Damp & Misty

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The cloud had rolled in overnight shrouding most of the hills by day break. Thankfully there wasn’t much precipitation falling from the sky but things felt damp and slushy both on Ben Nevis and in Glencoe.

Steve and Nick scrambled up the Zig-Zags along Gearr Aonach and into the Coire where Nick was introduced to ice axe breaking and techniques to get around safely on snow. They then climbed a somewhat rocky Dorsal Arete which resembled jenga in the current thaw. They bypassed the narrow crest before climbing back down Broad Gully which eventually turned into an epic bum slide to the coire floor.

Ken and Caroline were over on Ben Nevis where the day started off nicely, but unfortunately, the clouds rolled in once they were established on Tower Ridge. The steeper steps are now largely bare, but there’s still a lot of snow on the easier angled ground, and in particular the section that traverses across the top of Fawlty Towers is quite an impressive crest of snow. Much of the climbing is fairly straight forward in these conditions. Tower Gap was largely free of snow. There was one other team ahead, but other than that, it was a very quiet day on the mountain.

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Skiing on the West Face of Aonach Mor

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Ken: Something a bit different today. Andy, Will and I thought we should finally get round to skiing the gullies on the West Face of Aonach Mor, and we couldn’t have asked for a better day on which to do it, well, almost…
The quad was closed, so we skinned up from the top station to the summit of Aonach Mor, where we first off, skied down Bold Rush, which lies to the skier’s right of Golden Oldie. The snow was mostly very good spring snow, if a bit soggy lower down.

We then traversed onto Golden Oldie, climbed it to almost the top, where we donned our skis again, and then skied down Grotto Rush, which lies on the other side of the ridge. This has a short, steep icy section, which can be abseiled (20m ab), but today, there was just enough soft snow to make a tight traverse beneath the ice, to then continue down to the bottom of the gully. We then boot packed back up the gully, to then ski down to the top station. The pistes were eerily quiet, which we soon found out was because the gondola had closed due to the winds. Whilst the walk-out wasn’t what we were hoping for, it added to the adventure, and strangely rounded the brilliant day off quite nicely.

Spring in Glen Nevis

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(Steve): We’ve had some great weather in recent days, enough sunshine to be climbing rock in t-shirts at times. I was back down the Glen this time with Nick who was keen as mustard straight off the sleeper train from London. We climbed around 8 pitches of Severe before jumping on Resurrection (VS) which put the cherry ontop for Nicks first day of proper rock climbing.

Grey day on the Grey Corries

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Ken: I was back out today with Robert, whilst working for Abacus Mountain Guides. I think that we managed to find the cloudiest area of Lochaber today: the Grey Corries. We hit the cloud at about 800m, whilst making our way up the northern flanks of Stob Choire Claurigh, and didn’t see anything until we dropped back to 800m, on the north ridge of Stob Coire Easain, having been over Stob Coire an Laoigh.

Conditions underfoot were a mixture of soft snow, very soft snow and no snow, although not a lot of the latter on the main ridge. Crampons weren’t required. A clear night tonight should help firm the snow up for tomorrow morning, but it looks to be a warm and sunny day, so the snow will soften quite quickly.

Over on Ben Nevis, Gareth was out working on NE Buttress yesterday, and reported reasonable conditions.

East Ridge of Beinn a’Chaorainn

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Ken: Whilst the freezing level has remained above the summit for a few days now, the lack of rain has ensured that snow loss up high has been fairly minimal. I was out working for Abacus Mountain Guides, with Robert, who has been inspired by Gary Smith’s new guidebook: Scotland’s Winter Mountains with one axe (if you’re an aficionado of winter mountaineering, then it’s well worth buying), and as a result, we headed to the East Ridge of Beinn a’Chaoriann.

The track through the woods is largely clear of snow, allowing quick and easy access, but thereafter, there is still a lot of the stuff. The crest of the ridge lower down has suffered from all this good weather, but a steep, open gully on the right allowed us to stick to snow for much of the way.

Thereafter, it was fairly easy going, but there are still some patches of firmer snow up high. The cornices either side of the ridge are quite impressive, and won’t hang on for much longer! This was my first time on Beinn a’Chaorainn where it was clear, so we both enjoyed absorbing the views from the summit.

Slight thaw on Ben Nevis

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Ken: Bit of a change from a couple of days ago, as the temperatures have crept up, but not excessively so just yet. I was out, working for Abacus Mountain Guides, with Ed, Pierre, Alistair and Stu, who were keen to reach the summit of Ben Nevis via Ledge Route.

Needless to say, there’s still an awful lot of snow in the corries, but a noticeable amount has melted over the past couple of days, particularly on steeper, rockier ground. The recent snows from the past few days had become quite soggy, but beneath the surface, and where scoured by the winds or compressed by traffic, it was still fairly firm and icy. The initial slab and gully to gain Ledge Route was the latter.

