Four Seasons in One Day

Winter made an appearance on Tuesday and we had snow for a brief period down to sea level in the North West. I drove back to Glenmore Lodge and hooked up with two Latvian climbers, Jenis and Normunds. The wind was storm force in the morning so we had a late start and walked in through the now fine drizzle into Sneachda. The cloud was in but we thought the whitest bit of cliff was Fluted buttress area. We climbed an excellent 5 pitch V,5 which is not in the guide book but did show signs of passage on a couple of the pitches. Every pitch had interest and the drizzle turned to hail snow as we started climbing and the day was spent with the hood up and all the clothing on. Miraculously as i climbed the last pitch to the plateau the clouds parted, the wind died and for a brief moment the sun (almost) came out.

The Beautiful Ben

The International meet went over to the Ben en mass on Monday. Teams were on Point 5, Indicator right (and maybe left), Albatross, Psychedelic Wall, Smiths, Tower Scoop, N.E Buttress, Tower Ridge, Glovers Chimney, Comb Gully, Green Gully, Slab Route on South Trident Buttress and Many others. The Mixed routes have improved massively in the last 24 hours and Steve Ashworth and partner took advantage oth this to add a new VII, as yet unnamed near Lost the Place at the top of Corrie Na Cieste. Simon Richardson and partner were also active on Breariach adding a new V,6 mixed line (unnamed at present)

I had a late start and followed the crowds up Psychedelic wall guiding Fidde, from Sweden and Jo from Belgium up it. They were full of enthusiasm for the line, thin Ben Nevis face climbing at its best and were suitable gripped even seconding, Ben Nevis ice doesn't take too many 22cm ice screws! Photo's show Indicator wall, Dougal (Colorado) and his host Des Rubens from Edinburgh who were on the line in front of us, and Fidde and Jo on the route.

Day two, could it get wetter?

Well, yes it was wetter than yesterday. Dom and i walked into Sneachda this morning and chose to head over to the Mess o Pottage. We climbed the direct start to Hidden Chimney as it streamed with water before moving up wet snow to the the top. The turf was not well frozen today in Sneachda but we avoided all greenery and used the rock. We had a lazy day but didn't feel too bad about being back at the car early as the rain came over from the west at about 2pm and just managed to get us even wetter as we walked out. Several parties were on the easy gullies which were climable but totally sodden with set snow. Other teams chose wet rock lines sans turf. It was slightly better in Lochain today and teams were on Ewan Buttress and Central Crack route. Several folk went over to the Ben today but ive not heard 'owt from them as it's still early and they are not yet back. I suspect it will have been busy though. My plan is to go over to the Ben on Monday hoping that the freeze will work its magic and have a lung buster day as i'm not climbing Tuesday.

Pictures show Dom on the direct start to Hidden chimney and at the belay above the difficulties and back at the car park suggesting the esential equipment to take winter climbing in Scotland. He's not far wrong.

Opening Day on the International Winter Meet

The conditions in the Northern Corries today where best described as character building! All the members of the winter meet went into the Corries and played about on the easy gullies and got the snorkles out for some routes. Domfrom Croatia and i did Ewan Buttress and amaxingly found well frozen turf under the slussy snow. Thinking about it this makes sense as the snow is still below freezing. We also did Central crack route which was good but went a route to far as we started up the Overseeer Direct and binned it after the first pitch as i had a waterfall running down each arm and DOm was getting hypo. Pictures show Dougal from Colerado on central crack route and another lad on Ewan buttress.

More tommorow but hopefully more of a freeze.

NW update

We've had a lot of snow loss in the past couple of days. The temp was hovering around 2 to 4 deg at my house in Conon Bridge but it's now 7 to 9 deg. The freezing level is right on the highest summits. It might be a good w/e to bag that Munro that you still have outstanding rather than ice fall climbing in the NW!

Cairngorms on Saturday

We got up early (again!) and Tanya, Olly myself and another James who is up from London, went to the Northern Cairngorms. However, we found the snow gates at Glenmore to be closed and the skiers taking their fun to the snoe slope by the gates. Olly and London James braved the driving snow and high winds and walked up the ski road before bailing out at the car part due to the terrible weather and the fact that the cliff would have been really avalanchy.

