HighMountaineering.com

Washed out from the Cullins, but happy.

2011-07-11T21:15:00.002Z

Colin came back for a couple of days for a re-match on the Cullin ridge traverse. However the weather gods have a habit of laughing at the plans we make so we retreated to the mainland where we managed on the whole to dodge the showers (and flash flooding!) and find some dry multy pitch adventure climbing.

Colin was suffering from damage to his toes from running an ultra marathon the previous weekend (he takes his Cullin training seriously it seems!) and couldn't wear rock boots but heroically managed to second many HVS pitches in his trail running shoes. And this from someone who's previous rock climbing experience was just the day with me on the Cullin ridge traverse! What he will be capable of if his feet recover enough to wear tight rock boots we will see (he's coming back in a couple of weeks hoping for thirs time lucky...)

Cullin Ridge Traverse

2011-07-07T12:29:00.003Z

I have been on the Cullin Ridge on Skye attempting a traverse. The weather last week was pretty poor but it came good for us at the weekend. However it has deteriorated somewhat in the last few days with high winds and heavy rain. Fingers crossed that the summer actually makes an appearance before the winter comes; perhaps i should re activate the winter section of the site!

Time to go back to Skye

2011-07-01T14:51:00.003Z

For those who keep half an eye on this blog you will wonder what has been happening lately. The short version is that i took on a short term teaching contract this spring and so haven't been up to much guiding lately.

It's now the last day of term here in the Highlands and this evening i'm heading over to Skye for a traverse and then plan on another next week, but we will see what the weather brings; Scotland is our oyster for the week and we will go where ever the weather dictates.

I'll blog early next week to report back on the conditions on the ridge.

Skye and the Cullin ridge

2011-05-24T21:28:00.003Z

Well what can i say about the weather! It has been quite spectacular indeed with several inches of snow and at times near hurricane force winds. Not surprisingly the Cullins were quite over the weekend even though this is the Edinburgh bank holiday weekend and usually spare tent space in Glen Brittle is hard to come by. This weekend there was loads of space; some spaces were recently vacated by dint of tents being blown away!

Coin was on standby for a rematch of his previous 1 day traverse attempt on Sunday but we wisely postponed until a time when crampons and two sets of water proofs are not mandatory. However it must be said that Andrew and Moira managed to remain smiling on their recent ascent of the Inaccessible Pinnacle which would better be described as grade III. I'm told that the snow has mostly gone as of today (Tuesday) but there is just accumulations of pockets of hail in the hollows. What joy!

Sea cliff climbing and Creag Ghlas

2011-05-16T20:16:00.002Z

The weather has been decidedly moist in the hills and particularly so in the West and NW. Sea cliff climbing and low level craging in the East has been good though, even whilst the dark rain clouds have been looming close. In some ways abbing into a new sea cliff and having a poke around can be just as 'exciting' as pushing it out on a high mountain crag, but with more sunshine and often an ice cream at the end of the day. What's not to like?!

Also of note is that Creag Ghlas (home of excellent mid mountain easyish access quality multy pitch routes) is ok to climb on. I thought the Golden Eagles were nesting there this year, but it seems i was wrong and the RSPB have agreed that the nest is not in use this year so we can all go and play (when it dries out).

I'm on Skye at the end of this week and may stay for the weekend if any more work comes in. Fingers crossed for the weather.

NW Climbing and Skye

2011-05-03T21:28:00.003Z

The fine weather continues. However every silver lining has a cloud and many places are suffering from large heather and vegetation fires. Glen Torridon is quite bad at the moment and it seems that some folk on Liathach had to get choppered off as they were trapped by the fire. I don't think that it is under control yet. It has also been a busy weekend on Skye with 3 calls to the mountain rescue on Sunday. I don't have any specific details of these but it is very important at this time of year to not be too trusting of the rock as it may be loosened after the freeze thaw of the winter.

