A new website

Well, in celebration of the fact that http://www.highmountaineering.com/ version 1.0 is up and running now it seems that I'm rewarded with a temperature rise of 9deg C this morning! I've been working on this for the past few weeks to launch in time with the publishing of my latest article in CLIMB magazine about Performance Winter Climbing. There is a section in the site about the Coaching i offer in regards to improving performance http://www.highmountaineering.com/index.php?id=125

There is also an articles section on the site which i will update every week or so with a new piece. http://www.highmountaineering.com/index.php?id=93

Update your book marks!

There was significant snow up high above about 600m 24 hrs ago in the North West, but some warm rain fell in the night and with high winds and pretty solid cloud cover i wouldn't expect the lapse rate to be too significant and would expect the snow to have gone soggy.

However, it is due to get colder on Friday and with stormy weather and rapid thaw freezes then North West ice should grow in the drainage lines up high.

I'm out this weekend doing more performance mixed climbing coaching and will report back. I have availability next week till Saturday for short term bookings but am not available the week after.

In the mean time have a look at the new site, if there are any glaring mistakes please email me and tell me! I know that in many places an apostrophe has been replaced by a question mark and am trying to hunt these gremlins down!

Lastly, a HUGE thank you must go to Geoff Neill for the design and building of the site. If you want a site built, get in touch and I'll pass your details on, he is fantastic and even managed to get a Luddite like me to get stuck in.

Mixed climbing coaching in the Northern Corries

Ive been spending far too much time staring at a PC developing the new website ready for next week (hopefully!) so was relieved to get out for a day today.

Today Phil and I went into Sneachda with a focus on coaching for advanced mixed climbing. We chose the line of Stirling bomber for this and found excellent turf and great winter conditions. The corrie was quiet with a party on Messenger, several mooching about Red gully area and other easy gullies and a party on Fluted Buttress direct i think. Several cannon balls of rock came from the fluted buttress area that were incredibly close to a winter skills party below.

There is some slab build up in the corrie high on the slopes and is resting on an old icy layer of snow. There will probably be an instability period tomorrow with the rising temp and then hopefully some consolidation.

Strathconon Ice

Sam, Myles and i went up Strathconon today to try some more of the low level ice. We didn't get up the intended new line as there wasn't as much ice as i was hoping for (the hills were quite dry before the freeze came) and at an altitude of 400m or so was significantly warmer. I was a few metres shy of easier ground when i bottled it and reversed the climb as the ice wasn't good enough to lower off.

Instead in the late afternoon we went to climb "the Strathconon experience" which is a rarely formed ice line in a big stream coming off the hillside It faces NW and at an altitude of about 150m it was a perfect choice for the temp inversion (NH 274 510 and page 383 in the Northern Highlands Central guide. This still has a lot of water running on each of the steep sections but was very good to climb. It had 4 steep sections with sections of walking inbetween on top of the frozen stream bed hoping not to fall into the deep pools! Picture above is of the first pitch, video below is of the last pitch.

It was only -4c last night in Conon Bridge as the cloud rolled in and prevented the temp dipping. It should be another cold one tonight though. I'm planning on a nice we walk tomorrow until the bad man who will be banging on the inside of my skull goes away.

NW update

Ive been poking about looking at some low level places these past few days, with overnight temps of -7c this past two nights and -4c on Saturday night the more unusual low level venues are worth a look.

I went for a walk up Ben Wyvis today with family and friends. The temp inversion is present but it isn't super strong as it is totally frozen up top. However there is no snow and only patchy old cover on ridges and shaded slopes in the NW. Have a look at the video and photo which shows the hills from the Fannachs to An Teallach.

Christmas and NY conditions

Season greetings to you all!

I hope Santa brought you some nice shinny axes to play in the snow with. The temperature inversion began last night, although i suspect it is not yet very strong. There is snow in the easy gullies is the Cairngorms and conditions in them are great. The buttress climbs are still quite dry though and that situation is matched in the NW.

I'm working hard on the new website at the moment and hope to get it launched within 2 weeks. I am quite challenged with the technology, but Geoff is doing amazing job at talking me through it. If you need to get in touch to discuss some dates for guiding or instruction before it goes live, give me an email on highmountaineering@gmail.com

Northern Corries report

Had a day out with Martin today in Lochain. Sneachda was totally black of the bits we saw. Lochain was a bit better but there is nothing on No1, No2 was better with a party on one of the IV's there and only bits of No3 and 4 were ok. We climbed bulgy which was very verglassed and choaked in the off width with unhelpful snow and ice which needed to be cleared to get round the roofs. All the cracks were verglassed but there was no rime to speak off. It doesn't look like this will change for the next few days.

