Zig-Zags Direct, Gearr Aonach

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Ken: With a deteriorating forecast (rising temperatures and rain), Keith, Nick and I had a prompt start with the aim of being up and down before the weather worsened and so headed to Gearr Aonach, where we climbed the Zig-Zags Direct. The first pitch was a bit on the soft side, but thereafter, the climbing was pretty reasonable, giving a total of three varied pitches up grooves, stepped slabs and a fun corner on the second pitch. In fact, I might go so far as to say that it is a better climb than Centigrade on Beinn an Dothaidh that we did yesterday. We descended the Zig-Zags, which was very snowy! Caspar and Matt and there respective teams were also on the Zig-Zags, looking at mountaineering and lead climbing skills. Despite a rather poor forecast, the weather this morning was far from unpleasant whilst we were climbing.

Meanwhile, Hannah and her team of budding winter mountaineers were on the hills by the Devil’s Staircase, focusing on winter navigation, which can often be far more testing than navigating in the summer.

Bridge of Orchy & Ben Nevis

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Nick, Keith and Ken joined Steve and Graeme down at the Bridge of Orchy hills, but peeled off to climb on Creag Coire an Dothaidh. With two teams heading up to Salamander Gully, they climbed Centigrade, which gave a good and varied climb up vegetated corners and icy grooves. Despite another dump of snow through the night and into the morning, the day turned out to be stunning, with clear views of the surrounding snowy peaks.
Whilst Ken and team were busy on Centigrade Steve and Graeme climbed Antichrist with the Promise Land finish VI,6. They had originally wanted to climb Antichrist in its entirety but copious amounts of digging led them to Promise Land and it’s thin and impressive crux icefall.

With more fresh snow overnight Hannah and team had a late change of plan. And as both Josh and Harry had expressed a strong interest in reaching the top of Ben Nevis, this was to be their objective for the day. With a slightly later than desired start (9:45!) they set off at full steam breaking trail and sharing the navigation under Hannah’s watchful eye. It was tough going but they made the summit and back in less than 7 hours. Harry and Josh were super chuffed with the change of plan and blown away by the unexpected views.

Gendarme Ridge, Stob Ban

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Yet more snow fell down to sea level last night. I was out with regulars Keith and Nick and we decided to tackle the lesser-travelled Gendarme Ridge on Stob Ban. Whilst there was quite a bit of deep snow on the approach, we were able to avoiding any avalanche prone terrain, mainly due to fact that the route starts quite low down, but also we were able to tuck ourselves beneath the bulk of Central Buttress in order to get to our route.

The route takes a striking line up a slender rib of quartzite, with the first pitch offering the crux of the route. The uniform covering of snow, which hid the quartzite slabs (as well as useful turf and vegetation), made route finding and gear placements a bit awkward, and so climbing the first pitch took a bit of clearing and digging. After that, the route eases back a bit, and takes in a series of pretty atmospheric ridges that eventually top out on the summit of Central Buttress. We then descended the north ridge.

Also on the mountain were Dave and Caspar, with a team from Wessex Mountaineering Club, who were looking to develop their avalanche awareness. They used the Be Avalanche Aware model as the foundation for the day.

Hannah was out on Buachaille Etive Beag, on day one of our Winter Skills Course. Their day was based on using the boot as a tool, something often overlooked. There are plenty of occasions where kicking steps without crampons on makes more sense than resorting to putting crampons on. They also took in the summit of Stob Dubh.

Sron na Lairig-Stob Coire Sgreamhach-Bidean nam Bian-SCNL

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Ken: Today was my final day with Ricci, and as this is all preparation for a forthcoming trip to Everest, with a possible summit attempt, we decided to finish his three days with a fairly big day.

We climbed Sron na Lairig first off, which is always a brilliant journey up an imposing buttress and ridge. The route culminates in a short but very exposed ridge, before tackling a final head-wall, which in current conditions, was quite steep. We then turned right, and headed up to the summit of Stob Coire Sgreamhach, just as the cloud descended on us, and reduced our visibility hugely. We then continued on our traverse of the South Glencoe Munros, and dropped down to Bealach Dearg, before the steady pull up to Bidean nam Bian.

From the summit of Bidean, with almost zero visibility, we had to be pretty careful to find the ridge connecting it with Stob Coire nan Lochan. The skies cleared just as we reached the col. From the summit of Stob Coire nan Lochan, we descended the NW flank of the mountain, and observed a lot of debris from possible cornice collapse above the east facing slopes and around South Buttress. Broad Gully also seemed to be loaded with windslab, and well worth avoiding for the time being.

Indoor Ice & School House Ridge

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(Steve) Shane and Chris decided to make the most of the excellent facilities the Ice Factor has to offer. Here we did some steep ice coaching before looking at safe abseiling and building good solid belays for winter climbing.