I have been dodging the heather fires and have been investigating new sea cliff venues and going back to old haunts such as Ardmair near Ullapool. Ardmair is a venue that takes no prisoners and does not suffer fools. I like to go there at the start of the rock season for a real working over. I have been climbing today at my local sport crag, Moy Rock trying the new lines that Andy Nesbit and Ian Taylor have bolted. I found two of them (both quite easy, 4+ to 5 terrain) and was pleased that one of them was a line that i had done before on a top rope and thought it would make a good bolted line. There is still a lot of scope for development at this crag and other easier lines are still waiting for ascents. It has the potential to be one of the best sport crags in the Highlands. Well done to Ian and Andy for their hard work.

Blog catch up; Ski touring and Skye

2011-04-28T20:49:00.004Z

Winter ended all too suddenly for most people; it seemed like one day is was touring the Cairngorm 4000ers with clients car to car on skis to having to walk for 45mins to the snow line to baking hot temperatures calling for the rock boots to be dusted off and the skiing had became more a chore to link patches of shrinking snow.
However the silver linning is that the early spring has mean that the hills are clear of snow and climbing and scrambling at all altitudes has been a viable activity for nearly a month now.
I have got back from my first spell of the season on Skye, this time preparing for and attempting a one day traverse of the Cuillin Ridge. My client, Colin, was an Ultra Marathon runner and i don't mind saying that he was fitter than me! However he had very little scrambling experience and no rock climbing experience at all. Importantly had never been to the Cuillins before so my job really was to lead all the rock climbs and show the way on all the scrambling sections and route find (and try and keep up with him when the terrain occasionally kicked back to walking territory!)
We made excellent progress on the day of our traverse up to the point where a twisted ankle descending easy ground on the way to Bidean Dhruim nam Ramh forced us to hobble back to Glen Brittle.
The fine settled weather looks like it will be continuing for quite some time yet and the hills will probably remain very quite for some time yet; a great time to get out just now.

Nw conditions update

2011-03-19T19:21:00.002Z

Just a quick update via the phone as I'm in the middle of cooking dinner for my guests. Poachers fall received several ascents today in good conditions. Showers I'd heavy warm rain on the walkin tested the faith of man y people today. The freezing level was at or just above the tops and the temp went up hits quickly during the day. My party was on An Teallch today and pretty much had the same experience as my guests except for the great ice conditions! We found pretty soggy snow and blackening buttresses in the showers.

Ski touring in the Cairngorms

2011-03-16T22:11:00.002Z

Today the weather was glorious: but i was working indoors.
Yesterday i took Jim and Ann on a day of introductory ski touring. We went up to the summit of Cairngorm and over to Ben Macdui and then back to the car park via Lurchers Gully. The visibility was absolutely zero all day and snow fell on a moderate to gentle wind all day (today was wall to wall sunshine and snow in contrast). We covered kick turning, avalanche awareness (we actually met the SAIS on the top of Cairngorm and had a brief chat with them also). We also looked at safe, cautious 'survival' skiing techniques for zero vis and zero contrast. Fortunately Ann and Jim are quite strong skiers and coped fine with me out in front to break up the surface of the snow and give the ground some definition.
The ski touring will now be good for several weeks and the time for the big 4000ers tour is now as the snow settles down, visibility is good and there is deep snow on all parts of the Cairngorms. Sadly i'm working indoors till the weekend.
Here are some pictures of the zero vis for what they are worth and some shots from earlier in the week in Glen Torridon area.

Nw conditions update

2011-03-14T20:59:00.002Z

First off apogies for the break in blogging; the conditions as I'm sure many of you knew were quite poor in the nw and whilst the easy gullies in the cairngorms and the ice routes (and crowds) on Ben Nevis have been ok I re-arranged much of my remaining winter work for this season I to the future as no one really likes going for a soggy hillwalk.
However the nw conditions have come good again. Conditions on Beinn Eighe are really good with the stormy snowfalls riming much of the steep ground up. Ice is growing again on liathach and a team was on a thin poachers fall today. I don't know how they faired on the last corner pitch which can be challenging in thin conditions.
In fact pretty much all the steep nw mixed climbing venues are back into condition. He exposed turf up high is ok, but the buried stuff isn't great; if your route requires lots of well frozen turf it may be worth either waiting a while of having a back up plan.
What we haven't had much of is good visability in the last few days. I will try and show a picture of the snow level in torridon from today if I can find my camera later.
I'm ski touring in the Northern Cairngorms tomorrow and I'm hoping to chase down that very elusive thing known as "blue sky" but may have to settle for some blue sky thinking instead.

