brilliant Clach Glas – Bla bheinn traverse.  To say this is a big day out is somewhat of an understatement, as in total, it takes in 12 Munros, 20 miles of distance and approximately 4000m of ascent.  Initially, the plan was for a slightly more leisurely (but challenging and admirable none the less) 3 day Greater Traverse of the Cuillin, but it didn’t take long for a seed of a non-stop outing to germinate. Ian takes up the story…

Originally planning for a 3 day Greater Traverse of the Cuillin, I met Stu and Tommy, both keen fell runners, in the Sligachan bar on the Sunday evening to discuss plans for the coming week. The Greater Traverse, as far as I was aware, had not been guided in its entirety before, and with it being a fairly substantial undertaking, a good game plan would be key to its success.  As the plans developed, I mentioned how amazing, or if at all possible it would be to attempt it in one day, to which Stu and Tommy both raised their eyebrows and said “well, we had been thinking the same thing”…

A new plan was hatched. After a training day on Monday we met at the Sligachan Hotel at 0715 on Tuesday morning and drove round to Elgol to catch the 0900 speed boat into Loch Coruisk, which in my opinion is the finest way to start a traverse, greater or otherwise. Whilst whipping over Loch Scavaig, we could admire out entire objective, laid out in front of us in the most magnificent panorama. The boat dropped us off on a natural rock pier close to which seals were basking in the sunshine. Off we leapt, the boat instantly shot away. This is where the fun starts.

Setting off from Elgol to embark on a Greater Traverse of the Cuillin Ridge

Setting off from Elgol to embark on a Greater Traverse of the Cuillin Ridge

The planned itinerary and timings were reasonably vague, to maintain flexibility, but basically we hoped to complete the main ridge, summit to summit in 12 hours, thus arriving at Sgurr nan Gillian at around 11pm. This would then have us completing the easier and less complex section down to Glen Sligachan, through An Fraoch-choire and up to Garbh-bheinn in the darkness and hopefully then by the time the sun came up we would be arriving at the beginning of the magnificent Clach Glas traverse which leads on to the final peak, Bla Bheinn.

We made good progress up to the first peak on the ridge, Gars-bheinn, arriving at its summit at 1130. From here the view opened out and the ridge really showed its fangs; twelve unrelenting, awesome kilometres of jagged peaks and arêtes snaking through to the horizon.

Kept cool by the cloud cover

Kept cool by the cloud cover

We moved quickly but surely through the initial easier section of the ridge and arrived at the first Munro, Sgurr nan Eag just after midday. A quick drink and snack and we were away again. For us to achieve this in a day we had to move efficiently and look after our energy levels to avoid crashing out later on. So, lots of snacks, little and often, lots of water and moving at a good rhythm and pace that we would be able to sustain throughout the expedition was essential.

Heading over towards the infamous and notorious TD Gap we felt rain. As it grew heavier our hearts began to sink. Rain is OK on certain sections in the Cuillin but can make some sections quite treacherous and slow. Particularly bad are the slabs of Sgurr Thearlaich and the steep, polished, basalt rock climb known as the TD Gap which can be virtually unclimbable in wet conditions. So based on this turn of events we sneaked down into Coir’ a’ Ghrunnda to bypass the Gap and ascended Sgurr Alastair directly to reach its summit and the highest point on the Isle of Skye. To our relief the sun came out again and quickly dried everything off.  We were cool and refreshed, feeling good and excited to be moving more comfortably on the dry rock again. Steadily and surely we ticked off the peaks and summits and made good progress along the ridge.

On the Inn Pinn, Cuillin Ridge, Skye

On the Inn Pinn, Cuillin Ridge, Skye

 

Abseiling off the Inn Pinn

Abseiling off the Inn Pinn

 

Four Munros down, eight to go on the Greater Traverse.

Four Munros down, eight to go on the Greater Traverse.

 

Skipping across dry rock on the Cuillin Ridge

Skipping across dry rock on the Cuillin Ridge

We aimed to take in all the notable summits and Munros along the main ridge, but due to the complex and difficult nature of the terrain, although we weren’t moving at a great speed, there were times when it felt very physically and mentally draining. We had taken 3 full litres of water with us but as that started to run out and with no water on the ridge our mouths ran dry and we had to slow the pace down to avoid further dehydration. The end of the ridge still looked a long way off.

Making our way down off the fourth and final peak of Sgurr a’ Mhadaidh the most wonderful sight befell us. A tiny patch of snow, only about one square meter in surface area, but it was enough! Wonderful, dense, crystallised snow melted quickly in the water remaining in our bottles. We drank greedily and then re-filled, taking what we felt was required to complete the last section of the main ridge before we would descend into the valley and would be able to refill.

