More subterranean adventures: Flake Route, Bidean

/0 Comments/in , ,

Continuing yesterday’s theme of squeezing into tight spaces, Hannah and I had a rare day off together, and so ventured up to the brilliant Church Door Buttress on Bidean nam Bian, to look at Flake Route.  Whilst the approach feels long, we took a couple of hours from the car park to the foot of the route, just next to the esoteric and truly subterranean Crypt Route.  Flake Route by comparison is quite ‘en plein air’.

The route moves straight into a deep and narrow slot (but not quite as narrow as The Clanger which I climbed yesterday), so we decided that leaving the packs at the foot of the buttress was a wise move.  Gaining the crack was fairly straight forward, although making progress, at times, once established in the body width chimney, was a bit tricky (yet secure), with plenty of body wedging and arm barring, along with useless foot pedalling, as some of the snow was quite unconsolidated.  From just beyond the exit of the slot, Hannah took over, and led a fairly straight forward pitch to converge with West Chimney, which Steve & Dot and Mike with his two clients were enjoying themselves on. Steve was grateful that the tunnel pitch on West Chimney is no longer!

A number of routes all finish up Raeburn’s Chimney, which probably forms the crux of Flake Route, just,  so we all moved efficiently to minimise hold-ups.  It turns out we weren’t the only ones enjoying Bidean today, a number of top end climbers were also trying some harder lines, which didn’t finish up Raeburn’s Chimney.

 

Caving on Ben Nevis: The Clanger

/0 Comments/in , ,

With a rather colourful avalanche forecast for Glencoe and Lochaber, Dot, Steve and I decided to play it safe and head back to Ben Nevis, as we were quite confident that conditions wouldn’t have changed much from yesterday.  The surface snow up to at least 1000m had thawed and refrozen ever so slightly through the night.

We went in again, with a few ideas, but found ourselves on steep ice leading up to the corner of The Clanger.  I led the main corner pitch, which gave good climbing, but not much gear, so care required.  Steve then took over, as we figured someone needed to get through the yawning, narrow slot that The Clanger is renown for, so with a bit of grunting, cursing and removing of helmet and rack, Steve wriggled his way through, and found himself popping out part the way up the steep chimney we had climbed yesterday.

I must admit, being a bit bigger than Steve, I was a bit apprehensive when it came to my turn to tackle the slot, but somehow managed to exit the narrowest part of the slot by pushing myself out nearly horizontally.  Dot followed, with seemingly little trouble, but had to push the one pack we had between us through first, before following it. Two abseils then took us back to the packs.

I don’t think that Steve found it particularly enjoyable, but I quite liked the esoteric nature of the route..

Other teams on Green Gully, Stringfellow, Tower Ridge, Wendigo and Fore ‘n’ Daft.

Pinnacle Arete with direct variation, Ben Nevis

/0 Comments/in , ,

Wow, what a contrast today was compared to the past few days/weeks/months.  Dot, Steve and I enjoyed a completely still and cloudless walk-in to Ben Nevis, something that seems to be a rarity at the moment.  We also all had a day off, which too seems to be a rarity at the moment. With a few options in mind we walked into Coire na Ciste, but on seeing the avalanche debris and amount of snow and potential windslab on the N/NW aspects, we decided to have a look at a direct version of Pinnacle Arete (a route that non of us had climbed before, or the original line for that matter).

The first pitch was as per the original line, which Steve led, however, the direct variation, which isn’t really much more direct than the original line, forks left and sticks more to the crest, and made it’s way up a short, pokey pitch which involved tenuous climbing on awkward slabs and not the greatest of axe placements, which I led, before Steve took over and thugged his way up an awkward, short, steep but well protected off-width chimney, with good axe placements on the few small chockstones. Overall V,6/7?

This brought us out above The Clanger, from where quite a bit of easier ground (grade II/III) took us to the plateau.  The clag did come in during the afternoon, but considering the weather of late, it was a very pleasant day to be out, and possibly a second ascent of the direct variation.