A Kinlochleven party climbed y gully right hand and the snow in the gullies was a joy to climb. We walked down the coliour which has filled in nicely and didn't find any slab in the corrie that could cause concern.

Loch Avon conditions and a New Route

Phil Ashby and I went in to the Loch Avon basin yesterday hoping to climb ice. I thought that Cascade right and left would be fat but they proved not to be. It looks like they were fatter a couple of days ago but have been eaten by the sun. There was water running behind the falls. They may improve over the next few days though with cold temperatures and cloudy days.

Instead we climbed a probable new line on Stag Rocks, an as yet unnamed IV,6 120m line. It had 3 steep sections, two of which were vertical for short sections (see pictures above).

There wasn't much ice in Sneachda, but Alladin's Mirror direct is forming up and could probably be climbed by the brave. It should continue to grow in the next few days. We didn't see any ice on Sticil face unfortunately and after a pleasant lunch climbed the best but of ice on Hell's Lum based on Brimstone grooves but it was a bit more V than IV at the moment as it wasn't very thick in a few places but should get thicker in the next few days also. The Chancer isn't there yet.

Another party of 3 climbed the grade III Hells Lum and did very well to swim the cornice by the looks of things.

Have a look at the videos below.

Still lots to do in the NW

I went with Roger today to a crag on the side of Slioch just over loch Marie. It was 1 degree at the car park and a gentle thaw occured today but it then began to freeze hard again as the sun went down. We climbed a new route, grade unsure could be a contender for a III,6.

The good conditions look to be lasting well into the weekend.

Strathconon Conditions

Went for a walk yesterday up one of my local glens to check out the conditions. Picture is of the hills above Strathconon. There is snow down to valley level, exposed turf is great but buried isn't. No surprise there really. More snow fell today. The low level ice falls weren't there yet, it is predicted to be -8 here tonight so they could be good on Wednesday.

8 inches of snow at Achnasheen today made getting about a bit of an issue. Friends are heading into the NW hills tomorrow, I'm heading out on Thursday hopefully into a trail that they have waded for me!

NW is best (as usual)

James Gordon, Gareth Hughes and I braved the 4 hr walk into Atlantic wall on Slioch. It was -6 when we left the car park at 6am and +1 when we got back (much later).

We swithered around the crag for quite a while deciding what to climb and in the end plumped for Skyline Highway. This is based on a summer HVS and was spicy in places for VI,7. We found that the difficulties depended upon what brand of ice axe you had; I longed for my old Simond Piranhas that could have torqued with the hammer and the adze through the crux no bother!

It snowed heavily for several hours so we missed out on seeing the fantastic views. The turf was pretty good. We opted to abb into the gully on the right side of the crag from the top of Skyline Highway but had to leave the ropes behind when they unaccountably wouldn't pull. If anyone finds them before we go back we'd appreciate them back!

It looks like the conditions will stay good for several days with frozen ground and snow down to 200m lots of things will get done.

NW weather

The cold front arrived late last night and snow fell down to a couple of hundred metres. It was -2 this morning and is +2 just now at sea level.
Friends are climbing on the Eastern Ramparts of Beinn Eighe today (they rang at 9.30 as they got to the corrie and realised that they had forgotten to pack the guidebook!) so i should get a fair idea of what's what from them this evening.
I'm free from Sunday onwards at the moment and it is looking like the cold spell will last till at least Thursday. Get in touch for some last minute guiding, it's looking like the best start to the winter in several years.

***Stop Press***
Further to the Beinn Eighe two story! It seems they are on a new route and are one pitch from the top but not sure where to go! They rang my friend Roger as they were probably too embarassed to ring me back, but Roger rang me anyway. I feel a micky taking text building...

Tuesday in the Cairngorms

Went out today hoping to get into the Loch Avon Basin but Pete's sore knee meant that we opted for an easier day In Sneachda. The corrie had a few parties in it looking into the gloom for routes such ad Fingers Ridge and Pygmy Ridge but the cloud was down all day adding to the rime on the cliffs.

We started up a route on Fiachaell Buttress but found really really thick riming which meant the line we wanted might have been too dangerous as the gear cracks were very verglassed and buried under a foot of rime.

We backed off and did the route Fiachaell Buttress and then the Escapologist (and discovered that the final corner really does need ice if it is to be climbed at the guidebook grade)

The thaw that was heading over from the west came at about 2pm and a fine drizzle fell as we walked home.