The rest of the route was largely softish snow, and with good steps for much of the way. The team did well for their first time in crampons, and took Ledge Route well within their stride. We wondered over to the summit, and descended a soggy Red Burn, which gave a brilliant bum slide all the way to the where it meets the Mountain Track.

It was pretty murky on the mountain today, so hard to gauge conditions higher up, but I would have thought that some of the mid-grade icy routes (those without cornices guarding their exits) would still be ok, routes such as Good Friday Climb, Indicator Wall, The White Line, Comb Gully Buttress, Comb Gully, No. 3 Gully Buttress and Thompson’s Route.

Simply stunning on the Aonach Eagach

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Ken: This morning, we awoke to another dusting of snow down to sea level, and quite a murky start, but that soon cleared, to give Helen and I a stunning day on the Aonach Eagach in Glencoe.

We were surprised and very grateful that a team had set off before us, and put in a track for at least some of the way, as the snow, even on the SE flank of Am Bodach, was very deep in places. The ridge felt Himalayan in character (if you ignore the A82 way below), with double cornices in places, and a sharp crest of snow for much of the way. We caught up with the two chaps from Northumberland (one of whom was Ben, who had been out on North Buttress with Andy yesterday) at the pinnacles, where we thanked them, and took our turn trail-breaking at the front.

A huge well done to Helen for accomplishing the traverse in tough, but very worthwhile conditions. The views and situations more than made up for the effort of ploughing our way along!

A ski traverse of the Aonach Eagach anyone?

Hannah was out on Ben Nevis with Noah. They too enjoyed not having to break trail all the way up the mountain!

I wouldn’t normally post quite so many photos, but it was an amazing day to be up there, particularly given the amount of snow for early April, so hope that you all enjoy them!

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Snowy day in Glencoe!

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Ken: I was thinking to myself how it would be great if it was like mid-January again, and lo and behold, we woke up to 40cm of fresh snow down to 300m. The amount of snow in the Highlands is quite amazing, and just like for much of January, getting around the mountains proved to be tough going today.

I was out with James, and we ploughed our way up to Dorsal Arete on Stob Coire nan Lochan. James has been up a couple of times this season (and manages to bring some pretty wintry weather with him), and wanted to tune up his housekeeping when seconding (gear, ropework, belaying) so that he could feel more confident when heading out with his climbing partner.

The snow on the route was largely scoured, but with a few avoidable patches of windslab. Many of the rocks are completely buried, and the crux fin had a sharp crest of snow lying on it, giving the route additional grandeur.

Over on Buachaille Etive Mor, Andy was out with Ben on North Buttress. They continued up to the summit and reported good scoured snow on the upper slopes. The snow on the summit, however, was knee deep, and rather than descend Coire na Tulaich, they continued round to the north spur, which is more often than not a safer descent option.

Ritchie’s Gully, Creag Meagaidh

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Ken: A day off for myself and Steve today, which given the amount of fresh snow lying at sea level first thing this morning, and the rain lashing on the windows this afternoon, felt like no bad thing. However, unlike myself and Steve, Hannah isn’t soft, and braved the return to full-on wintry conditions to get in a day of climbing on Creag Meagaidh with our friend; Steven.

They found the approach to be much more sheltered than expected, with conditions underfoot being quite easy going, as the snow was very light and fluffy. On the route, the first icefall was in great condition, with good ice screws available. Thereafter, there wasn’t quite as much opportunity for good gear, but enough for the lesser angled terrain.

Spindrift was falling down and being blown up in equal measures, and the cornice was avoidable on the right. Some careful navigation required to reach The Window once they topped out on the plateau.

Comb Gully, Ben Nevis

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Ken: Another brilliant day on Ben Nevis today. With the sun shining this morning, Ben Nevis felt very alpine. Hazel and I retraced our steps back into Coire na Ciste, but then veered off towards No. 2 Gully. This part of the mountain was quite quiet, with only a couple of teams on the White Line and a team on Glover’s Chimney, and so with a clear run ahead, we decided to climb the classic Comb Gully.

The ice in Comb Gully was excellent, with good first time axe placements and good screws where needed. The ice was noticeably better than Thompson’s Route. Hazel did well, particularly on the crux pitch, which is fairly sustained, and requires good technique.

Plenty of teams on Tower Ridge today, and amazingly, we saw a team who managed to sneak their way up The Curtain. They weren’t overly enthused by the quality of the ice they encountered, particularly as it was catching the sun from quite early on! There’s also plenty of enticing looking ice on Goodeve’s Buttress and Raeburn’s Wall which has seen very little action this winter.

Iain was also out today, with Abigail and Tom. They were climbing around the Ruth area on the West Face of Aonach Mor, looking at various belays and different types of protection.