A few other teams out and about, on West Gully of the Douglas Boulder, Tower Ridge, Green Gully, what looked to be the upper pitches of The Banshee and Slab Climb.

 

East Ridge, Stob Ban & Winter Skills

/0 Comments/in , ,

After a busy week running a Winter Mountaineering Course for Moran Mountain in the NW Highlands, I was back on home turf today with Mike & Tony.

Our plan A was to catch the gondola at Nevis Range this morning, along with a few other hopefuls, but the strong winds put a quick lid on that plan, so we headed round to Glen Nevis and made our way up to the East Ridge of the North Buttress of Stob Ban.  There was a layer of saturated thawed snow sitting beneath a layer of freshly deposited snow on the approach, and the  turf lower down was still a bit soggy, but improved with height, particularly where exposed.  The climbing itself was as good as ever, giving a nice variety of situations, which Mike and Tony enjoyed.  We were somewhat exposed to the SE winds, but besides some blowing spindrift, the winds didn’t hinder our progress.  One team of two ventured up towards South Gully, but turned around, and one other team were making their way to the base of the route quite late in the morning, other than that it was very quiet.  The main north ridge of Stob Ban was quiet sheltered, so we made the most of the day by ticking off the Munro, before descending the north ridge.

Low down on the East Ridge

Low down on the East Ridge

 

On the crux

On the crux

 

On the summit of Stob Ban

On the summit of Stob Ban

Tim was out running the first of two skills days with Claudia and Pavel.  They had caught the overnight sleeper train from London, so with a late start, they visited the impressive north face of Ben Nevis and were introduced to some core winter skills, in between the gusts!  Their day today must have felt a million miles away from this time yesterday!

Dave was also out running an introductory winter hill day, with Mark, Reece and Louise.  For their first winter hill day, they visited Buachaille Etive Beag in Glencoe, and guess what, battled with the wind.  They did have a good day, and started getting to grips with the necessary skills required to explore the hills in winter.

On Buachaille Etive Beag

On Buachaille Etive Beag

 

Traverse of Beinn Alligin & School House Ridge.

/0 Comments/in , ,

Today, Tom was out working for West Coast Mountain Guides, with Ali, Gary, James and Matt. They climbed the brilliant mountaineering outing ‘School house Ridge’ in Glencoe. Looks like they had a great day, and a brilliant weather window to boots.

Meanwhile, I was out running day one of a mountaineering course in the NW Highlands for Moran Mountain. We made a classic traverse of Beinn Alligin, and didn’t see another soul all day.

Konrad was also out with Adele and William, they enjoyed some mixed climbing on the SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder on Ben Nevis.

Storm Henry will be gracing us tomorrow, but the thaw doesn’t look to be too severe, and will therefore really help with the building of some well needed ice.

 

Eastern Slant & North Buttress, Glencoe

/0 Comments/in , ,

With another day of strong westerly winds on the cards, Adele, William and I climbed Eastern Slant on Far East Buttress on Aoanch Dubh, which gave us reasonable shelter from the winds, which were strong enough to repel a few teams heading up to the higher cliffs of Stob Coire nan Lochan.

For Adele and William, it was their first taste of mixed climbing, and although some of the turf wasn’t quite fully frozen, the route lent itself well to our objectives, giving three varied pitches of interesting climbing, with a thought provoking crux chimney right at the end.

Meanwhile, further up the glen, Matt was out with Oli again, and the made their way up North Buttress on Buachaille Etive Mor, which again with it being low down on the mountain, and on a NE aspect, was protected from the worst of the winds.

Winter returns to The Highlands

/0 Comments/in , ,

Yesterday was wet, and there was almost nothing other than the calender date to hint that it was winter.  I was out working for High Mountain Guides, with Grant, and we enjoyed, no really, we did, a wet and snow free Curved Ridge, Buachaille Etive Mor, in Glencoe.  It was well sheltered from the strong southerly winds.  On topping out, we braced ourselves, and made our way over to and down Coire na Tulaich.  The torrents coming down the north face of the Three Sisters was quite impressive!