If the thaw is not accompanied by rain then there should be lots of ice on the crags when it freezes again. This will make some lines really scary and some really easy. The crux is to find out which line is in which category!

Saturday on the Shelter Stone

We went over to the Loch Avon and found snow down to the loch. The descent down Corie Dohain was fine, the North wind had transported a lot of snow over to it but it was easy to pick out a line down it to avoid the wind slab.

Carn Etchecan was well rimed up and in great condition, Shelter stone less so. The Needle etc wasn't there yet on Saturday. The turf was excellent, it had been very saturated before the big freeze came. Nick, Sam and i opted for a short day and combined Postern with the finish of Clach Dian Chimney so we could get back in time for a dinner party. On Sunday we all recovered with a walk in the snow which fell down to sea level here in Conon Bridge. Reports today from the Cairngorms spoke of a wild minging day! I enjoyed my lie in bed this morning.

It's looking good for the next few days, i hope to get out in the N.W at some stage (if i finish the underfloor heating!)

Northern Corries report

Well, the Cairngorm summit temp data wasn't that promising yesterday with the temp hovering around zero. Unfortunately it stopped transmititng for some unknown reason last night (it still seems to be off line) so as i'm generally an optimist Roger and i went for a look. He wasn't as optimistic as i was (more realist!) and we weren't really in a rush. It was 6 deg when we left the ski car park at 11.15 this morning and it was either as warm or warmer in the corrie which was shrouded in damp mist, thus preventing any real temp gradient with height.

There is snow in many of the gullies and when it re-freezes they should provide good sport on neve. There is some ice growing and if the thaw is short and not accompanied by heavy rain several routes should have ice in the corners which the old school will love and the new school hate!

We didn't do any climbing and went for a coffee. Note that when we looked back to the corries on the walk out they looked significantly blacker an hour later (we had lunch behind a boulder) as a fine drizzle was falling.

Sunday may be OK for the easy gullies and selected mixed climbs but i'm not sure how much riming on the steep routes will occur on Saturday.

3rd ascent of 'The Secret' Ben Nevis

Just heard from one of the first ascensionists that 'The Secret' high up in Corie Na Cieste on Ben Nevis has received its 3rd ascent from Blair Fyffe and Tony Stone, with Tony cruising the big pitch.
What an awesome start to the winter!

Northern Corries Report

Well, i couldn't pesuade Martin Hind (Harpic) to get out of bed early and so left the ski car park at 10am and walked into Sneachda. Heavy deep snow on the walk in but ok in the well established trail.

We thought about doing a few things but the crags were very buried and so just chose to do Belhaven on Fiechale Buttress. Many other routes were done such as the Seam, Invernookie, lots of parties on Fingers ridge and Pygmy ridge, the haston line and the Message. Basically you can see the dots in the images and the Movie bellow. Savage slit had an ascent and was freshly 'hoovered' as was Deep Throat. No sign of an ascent of Fall out Corner though. One brave party was making a mixed ascent of the ice line Patey's route.

Special mention must go to Dave Kerr and partner who left the crowds behind and headed over to an excellent looking Carn Etchechan to make a fast ascent of Guillotine.

The temp went up and then down today. The deep turf on ledges is poor but exposed turf is great. Sunday should be good, then it will be a case of watch the forecast (summit data from the Cairngorm weather station is worth watching). I'm off to North Wales for a few days unfortunately

First report of the winter

Time for this blog to come out of Estivation.

Ok, winter is here in Scotland. This is the best early spell for many years with many areas in good condition, although good route and venue choice are still key.

Lots of reports from the Usual Suspects in the Northern Cairngorms, so I'll gloss over these and talk about the N.W.

Roger Webb and i went into the Flowerdale Forest area south of Loch Maree to an un-named crag about 3.5hrs from the road.

We climbed two new routes, a 130m IV,5 and a more spicy 140m V,6, both as yet un-named.

As Roger said from the top we were able to 'see some of the more remote crags' (!!?) and assess the conditions. Slioch looked good, the Triple Buttress area and Far East Wall on Beinn Eighe didn't look as good. This was confirmed by Viv Scott and Steve Ashworth who climbed a new and as yet un-named VII,8 on the pillar right of Pension Plan on the Fuselage Wall of Beinn Eighe which was the best wintry bit of the crag and was well hored up.

The good conditions may last in some places till the weekend and i may get out on Saturday if i can convince someone to get up at 4am!

Although this blog is dormant at the moment till i finish the web site later this year, i'll make use of it just now to show the pictures of the rock fall from Thursday evening the 5th June. The rock fall was in the vicinity of Terms of enderment and other routes to the right of Paty's Route in Corie an Sneachda in the norther corries.