Northern Corries Climbing

2011-02-23T21:29:00.003Z

With the rising freezing level for the west and NW predicted for Tuesday we decided to opt for the safe bet (and crowds) of the Northern Corries. We weren't disappointed and went over to a busy Fiachall buttress in Sneachda. It was somewhat of a novelty for my team to experience queues on routes but we moved into pole position on Fiacaill Coulior and pulled away making a very fast ascent in the excellent conditions.

The weather has changed today, akin to switching on the hair dryer. The easy gullies will easily survive but if there is heavy warm rain it will do great damage to buttress routes.

My client this weekend has cancelled at short notice, so on the off chance anyone needs a guide this weekend get in touch.

Sgorr Ruadh

2011-02-21T22:14:00.002Z

Another good day in the NW; the cloud hovered at the summits in the morning and lifted in the afternoon to reveal great views north and south. There was very little wind on the tops today and the turf was excellent on the crag making for excellent mixed climbing conditions at all grades.

The line i climbed on Beinn Dearg near Ullapool on Saturday wasn't new as i thought at the time but was a second ascent. No Falls Road, IV,5 was climbed in 2008 by John MacKenzie and Neil Wilson, both of whom i know. One test of a quality line is is it the natural way to go and i pretty much followed their line all the way, just doing it in fewer pitches as i was on 60m ropes.

I've done several mixed buttress climbs on Beinn Dearg now and they have all been of very high quality and been very adventurous making it a very good mixed venue.

An Teallach

2011-02-20T22:30:00.004Z

Today I was on An Teallach and on occasion sported my sunglasses, something I havent done for quite a while this season. The walk in and out was very speedy as the snow line was near the base of the cliff. However the cliffs themselves were blooted with snow. We went up lords gully and took the harder left branch which was steep ice and tricky for iii. We then turned left and traversed the ridge. A loverly day all in all.

Beinn Dearg Cold Climbs and New Lines

2011-02-19T22:06:00.003Z

Today i went into Beinn Dearg with the mandate to tick some cold climbs. I started up Emerald gully but didn't find the snow very well frozen so we abbed down from the crux pitch. We salvaged the day by climbing a new line that i had hoped would be a IV and it came in at about IV,5 and 300m which kept on giving till a very abrupt top out. The Calluna based turf was excellent (botanism is a key winter skill!)

A party went up to try Penguin Gully i think but came down from the base after about half an hour from what i could see. It was climbed midweek though apparently.

The weather was great today and the inital high winds and fresh snow fall on the walk in turned into calm sunny blue skies, which i'm told will continue tomorrow.

Cairngorms and NW. Learning to lead.

2011-02-18T21:34:00.003Z

The weather was pretty wild earlier in the week in the Cairngorms (see video). We were on ridges and stayed away from gullies and open lee slopes, other than to dig snow packs and look at the snow profiles. Visability was pretty poor in the Gorms at the beginning of the week and then on Wednesday in the nw. I have been on Liathach also this week and thought it icy, but visibility was only 10 to 20m so i didn't see any of the major lines so can't say for sure. Beinn Eighe is in good wintry nick. There were some suspect slopes on north facing slopes which i studiously avoided with my team. The guys did really well; Ben had never worn crampons before and Andy had only ever top roped in a climbing wall and by the end of their time with me they were leading independently on Grade 1 gullies.

The weather was still and sunny on Thursday after a very cloudy start and today was reasonable but i have been based in Inverness today.

I'm most probably NW based for the next few days and will be going to several different venues. I'll try and report what i see.