Wet, wet, wet, I felt it in my fingers and my toes.

Wet, wet, wet, I felt it in my fingers and my toes.

Fresh overnight and early morning snow magically, and thankfully, converted the hills back to their winter garb, and with a calm start,things were looking far more promising. Grant and I took the gondola up and ventured round to the West Face of Aonach Mor, our intentions were to climb Golden Oldie, however, not feeling on top of his game, Grant decided that climbing might be pushing it a bit, so we headed back along the Allt Daim and back up to Nevis Range.

Summit Ribs on the West Face of Aonach Mor

Summit Ribs on the West Face of Aonach Mor

Meanwhile, Chris was out with Tim on Ben Nevis, which again, had recovered reasonably well, given the short recovery time.  He climbed No. 3 Gully Buttress.  Plenty of steeper lines were getting climbed by the BMC International Meet teams, who after the past couple of sub-optimal days, must have been chomping at the bit.

Early morning light on Ben Nevis

Early morning light on Ben Nevis (Photo: Chris Thorne)

 

Welcome snow on Ben Nevis (Photo: Chris Thorne)

Welcome snow on Ben Nevis (Photo: Chris Thorne)

 

Reasonable climbing conditions (Photo: Chris Thorne)

Reasonable climbing conditions (Photo: Chris Thorne)

Finally, Hannah, along with Scott, were out working with students on the Adventure Tourism Management degree at the University of Highland & Islands.  They looked at the planning of a winter hill day, and put their plan into action by going for a journey around the Nid Ridge area of Aonach Mor, looking at various winter skills en route.

Good views from Nevis Range (Photos: Scott Kirkhope)

Good views from Nevis Range (Photos: Scott Kirkhope)

 

Winter journeying (photo: Scott Kirkhope)

Winter journeying (photo: Scott Kirkhope)

Surprisingly pleasant: East Ridge of Beinn a’Chaorainn

/0 Comments/in , ,

With strong SW winds and the freezing level above the summits forecasted, Donna, Caroline and myself headed east to climb the brilliant East Ridge of Beinn a’Chaorainn.  It’s a route that is often well covered in snow through the winter, as our prevailing winds pile snow over the summit plateau of Beinn a’Chaorainn and onto the east facing corries and ridges.  The ridge is also quite sheltered from strong SW winds, and so whilst the final approach to the ridge can be exposed to gusts, once on the ridge, it can be remarkably serene by comparison… until reaching the top.

The approach to Beinn a’Chaorainn is a good test of one’s climbing abilities, with a few fallen trees to clamber over.  On reaching the ridge, which always feels like it takes longer than it does, it was clear that the recent thaw had taken quite a toll on the unconsolidated snow, leaving the crest lower down quite bare.  However, we found a handy and interesting snow filled gully just to the right of the ridge and so made an ascent of that until the snow reappeared on the crest higher up.  We continued to look at being slick but safe on alpine style mountaineering terrain.

Part the way up the ridge, the clouds cleared, leaving us with rays of sunshine and clear views, which stayed with us until the top, where the fresh winds joined us too.  We made our way down the southern flank and were back down before the next bout of rain.  Perfect.

Alpine Stylin’ on School House Ridge, Ballachulish

/0 Comments/in , ,

Despite a rather unfavourable forecast, particularly following such a good spell of cold, and relatively calm weather, and the odd gust, today wasn’t bad at all.  I was out with Caroline and Donna, who are up for a couple of days to squeeze in as much winter mountaineering as possible.  With a rather colourful avalanche forecast, and dampening snow pack, we decided that School House Ridge (ENE Ridge) of Sgorr Bhan would give us a quick and safe access to the snowline, and maximise time on the ridge itself.