On the whole i'd say that the area is probably a tad safer now. We both shivered at the thought of some eary season young winter guns jumping on when it wasn't properly frozen as it went last night with barely a touch.

Apologies and Estivation

First of all, sorry for seeming to abandon the posts. I thought that i had put this message up in late April, but although it appeared on my computer it never made it to the blog. Thanks for the email Dave.

Posts will start up again in October with a report on a Himalayan trip and preporation for the winter. In the meantime enjoy the summer; this blog will estivate till it gets cold again.

Modica Noury and the Valley Blanche

Toby and i got an 8.30 tele freak up the Aig du Midi and skied over to the start of Modica Noury on Mont Blanc du tacul. This is a 500m III/5+ or hard Scottish V route. We had about 45 mins of good visibility which was just enough to make us sweat out our breakfast on the approach slopes and turn the snow in the sun to porridge.

A Norwegian team (the owners of Climb Inn at Rjukan) were having a nightmare getting over the bergshrund. Toby levitated up the vertical mush 10m to their left and so we squeezed in front. The ice was in excellent easy condition with many hooks in place that the axes can just be slotted into, however two sections are thinning out to what the French might call 'mixte' but what Brits still call bomber ice climbing. We moved together and strung several of the pitches together and pitched a couple. The quick abseil descent down the line allowed us to ski the Valley Blanche to the terminus of the Mer de Glass from where we walked down in the rain to Chamonix.

I couldn't get any pictures of the other routes as we were in a white out with snow fall for most of the day. Albinoni Gabarrou, Pinochio, and the Super Couloi were climbed yesterday but i think that folk are starting the super Coulior up the Gervassuti pillar now. A report of an ascent of the Eugster Direct on the north face of the Midi from last week reported it to be in hard mixed condition. A team is staying up at the midi to try another few routes and another team is up the Argentiere glacier seeking out those elusive 1000m+ Td or above routes!

Its currently lashing it down in Cham now so it's back to the planks this afternoon and probably for the rest of the week

Failed on a new line.

As i said i gave the skiing muscles a rest and i convinced Es and Toby Keep to try this new line on the North Face of the Aig du midi. Actually it didn't take any convincing at all and phrases such as "Bring it on!" and "Lets 'av it" were heard.

However, logistics for a winter condition route in the mountains means that if we chose to walk it would have been a situation of camp 1,2,3... etc just to get to the climb. Esmond and I decided to put our plastics into out Fritshci bindings and hope for the best, Toby wisely decided to climb in his ski mountaineering boots.

Anyhow we got on a morning telefreak with out to much trouble other than the odd look from folk doing the valley blanche who wondered where we were going with such big packs. We left from the half way station and put a skiing track over to the north face. If anyone wants to go and have a go at Fil a Plomb they will find a nice track prepared for them. This route looked thin at the bottom of the crux, but i dont think that you can make it out in the pictures I'm uploading. This may fill back up with the warmer temperatures we will be having this week but it is hard to know for sure.

We got a couple of hundred metres up our route before my ice axe broke (my fault for not checking that the bolts were tight enough before we left the house). I was leading at the time but was able to down climb to my last runner and build a belay. A subsequent search couldn't find all the bits needed so i Heath-Robinson'ed it with a rock 5. We carried on and Esmond started his block of leading whilst Toby and i took the second's packs. We made pretty slow progress as the whole route was buried under up to a metre of powder in some places and the leader had to spend a lot of time clearing loose snow and rock to get up the pitches. The other bolts on my axe began to work loose and not having an allen key or any spare bolts (some thing I'll not do again) combined with the poor conditions and slow progress we abbed back to the skis and spent a night in the hut just below the freak station. We were all totally soaking and the prospect of a bivi and the likely hood of another 2 to 3 days on the face in the current conditions did not appeal. Did i mention that it started snowing as well? It wasn't a tricky decision in the end!

We were just getting cosy in the hut when Simon and Neil from Liverpool turned up after having snow-shoed into the Carrington-Rouse and very nearly got to the top when a huge spindrift avalanche came down the route and knocked Simon, who was leading, off sending him on a 10m fall at the end of which he bust his ankle up quite badly. They got them selves down the route and over to the hut where we gave them our stove and some of our copious amount of food we had left. They said the the conditions on the route were OK, more mixed than Ice and probably pretty Scottish.

I think that the Eugster direct will be in slow, laborious mixed condition also. Have a look at the photos i took of the faces and make your decisions with care.