Ricci and Ken made their way up School House Ridge in Glencoe. Despite the slight thaw, the route was still very wintry, particular higher up. They continued over Sgurr Bhan and over to Sgurr Dearg, from where they descended the north ridge, Quite a few other teams on School House Ridge for company.

West Coast on the West Face of Aonach Mor

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There was a West Coast Mountain Guides assault on the West Face of Aonach Mor this morning. Caspar, Steve and myself (with our respective teams) all headed round there off the climbers’ gondola, but we were also joined by Dave and Matt, who both Steve and myself have guided over the past year. It’s always good to see folk we’ve been out with in the past getting stuck into their own adventures.

I was out with Ricci, who has his sight set on Mount Everest later this year. He was keen to get some mileage in the mountains under his belt, so we went up Golden Oldie, and then from the summit of Aonach Mor, made our way over to the summit of Aonach Beag before returning back to the gondola station. Needless to say that Golden Oldie was in great condition.

Not far behind, Steve was out with Chris and Shane. Again, they led the majority of the route, looking at various ways to move safely with the rope attached.

Caspar, Petko and Vladislav, who are preparing for Denali, had a day climbing Ruth and Ruth’s Rib, looking at a variety of belays.

It was a stunning day to be out and about in the Scottish Highlands, with plenty of sunshine and cool temperatures. It was the sort of day that we all wish for everyday throughout winter!

Somewhere new: Bow Peep, Druim Shionnach

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Ken: Hannah, Henry and I thought we would go for a little exploration today, and ventured to the West Face of Druim Shionnach in Glen Shiel, where we climbed Bow Peep. The route follows a slanting fault in three pitches, the first of which is the crux. Getting established on the first pitch proved to be quite tricky, with the snow having the consistency of butter at room temperature, however eventually we were able to make steady upwards progress.

The turf was well and truly frozen, but gear was quite hard to find due to quite a bit of heavy snow sticking to the crag and chocking up the cracks, particularly in the lower reaches.That said, with such good axe placements all the way, the climbing all felt very secure. Hannah led the second pitch, a series of slightly off-balance steps, before Henry led us to the top by surmounting a large chock-stone on great hooks and with good gear. We all felt that Bow Peep was an excellent route, and well worth the journey. It’s probably at the lower end of the grade, but don’t expect much gear on the crux pitch in current conditions.

Steve was out working on the East Ridge of the North Top of Stob Ban. He was out with Shane and Chris, who led themselves up the route, whilst Steve provided valuable coaching along the way.

Luck of the Irish

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(Steve) Today was my final day with team Ireland: Bridget and Winnie. And so with slightly tired legs we made a steady stride up to Stob Coire nan Lochain to climb Dorsal Arete. The route is a romp on amazing neve at the moment and the crest providing entertainment as always. It felt much more like Scotland today; which I was glad of – (these alpine conditions making us soft!) with plenty of wind and snow being whipped into the air. We came down a snowy broad gully that had accumulated a significant amount of snow yet no slab had yet formed.

Han and Becky were also up at SNCL enjoying a day of personal climbing. They chose to climb Moonshadow. The ice on pitch 2 and 3 was in reasonable nick, not good enough for ice screws but nice and chewy for the axes. They said the route has interest on every pitch and was a fine route; worthy of it’s 2 stars.

West Face of Aonach Mor

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(Steve) Today I introduced Bridget and Winnie to the West Face of Aonach Mor where we climbed the three star Western Rib. We took the traditional start as Lena and team were also climbing the route but via the left hand Rib, which is also excellent. Conditions are just brilliant at the moment with first time placements on well frozen turf. The overnight snow hadn’t settled anywhere in large quantities, if anything it covered the tracks and made it even better.

Ben Nevis, Creag Meagaidh and Stob Ban

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Ken: Robin, Nelly and Jana have made the long journey over from Ireland, for a couple of days of winter mountaineering in the Highlands. We kicked off their trip with an ascent of Ledge Route on Ben Nevis, which was great fun. The snow cover was pretty much perfect, allowing for a swift ascent. We popped over to the summit and descended the Red Burn, which again, has near perfect snow cover for much of the way.

Quite a few teams out, with a number heading up Observatory Gully to Point V and Orion Direct amongst others. We also saw teams on North East Buttress and Tower Ridge, as well as a team retreating from Slingsby’s Chimney, which when lean is the hardest grade II winter climb in the world. Caspar was also out on Ben Nevis, with David. They were looking a snow anchors in Number Four Gully.

Over on Creag Meagaidh, Han and Lena were out for a day of personal climbing and enjoyed great conditions on The Pumpkin V,4. They reported the route to be in good nick with good ice screw placements to be had and lots of chewy ice. There was only one other pair on the route – Josh and John, who were great company at the belays. Han and Lena say a big thanks for letting them go first!

Steve was out with Bridget and Winnie. They climbed the East Ridge of the North Top of Stob Ban, which again, was in good condition. A few other teams out and about there too.