Day 2 of our CIC Hut Week and Mark and I took out teams up Minus 2 Gully and then continued up North East Buttress, giving an excellent journey to the summit of the mountain.

We had a steady thaw and rain through the night, but by the morning, things had improved. The first pitch of Minus 2 Gully was a bit soft in places, but thereafter, the ice was excellent.

North East Buttress was good fun as always with even more snow than a couple of weeks ago. We popped over to the summit and the descended Coire Leis. It's worth noting that the descent to Coire Leis was on hard ice and a slip there would be very consequential. Coire Leis, by comparison, was a joy to descend.

It’s been a little while since my last round up write up, I have been away on a course and life has been busy, the West Coast Team has also been busy and I have received a lot of pics to share with you. It would be a shame not to at least share the pics.

Sally Hudson has been out with hill walking and she did a brilliant job of getting away from the crowds and deep snow for an ascent of Sgorr nam Fiannaidh.

Michael Mason has been a trooper out on lots of different days from Ben Nevis to Skills in Stob Corrie Nan Lochan.

Malcolm lm has been working hard for us over the last two weeks, during the difficult avalanche conditions he went North to Torridon, East to the Gorms and ended up back on the Ben. This week with Diggy he says If you’re wanting a round up this is what diggy and I climbed last week, good result every day. Better than my wild goose chase in torridon the week before .

Sun, ordinary route IV-5, summit buttress, stob coire nan lochan.
Mon, twisting gully right fork into moonshadow IV-5 , south buttress, SCNL.
Tues, The seam IV-5, Sneachta.
Weds, bodach buttress III-4 am bodach, glencoe.
Thurs, Pateys route IV-5 Sneachta.
Fri, Opening Break IV-5 Sneachta.

Dave Barker has been out climbing hard for us and was the second West Coast Team to ascend Nordwand on the Ben, mega effort!

And Chris Ensoll had a few days out also with Diggy – a very snowy day on Raeburn's Route, Stob Coire Nan Lochan.

I have attach a pic of another team I was on the course with doing the Chasm to Crowberry traverse on Buachaille Etive Mòr, this is a massive grade II mountaineering adventure, well worth getting in touch about.

New Heights – Active Brands

With yesterdays thaw followed by a slight re-freeze, Sarah and I decided to head up high and climb on Stob Coire nan Lochan, where we enjoyed an ascent of Moonshadow, a route I had yet to climb, but had always been intrigued by. We were able to (just about) climb ice on the first pitch of Twisting Right Hand, before veering off and heading up the main pitch of Moonshadow, which whilst largely well frozen and icy, did have some areas where an icy crust was covering loose, partially thawed snow and ice.

We then descended Broad Gully and started up Innuendo, which looked to be quite icy, but turned out to be quite unfrozen in places, so rather than making a mess of the route, we abseiled off.

Plenty of other folk enjoying (spindrift on) Ordinary Route (Summit Buttress), Dorsal Arete, Twisting Gully, SC Gully (although one team did back-off due to poor conditions) and Ordinary Route (Central Buttress). None of the steeper lines were particularly white and the crag could really do with another day or two of cold temperatures.

New Heights – Active Brands

Day 4 of our CIC Hut Week and Mark and myself took our teams to the opposite end of the mountain and climbed the brilliant Nordwand, which takes a long and direct line up the steep North Wall of The Castle. The first pitch is partially buried with the sheer volume of snow, but there is a bit of a bergshrund which required a bit of care not to disappear down! Thereafter, it was tricky to find the best line of ice on the first pitch, as it's covered by a thick layer of snow, but thereafter, the steep sections of ice, of which there are many, were excellent, with good ice for both axes and screws.

It's amazing that this high quality route, which is very accessible and on the most prominent of crags, sees amazingly little action when in condition. We continued up to the summit of Carn Dearg, before descending a very snowy Ledge Route.

As many of you will know we have had challenging conditions over the past week or so, and many teams out and about. This winter season is proving now to be an excellent one with large amounts of snow and ice in many locations, and just goes to show “Ne’er cast a cloot till May be oot!”

The West Coast team of associate guides, leaders and instructors have been working hard in the last wee while to keep people safe whilst achieving objectives or at least exceeding their expectations when their objectives are unattainable due to conditions, you hire us first and foremost to keep you safe.

Caspar has been out delivering winter climbing courses in a verity of locations from Stob Corrie nan Lochan to Ben Nevis and at a verity of grades from grade II to IV classics.

James has been out during some of the stormy days working on private winter skills and Munro guiding, this is the best way to learn, practise and develop your skills. Unlike a group of 8 or more 1:1 or 1:2 learning can be tailored to the needs of the individuals and the context of your objectives.

Mike has been leading teams up the Ben in some brilliant weather, and successfully reaching the summit. Not every day or group have been able to summit, due to the avalanche hazards around Red Burn, yes even the Tourist Path up Ben Nevis is at risk of avalanche hazards.

Will has been out on Winter mountaineering and climbing course during large amounts of snow which has taken a little out of the box thinking as to locations and times to avoid the crowds, managing an ascent of Dorsal arete and the East ridge of Beinn a’ Chaorainn.

And Dave has been out almost ever day on a mixture of Mountaineering classics and climbing days. One of his best days out was with his long-term student Keir McEwan, 2 years ago Dave taught Keir to trad lead in Northumberland and last week Keir lead 2 pitches of a winter route, in between this Keir has done several routes with Dave.

www.westcoast-mountainguides.co.uk

New Heights – Active Brands