Northern corries ski touring and climbing

2011-02-14T22:05:00.003Z

I was supposed to be out on a day ski tour today but it was cancelled late last night (food poisoning!). As i was already packed i had bit of a busman's holiday and went out on my own anyway. I headed into Sneachda and noted only one party making their way up towards Pygmy Ridge after having ascended something on the lower buttress. One party braved the approach slopes up to Fiachalle Buttress, others abbed into things like the Seam, Belhaven and Short Circuit and climbed back out. Reasonable climbing but not much gear seemed to be the concessus from the parties i spoke to that topped out. I skied over to the top of Hells Lum but times this with the afternoon strong wind and heavy snow fall so didn't see any thing of the Loch Avon basin i'm afraid. People o spoke to in the car park at the end of the day reported two parties ice climbing around the Kiwi Gully area on Hells Lum and the Chancer possibly being in. Sticil face was they said very good looking.

I had my first day on my new Black Crow Navis 186 super fat powder skis today. I must admit that when i pointed them down hill for the first time i was sure i heard a bugle in the distance and only just resisted the urge to shout 'Charge!'. They handled the snow very well (choppy snow with zero vis and a total white out making for challenging conditions) and ploughed right through it.

Very nasty snow noted in all gully exits on Sneachda routes today. It needs a bit of a thaw then a freeze to stabilize them.

NW conditions update

2011-02-12T21:17:00.002Z

It has been a stormy time on occassion since i last posted; we have gone from next to no snow in many places back to a healthy cover level in pretty much all the high winter climbing venues (although i can't comment on Applecross as i haven't been there). There is more snow the more inland you go from the Ullapool coast; the Fannaichs have much more than Assynt for instance. There will be dangerous accumulations in many locations due to the strong winds and people should look out for this in places such as the approach to Sgurr nan Clach Geala where i have backed of a couple of times over the years due to doubts about the snow. It has been quite cloudy of late but today saw an afternoon of brilliant sunshine after low cloud had hung about the hills.

I'm going to be pretty busy for the next while but will try and keep on top of the blog and perhaps even get round to updating the main site and the Ski touring section.

Performance winter climbing

2011-02-01T12:27:00.003Z

Last week the conditions in the NW were quite disapointing. There was some snow left in the easy gullies and on the ridges but a lot had been washed away with the warm rain.
This weekend just gone i was with Ruth in the Northern Cairngorms with the mandate to 'explore the techniques required for technical 6 and 7 climbing'. On Saturday we climbed a very icy Savage slit; the ice in the cracks made for good climbing but poor gear and hid a lot of the placements. Ruth cruised it on the second no bother!
On Sunday i thought better of attempting Fall Out Corner as i was concerned about the possible lack of gear so instead we made a plan to have a big day on a technical route in the Loch Avon Basin.
However, all thoughts of this were literally blown away as we were nearly blown over walking into Sneachda and saw a lot of evidence of windslab being deposited on the North facing lee aspects of which the Goat Track is a prime candidate. Indeed it was gratifying to find out later that several other strong parties came to the same conclusion. Instead we made out way over to Stirling Bomber in deteriorating weather that made looking upwards or even having your eyes open when climbing quite a challenge. Then as if by magic the wind dropped and blue skies appeared and with amazing timing this coincided with Ruth Starting to second the crux pitches, which again she found no difficulty with. I'm wondering now what technical 8's to suggest she does!
Also of note from saturday was a quick ascent of the technical War and Peace by Andy A and Helen R and a busy Loch Avon Basin with an Ascent of the Citadel by an unknown party and very speedy ascent of the Needle (not sure which way) by Nick Bullock and Andy Houseman, who probably could have done laps on it by the sound of things.
We are about to have a prolonged period of 'bad' weather with snow/rain/hail fluctuating temperatures and strong winds. whilst this is going on it won't be too much fun in the hills, but it will be good, particularly for the NW where i saw this morning the new snow level was a shade below 600m in places. I'm going to be away from the hills till at least the middle of next week, so applogies in advance for the pause in reports.