Tanya and I opted instead for a walk up Gleann Einich as it has decent tree cover for most of the way and thus kept us out of the majority of the strong winds. However, we turned around at the end off the trees then walked back around the castle in the loch.

NW conditions, new lines and repeats (Friday)

On Thursday evening Olly and i hatched a plan with Roger Webb to go to Beinn Dearg Mor, which is to the South of An Teallach. In the morning we drove passed two climbers preparing to leave their car and go into the Fannachs. As it turned out this was Gareth Hughes and Nick Carter on their way into Sgurr Na Clach Geala to climb Skyscrapper Buttress. Gareth and partner also climbed a new line on An Teallach on Wednesday.

It took us 5 hours from the car to the base of the cliff. The corrie is shown above Rogers head in one of the photos. The path was mostly well frozen except for the bit i fell in (see pic). We waded 2 rivers on the way there and another two on the way back and these were passable (in rain or thaw you can be cut off). We found a way up the cliff at about V,6 and was quite long at about 400m.

Stu MacDonald and Martin Moran went into Beinn Bhan and climbed Die Resenwand and thought it a fantastic adventure. They noted footsteps coming out off the top of The Godfather and this spiked great interest. However they belonged to Blair Fyffe and partner who abbed into the last pitch to collect Pete Benson's runners after he fell of and bust his ankle. Blair and partner also managed a new IV on Beinn Bhan that day.

NW is best

Olly Metherell and were swithering about what to do where and with who. We played it safe and went into Beinn Dearg from Inverlael. The path is fast at the moment though watch out for ice under the snow! We chose a nice 7 pitch line which turned out to be about V,7 and gave some very good sport on a few sections. I think we'll call it Finlay's Buttress, but may change this name to Natasha's Buttress!

Pictures on the route and a shot on the way to West Buttress. It was hard to tell if the Ice Hose was connected or not. I think that Penguin was thin.

Northern Cairngorms report

First off all, apologies for the break in posts. I have been in the alps doing British Mountain Guides training courses and have had technology problems with the computer. I did have loads of conditions reports for many climbing areas in the alps but since the new snow has fallen it's probably all out of date now. Instead I'll focus on Scotland.

Yesterday i was swithering whether to risk it and go to the Fannachs after talking to Nick Carter about his day on Sgurr Nan Clach Geala. Sky Scraper Buttress was the plan but the forecast spoke of a front coming in bringing some rain. So Paul Warnock and i opted for a surer bet and went into the Loch Avon Basin in the Northern Cairngorms. We found the decent from the goat track into the Loch Avon basin caused us some concern as it was loaded with wind slab. The same is the case with the slopes above and below Hells Lum.

We found a safe way down on the true left by staying away from open slopes and going mainly on the exposed rocks. We went over to the Shelter stone and after failing on our first attempt at a new line due to Paul having a disagreement with blocks of flying granite (!) we abbed off and did a different line. The ascent was marred a little by me using a point off aid above Paul's belay on the second pitch to avoid pulling on a block that i thought might have been loose (it might have killed Paul who was directly below it). However Paul freed the move seconding and found the block was totally bomber. However, no prizes for being dead i thought at the time! if anyone wants to do the free ascent take a pair of mono points for the tiny footholds and a pair of very strong arms! We called the line Lectern after a feature at Paul's belay where he gave a sermon concerning the next pitch which went "Dearly belovered for what we are about to recieve..." . We thought about V,8 would be a good grade for it.