It was 1900 and we had already had a long day. We had been moving for 9 hours, but the fresh water had invigorated us and we were feeling good as we tackled one of the finest but also one of the most complex and involved summits; Bidein Druim nan Ramh.
So after some amazingly exposed climbing to reach the summit and two abseils later we were back on more amenable ground.

From here we still had the three northern Munros on the main Cuillin Ridge to go. The setting sun spurred us on and we made good time over An Caisteal and up to the summit of Bruach na Frithe. It seemed rude not to watch the sun setting, so we dropped our packs and rested our legs for the first time since we had set out. Sandwiches were eaten and remarks at the beauty of it all were made. The softness of the light spilling over the greener northern end of the island was a powerful and refreshing contrast to the ground we had been on and our bodies and minds began to feel a little refreshed. As the warm orange glow turned grey, the wind grew cold and we knew it was time to move again.

The only trig point on the main Cuillin Ridge, Bruach na Frithe

The only trig point on the main Cuillin Ridge, Bruach na Frithe

Greater Traverse Cuillin Ridge 05.06.2016 09

Just after Am Bastier

Just after Am Bastier

After a quick detour to Am Basteir we began up Sgurr nan Gillean, excited to be approaching the end of the main ridge in good time, and well on schedule. We made the summit as the light disappeared, swiftly attached head torches and pressed on.

The window of Sgurr nan Gillean

The window of Sgurr nan Gillean

 

Completion of the main Cuillin Ridge Traverse

Completion of the main Cuillin Ridge Traverse

Before the descent into Glen Sligachan, there sits the lonely peak of Sgurr na h-Uamha that marks the geological finish of this section of our journey so we made an eerie scramble up through the darkness before descending back into the valley. Tommy’s feet had taken an absolute hammering by this point and he was fighting through a lot of pain so he decided that it wouldn’t be sensible for him to carry on to Bla Bhienn. So after a spooky walk through the misty moorland we arrived at the path and waved Tommy off as he made his way back to the campsite and a well-deserved bed. We kept going, relishing the soft ground, and the kilometres were eaten up as we were able to stride out for the first time in hours.

Before we knew it the sun started to rise again and we took our torches off at the top of Garbh-Bhienn. It was 0400 and we had been on the move, non-stop, for 18 hours.

Staring across towards Clach Glas, the steep sided and gnarled ridge that guards passage to our final peak, we began to realise that we were actually going to make it! The rope went on for the final time and the excitement of what we were about to accomplish drove our legs on and we moved swiftly and smoothly across the ridge, up to Clach Glas’ table top summit, down the other side and up the final crux chimney to reach easier ground and an eager jog to the trig point, cairn and our finish point… It was done. We had just completed the most magnificent and majestic mountaineering expedition in the UK. Our feet hurt and our legs ached and our minds were exhausted but we had made it. We sat for a while and looked across at the pinnacled skyline feeling relaxed, proud and very pleased with ourselves… And then we remembered we still had to walk down.

(19 hours summit to summit, sub 24 hours start to finish).

The Imposter on Clach Glas

The Imposter on Clach Glas

 

The end is in sight, starting up Bla Bheinn

The end is in sight, starting up Bla Bheinn

 

The final chimney of the Clach Glas - Bla Bheinn Traverse

The final chimney of the Clach Glas – Bla Bheinn Traverse

 

Stu on the summit of Bla Bheinn, having competed a non-stop traverse of the Greater Cuillin Ridge Traverse!

Stu on the summit of Bla Bheinn, having competed a non-stop traverse of the Greater Cuillin Ridge Traverse!

Successes on the Skye Munros Course & Cuillin Traverse

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The second half of May has been busy period, mostly in conjunction with some amazing weather in The Scottish Highlands.

Firstly, Guy and I ran another Skye Munros Course, with a team of four each, on behalf of Steve Fallon.  The aim of these courses is to complete all 11 of the Munros that lie on the main Cuillin Ridge over four days, as well as to arm the participants with core mountaineering skills that they can then transfer to their own adventures.

The weather forecast for the week was for mixed conditions, very different to the sunshine and dry weather of the previous week, but with a bit of juggling of days and the teams being thrown into the deep end by tackling the Inn Pinn on the first day, which they all coped brilliantly with, we enjoyed a hugely successful four days, and summited all eleven Munros.  Well done to the teams for braving the elements, particularly on the final day!  Hopefully they will be back to enjoy the Skye Cuillin, in the sunshine, which does happen, in the future.

Back in Lochaber, Kenny was out with Joe, who is in training for a trip to the Alps.  They had a successful day on North East Buttress on Ben Nevis.  North East Buttress is a fantastic route in summer conditions, as well as being one of the finest climbs of its grade in winter, and perfect preparation for bigger objectives in the Alps.

David & David had a day out with Scott, on the Aonach Eagach, in Glencoe, and a day out with Ian on Sgurr Mhic Choinnich and the Inn Pinn on Skye.  They enjoyed two productive days, in great conditions, on two of the UK’s finest single day mountaineering routes.