General conditions update

2011-01-28T18:06:00.002Z

Thankfully the freezing level came down below the summits on Tuesday evening (Tuesday was a double water proof day on the hill and my boots took two days to dry!). It was hovering around Munro height when I was out last weekend in the northern cairngorms and the snow in the easy gullies was good and the snow under ski for touring was also but the visibility was terrible on Sunday and I had my fill of White out skiing.
The snow was firm on An Teallach on thursday but there had been significant snow loss since last Wednesday.
Last night it froze down to sea level and we had fresh snowfall in the Fannaichs and Strathconon bringing the mixed routes back in I would guess.
I'm in the cairngorms this weekend and possibly the nw next week so I will try and be more blog friendly as it is easy to slack off when busy.
Right, better go firewod doesn't chop itself to quote she who must be obeyed.

An Teallach and New Routes

2011-01-20T21:51:00.004Z

The freezing level has been hovering about above and near to munro level till Tuesday where it finally lowered in the NW. Monday and Tuesday gave new snowfall to the hills and they now look wintery again. The snow is thicker and a bit lower over the Fannachs and Ben Wyvis than the west coast side of the NW.

The turf was frozen on the summits but had thawed out below that, however things are better now with the night time valley temperatures going below freezing. There is talk of a temperature inversion but i haven't seen it yet.

An Teallach has been quiet. A part was in before me at the weekend in Hayfork gully where the snow low down was soft and laborious but firm and good at the upper half of the gully. Conditions were better in Glas Tholl than Tholl and Lochain. The pictures show Martin Hind and Owen Samuals on a very nice looking new VI on Hayfork gully wall. Martin did tell me the name but i must apologise and say i have forgotten what he said (something to do with the feeding of horses?). I was on grade 1 ridges and gullies for most of the time but managed a short new III,5.

Ice Climbing on Beinn Bhan

2011-01-10T21:05:00.002Z

Yesterday i was quite surprised when driving in the early morning to Beinn Bhan on the Aplecross peninsular to find 4 inches of fresh snow on the road. Quite a lot of new snow fell on Saturday night but walking in to the corries wasn't to bad at all. Plan A was to be Silver Tear, but it was not there yet, Plan B was to go into the Giants wall corrie but we had concerns about the upper slopes that were to the lee of the wind so we went for the fall back option of March Hare's Gully which topped straight out on the ridge. There was some windslab in the upper section of the gully and we exited rightwards up broken rocky ground just to be sure.

I hope to be out this week again before the big thaw comes at the end of the week. Fingers crossed for the re-freeze.

Northern Cairngorms Climbing

2011-01-07T22:14:00.003Z

Today was a lovely, sunny if bitterly cold (-10c on top) day. The wind has moved round to the West / NW and continued to move lots of snow about, some more of which fell last night. One of the photos shows a slab being wind eroded from a North aspect but as there is still a lot of dodgy snow on the North aspects then this bad slab will be a problem for a while. It failed when i lightly touched it (the foot imprint at the side was gently pressed in for scale). The other picture shows the top of a due East facing slope that was loaded and ready to go. You should be able to make out the amount of snow blowing around in the picture. We did climb (a new line) on an East aspect but abbed down one side of a ridge and climbed back up the other. The snow on the crag apron was not as bad as the upper gullies and exits which were very nasty looking.

I saw dodgy snow on all aspects that i went on North, East and West (didn't go on anything south facing, but had a text from a very experienced pair who told me they backed off descending down a south facing slope into the Loch Avon basin). So in summary, careful route choice and travel are called for.

The climbing conditions were excellent though once on the crag, fantastic turf helpful ice in the corners and cracks (enough to climb on) and well rimed rocks. No pictures of the climbing though as i took my 'good' camera which isnt at all waterproof.

The weather people talk of a bit of a thaw coming which will be very good to help stabilise the pack i think.

I'm going to go on a low angled, lazy family ski tour on Saturday and it will involve lots of hot chocolate and cake i'm hoping.

Northern Cairngorms climbing and Avalanche conditions

2011-01-06T12:14:00.004Z

Winter climbing conditons in the Loch Avon Basin (see pictures taken yeaterday) and the Northern Corries are pretty good at the moment. I have heard of people complaining about too much snow and icy cracks but hey, it's winter, so just adjust your objective to suit; there are lots of options.