General Northern Cairngorms report

Was out and about today climbing with Tim Blakemore and here is what i saw... Sneachda is much Blacker than Lochain, The mess o pottage looks the blackest where as Fiacaill Buttress seemed the whitest. There is snow ice in most of the easy gullies and there was a line of white in Red Gully, but i can't comment on the quality. There is a very very thin Alladins Mirror Direct; its not there yet! The Goat track is an accident waiting to happen - it is really icy and a slip would be unrecoverable - this is the case with lots of places, icy old snow above nasty boulder fields. We went up the goat track and into loch Avon and over to Carn Etchachan. The shelter stone is mostly rock boot territory and it needs a lot more snow for Sticil Face to form up. Carn Etchachan is better but not awesome. The rocks are not rimed up till the top of the crag but the turf and ledges are holding snow and the turf is excellent and water saturated. We climbed Scorpion and found the crux a hard V or easy VI in current conditions (it's ice snow and mixed at the crux at the moment rather than ice). However there is absolutely no cornice to worry about. Hells Lum is holding good ice on its right hand side and these lines may be climbable at the moment if a little tricky perhaps for the guidebook grade.
If anyone finds my Terminator Crampons that fell off my 'sac between the top of Scorpion and the top of the Goat Track i'd love them back!

Sunday 17th in the N.W.

High pressure is beginning to dominate and today and the N.W. is seeing beautiful weather. There is a healthy amount of snow about (see the usual pic of Ben Wyvis) and we can expect the weather to continue for the next few days as the high pressure pushes up from the Bay of Biscay. Hopefully the sunshine will cause some ice to begin to form in places such as Hells Lum. I'm hoping to head into the Loch Avon Basin on Monday so I can have a wee look see at what is about.

Saturday 16th Dec

Oliver and I went into Corie An Lochain in the Northern Corries today in the hope that the steeper trickier lines would be rimed up. The turf on the walk in seemed pretty good, but as we got into the corrie we were dismayed to see the lack of rime on the steep ground. We noted that Savage Slit and Fall out Corner were both in good winter condition and the Slit saw a party on it. Sidewinder also had a party as did Euan Buttress and Y gully right branch. We followed the rime right to the tops of the cliffs and did Hookers corner and met a party from Falkirk who were having a great day out on the cliffs. Thanks again guys for throwing down the abseil anchor after we abbed back down the route. We were intending on another line in that area but Oli's lift was driving back to Edinburgh at 2pm, so we called it a day at that.

Sunday 10th Dec

The front on Sunday came a few hours later than i expected. The heavy rain only came on at about 3pm. However, the slight rain and the rise in temperatures of over 10 degrees in only a few hours had already massively depleted the snow pack.
Tanya and i thought about going up high for a walk but looked at Geoff Monk's MWIS forecast which used the word 'Impossible' to describe walking up high and thus decided on a nice lunch at the Glenmore shop and a short walk to Ryvoan Bothy behind the lodge. Not very hard core but the soup was nice!

Saturday 9th Dec

Oliver, Gareth and i made the long walk from the corie Cas car park, through Sneachda, up the goat track and over the plateau to Corie Sputan Dearg. We were intending on some exploratory adventure but found the crags to be totally buried with fresh snow that had blown over from the plateau onto the crags in the N.W. wind. Instead we tried for a second ascent of a tricky route but after the sun came out briefly for an hour or two some of the snow started to melt and trickle water down the cliff. The turf on the ledges stayed well frozen but the thin turf in the corners and cracks that the water trickled down thawed out so we abandoned the climb (just after Oliver took a 5m+ fall!)
We waded up an easy gully to the side and became slightly concerned as to the safety of the snow pack near its top. We found a safer way up onto the plateau, but thought that the snow would go through a dangerious period of instability with the arrival of the warm weather front.

The snow is going.... going...

The weather in the West and North West this week has been the type of weather that would convince Noah on the need for the Ark. Continuous torrential rain all the way up the mountain has more or less put the snow pack back to scare one in the N.W, save for the odd bit here and there.
Today we are enjoying a kink in the isobars over Scotland and i caught a glimpse this morning of Ben Wyvis in the sunshine and blue skies. You can judge for yourself the effect of the rain. The snow has hung on a bit more in the Cairngorms as there has been a bit less rain there (the rain has been coming in from the west), but winter climbing is off the cards this weekend. Go for a walk (or do some DIY!) and expect the weather to deteriorate gain this weekend.