Ian also guided Steve, Jack and Jeremy on Skye that week.  It was their first time on the Cuillin Ridge, so a great opportunity to sample a number of Munros in the best mountaineering playground in the UK, as well as pick up some essential mountaineering skills along the way. A complete Cuillin Ridge Traverse next time chaps?

Speaking of complete Cuillin Ridge Traverses, Scott successfully guided brothers Bob & Peter along the ridge.  Bob and Peter had tried a traverse in the past, but had been thwarted for a number of reasons, however, this time, things were different, and everything fell nicely into place, allowing Bob and Peter to successfully complete the traverse, with perfect weather from end to end.

Success on the Cuillin Ridge Traverse!

Success on the Cuillin Ridge Traverse!

Finally, Tom enjoyed an adventurous day out in Knoydart, an area not often visited when working.  He was out with Humphrey, who in the past, has completed all of the Munros, and is now working his way through the Corbetts.  Humphrey had chartered a boat which left at 8am from Mallaig, and so the pair were dropped off at the head of Loch Nevis, to tackle the remote Corbett, Ben Aden.  This mountain extremely rock and steep on all sides, and one of the hardest summits to reach in the whole of the UK, so the pair did well to reach the summit in good time, and made it down in plenty of time, for a boat pick-up at 5pm.

So, fingers crossed that there’s more good weather over the next month, which predications are suggesting will happen: Monthly weather forecast for the UK – Net Weather.

Cuillin Munros Course

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Last week, Guy and I ran a Cuillin Munros Course on the Isle of Skye, something West Coast Mountain Guides have been delivering for a number of years on behalf of Steve Fallon.  The aims of the course are very straight forward: to summit the 11 Munros on the main Cuillin Ridge over 4 days.

With a near perfect weather forecast, and 7 enthusiastic and experienced hillgoers joining us for the course, it promised to be a great week.

We kicked things off with an ascent of the southern three Munros: Sgurr nan Eag, Sgurr Dubh Mor and the highest peak on the Isle of Skye, Sgurr Alisdair.  Whilst on the move, the group practised their scrambling skills, and made short work of the first couple of Munros.  With such good conditions, we also took in the summit of Sgurr Dubh na Da Bheinn en route to Sgurr Alisdair.  The descent of the Great Stone Shoot proved to be the trickiest part of the day, and so with a bit of coaching, everyone’s technique improved as they gained the confidence required to tackle loose and awkward scree, of which there is plenty of on the Cuillin.

On Wednesday, we tackled Sgurr Mhic Choinnich, The Inn Pinn and Sgurr na Banachdich.  There is a rather subtle line of reasonable sized rocks in amongst the loose An Stac screes that we snuck our way up, before we summited Sgurr Mhic Choinnich via it’s west ridge.  From here, we retraced our steps and ascended The Brown Ramp, which cuts beneath An Stac to gain the foot of one of the highlights of the ridge, The Inn Pinn.  The East Ridge of The Inn Pinn, an awesomely exposed but never difficult climb, was pleasantly quiet.  For many of the group, this was their first experience of pitched climbing, and what a great place for it!

Looking north along the Cuillin Ridge

Looking north along the Cuillin Ridge

With slightly tired legs, we opted for a shorter day on Thursday, well, it’s meant to be a shorter day, but with such good weather, basking in the sunshine on both the summits of Sgurr a’ Mhadaidh and Sgurr a’Ghreadaidh seemed to be of high priority, and so we still had a full day, although about half of it was spent stationary!

For our final day, there was nothing for it, but to finish off the Munros on the Cuillin, by heading into Choire a’Bhasteir to tackle Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Basteir and Bruach na Frithe.  There was still quite a bit of snow lying in Choire a’Bhasteir, so having ice axes to hand proved reassuring.  From the Bealach, Guy and his team headed east to ascend the brilliant West Ridge of Sgurr nan Gillean, whilst I took my team up Am Basteir, before swapping routes.   Our final leg took us over to our final Munro, Bruach na Frithe and then back via Fionn Choire.

Everyone did fantastically well, and it was great to see everyone’s skills and confidence grow throughout the week. Make sure that you keep those developing mountaineering skills up!

Guy and I will be starting another Cuillin Munros Course tomorrow, fingers crossed for such good conditions!

Guiding on Skye

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Finally, it feels like summer has arrived!  On the Isle of Skye, it only really materialised this afternoon, but that was enough to get excited about!  I’ve been guiding on Skye this past week, the first half of the week for Moran Mountain, and today a day of private guiding with Les.  Actually, thinking back to Monday, we didn’t visit Skye at all, with a fairly cold and wild day, Mark, Sinclair, Nathan, Martin and myself decided to stay on the mainland and visit the brilliant Raven’s Crag, near Gairloch.