I was on Carn etchachan yeaterday and found excellent conditions and useful ice in many places. However, the avalanche conditions are quite dangerous in specific locations. On Tuesday and Wednesday morning the wind had a southerly aspect to it loading the newly fallen snow onto anything that was vaugly North in aspect; i.e. most of the climbing venues. I triggered an avalanche on the Goat Track at 9.30am whilst ascending via its blunt spur on the (climber's) right and the avalanche propagated sideways and upwards. The old icy layer from the weekend that i have previously mentioned is acting as a very dangerous sliding layer and will probably be in the pack for some kind to come till we get a strong thaw to melt it.

We continued up the ridge and joked that we had now made the Goat track safer for everyone else! I noted whilst descending down to the bottom of Hells Lum that the snow had a good chance of avalanching here also even though it is on the windward side (probably due to snow accumulations coming down Hells Lum) and again the danger came from the hard icy layer at the top of the old snow pack. Whilst on the cliff i also saw the Grade 1 gully Castlegates Gully between Carn etchachan and Shelter Stone spontaneously avalanche at about 2pm from the top to the bottom.

We had the luxury of being able to do part of the walk back home in the daylight and i noted dangerous slopes on many different aspects. We walked over 1141 and down the ski area. Watch out for the tops of the easy gullies in the Northern Corries as they looked awe full when we walked passed them. The wind changed in the afternoon to a more westerly wind but this will still continue to load a lot of gully exits in the Corries.

Lochnagar

2011-01-03T16:37:00.003Z

On the flight back north i tried to peek out of the windows to see how much snow had gone and help me where i should go for the next few days, but alas the thick cloud obscured the hills below. With reports of the thaw being worse in the west and a new front arriving from the west i went to Lochnagar. I haven't been there for a number of years and must say i really like the place and intend to make the long drive again this winter. Even the easy routes there still boast garden loads of turf and the contrast to the denuded Northern Corries is quite stark.

We tried a hard route on the Pinnacle area as that area appeared the most wintry (see photos) but found that the cracks were full of hard water ice, causing on one pitch a very thought provoking 15m runout of precarious climbing on what should have been a stitch-able crack. We abbed off and moved onto an easier buttress route.

There were about 7 or 8 teams in the corrie on routes up to V. A party on Grovel wall reported slow climbing and laborious digging for gear in the sugary snow on the crag. This was indicative i think of many of the routes at the moment. The snow on the approach and at the top is mostly hard packed and would be desperate without crampons; the ski touring conditions throughout the Cairngorms at the moment wouldn't be much fun until we get some more fresh snow, which may arrive in the next few days.

I'm hearing some good things about ice climbing in several locations and so hope to investigate this later this week.

It's good to be back home

A White Christmas

2010-12-25T12:02:00.003Z

I hope that you have been enjoying this fantastic start the winter as much as I have. I'm currently on family duty and won't be in the hills again till the 2nd and so should probably catch up with the blog.
Last year we had an amazing start to the winter and many people were reminded of "How It Used To Be" back in the day when we had "Real Winters". Well, it looks like we may be in for a run off them if the weakened North Atlantic Ossilation has anything to do with it. Hopefully the news reports are not just a combination of wishful thinking by the winter sports fraternity in conjunction with bored journalists looking to fill column inches with speculation. Time will tell.
We have however seen a slew of interesting repeats and new routes being done. For instance on Beinn Bhan near Applecross Both the Godfather and The God Delusion have seen repeat ascents within a couple of weeks of each other rather than the more usual 10+ years of waiting for a successful ascent of the wall. It is probable that the Internet and the ease of access to quality information helps massively with this but the amount of strong climbers around now has mushroomed in the this new millennium. Winter mountaineering is probably no longer the weird esoteric pastime it once was (however when I was just explaining to my in-laws about mixed climbing then I did have a sudden epiphany that it is pretty weird and bizare!). The best website to get the real inside track on the more interesting ascents that I will be contributing to also is that run by Simon Richardson www.scottishwinter.com
The weather continues to be sub freezing but there is talk of a thaw in the next few days. This will be worth paying attention to and keeping an eye on the sais avalanche websites as I think that this will cause a significant increase in the avalanche risk. As you may know there isn't a fore sat for the NW but it is still worth looking at the west coast, meggy etc forecasts then looking at the weather and wind direction and using it as a guide. Generally the snow cover is still fantastic in the NW and places such as Sgurr fidhler have been in condition for several weeks now. Quinag and Sullivan are in great condition to for those who dislike even the thought of sharing their mountain with another climbing party!
When I can get to a computer (I can't load images via the iPhone) I'll put some pictures up taken from a recent first on the North side of Stac Pollaidh. This crag has excellent climbing with an even shorter walkin that Sneachda in the Northern Corries of the Cairngorms.