Some snow depletion... but also consolidation

No playing for me this weekend; i have a house to rebuild before Christmas Eve, when I'll be going to the Alps for a month or so. However, with a temperature in my study of 7deg C even typing at the computer seems like training for winter!
Heavy rain at all levels over the past few days combined with a very low lapse rate (the temperature gradient between sea and mountain level) has depleted the snow pack in most areas of Scotland. This is no bad thing, as the moisture will have gone into the turf and the clear skies last night and over the next few days (hopefully!) will freeze things up and we should see the development of some ice lines if temps stay cool. Amy and Nic from Alpha Mountaineering walked up Ben Wyvis today (pictured) and experienced stunning views over to the Fannaichs and beyond. The North West is where it's at!

A forst foray of the winter

Going East on Friday night wasn't without it's troubles. The Lect pass was closed due to drifting snow so it was the long way round for me coming from North of Inverness. However, Simon and i walked into Lochnagar on Saturday and were rewarded with a blue sky winter day. We saw the clouds over to the west and felt we'd made a good choice! The snow level started just above the level of the car park but walking into the corrie wasn't too difficult. The main cliffs are quite buried in fresh snow and will benifit massively from a thaw and then a re-freeze. We chose as exposed a line as we could find and found that the exposed turf to be well frozen but the large patches on the ledges needing care when used (the snow is insulating them slightly). We climbed in the Southern sector of Lochnagar and managed two new V,6's and one grade II (all un-named at present). These were all around 80m and the V,s packed quite a punch in each of their pitches. All were excellent outings and any of them would be good for an easier second day for those who don't fancy the walk over to the main corrie.
I noted cornice build up and windslab surface layers about 10cm thick as we were decending from the top. This was on a NW facing aspect and was being eroded and re-deposited by the local wind swirling around the corie as the day progressed. This snow wasn't a problem as we decended but might be something to be aware of if the temperature does rise and cause a period of instability. Indeed, a good deal of old avalanche debris from the previous snowfall was evident on this NW aspect.
Another party was on the route Central Buttress (II) which was a good choise under the heavy powder.
The road back over the Lect pass on Saturday evening had been cleared but snow had blown on it and care was still required!

SNOW

I caught the briefest glimpse of the hills this morning and quite a lot of snow has been put down in the last few days. Reports from the Northern Corries were of black buttresses and only 'firm' turf on Tues. Reports from the west coast are telling of difficult access to the back of Corie Na Ciste on the Ben and avalanche activity on those slopes to approach the crag has been seen. The turf on the Ben was not frozen at the lower levels and was very buried by fresh snow up high. Its been hammering it down with snow in many places across the Highlands today and the A9 is shut north of Aviemore bue to the volume of snow and accidents on the road. Access to the mountain crags (and access on the roads) will be a deciding issue of a chosen destination this weekend. I'm hoping that there will be less snow over to the East and am going to try and drive over there tonight. Fingers crossed...

Where has all the snow gone?!

Last night and this morning it was quite cloudy and hard to see the hills. This afternoon the clouds cleared and all the snow of Ben Wyvis has gone. The picture is from a slightly different angle, the previous pictures concentrated on the East end (right hand side in the image) of Ben Wyvis. Today has not been as cold as the last two days and it could have been that the cloud layer and moist air minimised the lapse rate so it wasn't as cold as you would expect.
The weekend will be great for climbing at Reiff or Diabeg or walking up a hill so all is not lost!

A second day of winter

No Blue Skies in Corie an Sneachda was climbed today and other folk were in Lochain on the high buttresses. The turf in Lochain was reported as variable. The crags don't appear super wintry from Aviemore and there is more snow on Braeriach as is usually the case, but when up close the crags are rimed up and wintry. Whether this will last till the weekend though is debatable. What is good news however is that this cold spell is sucking the heat out of the hills and firming up the ground which is what we need after another of the 'hottest since records began' Octobers.
Ben Wyvis showed this morning how superficial the snow up here in the N.W. is. This photo was taken exactly 24 hours after yesterdays and the snow loss from what little sunshine there has been is evident.