In amongst the squalls and fresh winds, we managed to get a couple of routes climbed and looked at personal abseiling and belays in preparation for the following day, where we ventured to Skye, and battled our way up through hail showers to the Inn Pinn, which was pleasantly sheltered from the worst of the SW winds, and despite there still being plenty of snow lying on the ridge, the East Ridge of the Inn Pinn was ok, I just had to clear a bit of graupel from some of the hand holds.

Wednesday saw us returning to Skye (from Lochcarron).  With another wild forecast and tired legs from the previous day, we decided to stay low, and climbed the easy, but sustained Spur on Sgurr an Fheadian.  This route finishes on the summit of Sgurr an Fheadian, and coupled with a quick descent down scree slopes into Coir a’Mheadaidh makes it a great choice for windy/wet/short days.  We finished the day off with a quick drink in the Sligachan Hotel, a must for any mountaineering trip to Skye!  Unsurprisingly, it was quite busy in there, with plenty of folk taking shelter from the rain.

I was back on Skye today, this time with Les, who has had the Inn Pinn on his radar for the past ten years.  We set off in amongst a few showers, but restrained from donning waterproofs, and sure enough, it paid off, as the rain soon cleared.  Quite a bit of snow had been washed away since Tuesday, and we were able to make our way to the Inn Pinn without the need for an axe.  The rock on the East Ridge was dry, and Les made quick work of the two pitches of moderate climbing, and we soon found ourselves back down again.  Another team were also enjoying the dry rock whilst making an ascent of South Crack.  The skies cleared on our descent to remind us both that Skye really is one of the best spots in the world.

I’m back in Lochaber this weekend for a couple of days of mountaineering, before heading back to Skye next week to run a Munros course.  The weather forecast is looking very promising!

 

 

 

Great conditions on Tower Ridge, Ben Nevis

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Today, Simon and I were treated to some great views of the north face of Ben Nevis this morning on our walk in, with views all the way to the summit.  Unfortunately, the views didn’t hang around all day, but the deteriorating weather did enable Simon to have a taste of more traditional Scottish conditions, for every time he had been up in the past, he had enjoyed good weather.  Lucky chap!

Simon had booked a second day on a 1:1 basis, so that he could push himself, and have a crack at Tower Ridge, one of the finest winter ridge climbs in the UK, so that’s exactly where we headed to.  On our approach, we could see teams on Minus 2 Gully, Orion Face Direct, Orion Directissima, Point 5 Gully and Match Point.  One team also possibly headed round to Zero Gully.

Tower Ridge is as snowy as it has been all winter, and much of that snow has consolidated into firm snow/ice, allowing for solid first time axe placements for much of the ridge. The weather closed in as we made steady progress, obscuring any views, but I did catch a brief glimpse of a team topping out of Tower Scoop.

We topped out into almost white-out conditions, with fresh snow falling, but as we made our way to the summit, the weather did clear just momentarily.  Plenty of wind-blown snow made for a nice descent of the Red Burn, well most the way, the lower reaches are quite bare now.  I was working for Atlas Mountaineering.

I’m off to Skye tomorrow to deliver some ‘summer’ mountaineering this coming week, I wonder if all the snow will have melted by then…

No shortage of snow! Golden Oldie, Aonach Mor

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Please excuse the lack of blogs recently.  Hannah and I were away ski touring in the Ortler Alps, in Italy for a good chunk of this month, so will blog about it when I get the chance.  Generally great conditions, although the weather did deteriorate as the trip progressed.  Still, it was very nice to get plenty of skiing and summits under the belt.

I’m sure that most of you are well aware that winter is not just holding on with the very tips of its fingers, but has its hand firmly clenched around The Highlands, including coastal regions and islands, at the moment.  We’ve had a number of snow showers recently, down to sea level at times.

Today, Simon, Peter and I made the most of the current conditions, and made an ascent of Golden Oldie on the West Face of Aonach Mor. Both Simon and Peter have ambitions to scale higher peaks in the Alps and The Greater Ranges later on this year, and felt that squeezing in a trip up to Scotland would be useful preparation, not to mention fun in its own right.  They both cruised their way up, whilst paying attention to belays and ropework along the way, all of which will prove useful for their future trips.

The recent easterly winds have deposited quite a bit of snow on the Summit Ribs, ensuring good cover throughout.  The turf, particularly where exposed was nicely frozen too.  The gullies running parallel to Golden Oldie are quite laden with snow, and would give great ski descents at the moment, it’s just a shame that the lifts beyond the gondola aren’t running.  The summit plateau of Aonach Mor currently has much more snow on it than it did for all of winter, with the summit cairn only just visible at the moment.  Not another soul beyond the Snowgoose restaurant at the top station.

Looks like quite a bit more snow up high in the pipeline…

Today I was working for Atlas Mountaineering.