Skiing and Climbing in the Cairngorms

2010-12-15T21:54:00.003Z

The snow pack has melted and refrozen and greatly stabilised in the Cairngorms. Melt- freeze grains characterize much of the pack, but an icy crust has formed that will present a very nasty sliding layer when the new snow comes in the next few days. Keep an eye on the SAIS forecasts which are beginning tomorrow i believe. www.sais.gov.uk/

The crags of the Northern Corries and the Loch Avon basin are extremely verglassed and the steeper sections of the crags were mostly black, but have begun to rime up a bit. The turf is excellent.

The ski touring was pretty hard work in that the very icy surface of the snow was a pain to skin on and required a lot of concentration to ski on (especially when your edges were needing sharpening!)

I have again been skiing into and out of routes and have really enjoyed the speed of access (and retreat!). It isn't too difficult to climb ice in ski boots, why i wonder do more folk not do this?

The picture shows the build up of ice on Hells Lum as of Tuesday afternoon.

A thaw and the promise of a freeze

2010-12-09T21:19:00.003Z

It is currently warmer in the Highlands of Scotland than in the South of England. The snow that has been a foot or more thick at sea level is finally melting and this melt should go all the way up the hill and help consolidate the pack and hopefully destroy some of the dangerous layers that have built up, particularly the new snow that fell / blew onto a weak surface hore layer on due west aspects.
The forecasters predict that the cold will come again possibly starting Sunday evening or Monday morning. This will be fantastic news and should give a solid base of snow for the rest of the season. All too often in the last 10 years we have had big snow fall events followed by a thaw and warm rain for a week or more which often took us back to square one.
I have been out again since my last post, however the wee boy enjoying the sledge ride in the photo has erased my memory card on my waterproof camera so i only have a few shots taken on the 'good weather' camera and have lost all the climbing shots.
The snow in the NW should easily last the thaw. I'll probably be in the Gorms this weekend but hope to go for a very long walk to a very good route on the winter solstice which is my preferred way of celebrating it.

More ski touring and new routing

2010-12-03T18:06:00.002Z

The stable cold weather continues. I have been combining the planks and the axes and ski toured into Choire Mor on Ben Wyvis and climbed a new route there. It wasn't too hard and was a good long mountaineering day. I chose to go in from the East as the East and NE wind has significantly loaded West facing slopes and we saw the debris from several spontaneous avalanches all on East facing slopes. The snow surface had significant surface (something to keep an eye on when the new snow comes) on it but the pack on East facing slopes was reasonay stable.
I will put some pictures on when I get near a computer this evening

New Routes and ski touring in the NW

2010-11-30T11:56:00.004Z

Whilst there is less snow in the NW than in the Cairngorms (it has mostly come in on a NW -W wind) there is still snow down to the road and waist deep drifts in places.

I have been out and about ski touring on my local hills where i met a very friendly shire horse who seemed very curious as to what we were doing and followed us some distance up the hill! The snow was quite tricky to ski as the consitancy was quite variable as it has been blown around a lot. We avoided steep westerly aspect slopes as they had large areas of nasty windslab

With the low snow level and unuasal cold (-14c last night) some interesting places have come into condition. I was climbing with Roger (master of the mono) Webb on the South face of Stac Pollaidh where we made the first winter ascent of 'Enigma Variations' which was in turn very delicate and very hard and very fierce and very hard!