Caroline brought with her plenty of hill experience, but mostly in summer, so for her the day was all about becoming more confident in the use of crampons, and particularly on steeper terrain and beginning to understand basic ropework as she is working towards quite an amazing goal, to climb 5 of Europe’s 6 highest peaks.  I couldn’t name them!  More info on her Five summits and a Bike Ride Facebook Page.

Donna brought with her a solid platform of hillwalking, both in summer and winter, and rock climbing, so today was about transferring those skills to a winter mountaineering context.

School House Ridge is a very aesthetic ridge, that is almost completely uniform in it’s angle to the summit of Sgorr Bhan, with a number of short rocky steps.  Donna led the whole ridge, with Caroline seconding and we pitched the steeper sections and moved together on the easier sections in between, and so made good and steady progress.  On finishing the ridge, we decided that a visit to the summit would top the day off nicely, and despite some early gusts, the winds didn’t really amount to much.  A great first day.

The upper layers within the snow pack had become saturated by the afternoon, however, there was still a reasonable amount if ice on the decent path, down to about 450m.

Latest Scottish Winter Newsletter and Availability Update

/0 Comments/in , ,
Below is our latest newsletter including our availability update for open courses.
Signing up to our regular newsletter can be done on the homepage:http://51.38.64.114/

Plenty of snow!

After a rather frustrating start to winter, things have settled down.

There’s been no shortage of snow as of late, with quite regular snow fall down to the glens over the past couple of weeks.  All of which has given the mountains of the Highlands, and across the UK, a substantial winter coat.  What has been lacking is typical freeze/thaw cycles, so whilst the mountains are very white, the ice is taking a while to form, particularly on the higher cliffs, which have remained below freezing for some time now.  That said, Point 5 Gully has seen it’s first ascent, on Saturday, and reported to be climbed on reasonable, but not fat, ice.  Plenty of mixed climbs and classic ridges seeing ascents at the moment, including Tower Ridge and Castle Ridge on Ben Nevis, North Buttress on Stob Dearg (Buachaille Etive Mor) and a number of mixed climbs on Stob Coire nan Lochan.

So things are taking shape, and with a slight thaw moving in this weekend, this should only go to help consolidate things.  UK Weather Forecast have an interesting article, predicting that the mid-range weather (over the next 2-4 weeks) should be dominated by high pressure systems, giving us cold and dry conditions, and will be a pleasure to be out in, whether you are winter walking or climbing.

Availability Update

Below is an update of availability on our open walking and climbing courses.

It’s been a busy start to the season.  We have been out running privately guided days for a number of folk, both familiar and new faces.  Ken has been out with Tim, and they climbed Thompson’s Route, Ben Nevis, Morwind on Aonach Mor and Dorsal Arete on Stob Coire nan Lochan.  He has also guided Tower Ridge, Castle Ridge and Thompson’s Route again.  Meanwhile, Matt has been out and guided Raeburn’s Route and Sabbard Chimney, both on Stob Coire nan Lochan in Glencoe.

We have limited availability for Private Guiding throughout the season, so please get in touch to see what we can do for you.  We can deliver winter skills tailored to your requirements, ascents of Ben Nevis via the mountain track through to guiding on Grade V+ winter climbs.

We also have limited availability on the following courses:

Winter Climbing Advanced 22-26 Feb £675

Winter Skills & Summits 15-19 Feb £450

Winter Skills & Summits  22-26 Feb £450

Winter Skills & Summits  7-11 March £450

Winter Skills & Summits  21-25 March £450

CIC Hut Week 6-11 March £750

CIC Hut Week 20-25 March £750

Submit your review on Trip Advisor

If you have been guided or have received instruction in the past, either in the UK or the Alps, by clicking the Trip Advisor logo below, you will be able to submit a review of your experiences, which of course we will appreciate!

 
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ to keep up to date with all our latest news, offers, course info and the latest conditions from the Scottish Mountains.

Conditions Blog

The West Coast Mountain Guides blog will also be kept up-to-date throughout the winter season.

Please feel free to email us with your own conditions updates and pictures that we can then include on our blog.

Copyright © , All rights reserved.