It looks like this weather will continue till at least the weekend and probably beyond.

Lots of Snow...

2010-11-26T20:27:00.003Z

I can't get iphone 4 pictures onto the blog i'm afraid. Here is a picture taken at the bottom of the Shelter Stone on Wednesday; it was snowy then and i think that it will be snowier now. The roads in the NW and Cairngorms are still passable and the ski road was open today. A lot of new snow is falling now (on a strong due NE wind i think) and this will probably change the situation. There will be a higher avalanche risk this weekend as there is a lot of fresh snow falling and then being transported on this strong wind. Check the SAIS website as they are now doing weekend updates.

I'm not sure yet where i am heading i the next few days, probably west where walking will be easier but i may go and have a look at all the snow chaos for the fun of it! Interestingly i've already had several ski touring enquiries (even though slacker that i am i haven't fixed that section of the website yet). Here is hoping that it will be another snowy winter on the planks.

NW and Caingorms

2010-11-24T19:47:00.003Z

The bare hills of the NW are now sporting a lovely new snowy coat and good conditions have returned to many mixed venues. It is currently snowing lightly down to sea level up here. The cairngorms however are bearing the brunt of this new snow with large accumations coming in the next couple of days.
Yesterday I was in the Loch Avon basin and found travel and climbing very slow and laborious in the unconsolodated snow but noted that the ski touring was looking good (right place wrong kit!). On the walk out we met up with a friend who was attempting to walk across the cairngorm platea without a map and compass, he very nearly made it but after he sent me a txt saying "I don't know where I am we found him only 200m from the top of the goat track! So close and yet so far!
I am experimenting with a new iPhone at the moment and am trying to type this blog with it (I will try and add a photo later). The gps and a loaded section of an os map bought in iPhone apps made navigating in a White out in blizzard in the dark almost child's play. I was very impressed and so was my friend when we found him!

Winter 2010 / 2011

2010-11-17T14:08:00.004Z

Ok, time to brush off the keyboards and start the blog back up. I'll aim this winter for about 2 posts a week giving general conditions reports mainly for the NW but as i climb all over the Highlands there will be reports from the Cairngorms and the West Coast also.

It looks like this is the real start to the winter now, rather than just a single snow fall followed by rain the next week. On the whole things have started well with much of the NW frozen before the snow fell. There have been regular top ups of snow every few days above about 700 ish m and rocky mixed crags that don't get the sunshine up high have had great early season conditions.

I have been out on Beinn Eighe and various 'secret' locations in the NW doing new mixed routes. It is a great time at the moment in the hills; the light is fantastic and with the echoing sound of the stags engaging in their courtship rituals make the whole place very atmospheric.

The temperature today has briefly gone up to the top of the hills but will come back down and thus consolidate what we have so far.

It looks like we will have good conditions for the next week at least and i hope to be taking full advantages of these this weekend.

More (wet) Cullin Action

2010-09-16T21:58:00.004Z

I fished out the oatcake from the camera and found a partially chewed battery that seemed to work so here are some damp pictures to look at from the confines of a warm armchair. It actually wasn't as bad as it was advertised in the weather forecast; the high winds were manageable if you stayed in the lee of the slope but great care was needed with areas of the lighter coloured fine grained rock and we were roped up on sections that we would usually saunter down 'hands in pockets' so to speak.

I'll be in North Wales till midweek next week and then i'm back home to the growing chill of Autumn. This is usually a quieter guiding time and a good time to catch up on the filing cabinet full of admin that has built up. I'm aiming to design a logo and re vamp the website but don't hold your breath; the technological wheels turn slowly in my household.

Skye peaks and thunder!

2010-09-14T18:29:00.002Z

No pictures i'm afraid as whilst my camera is weather proof it isn't 3 year old proof. He and i have both learned that half an oatcake, whilst it fits nicely into the battery compartment isn't a real substitute for a battery.
The weather has been biblical on Skye this week with a few shifty looking animals lining up two by two... Today we were on the Northern End of the ridge and took it nice and steady on the wet slippy rock. The day had very nasty squally showers come through off the sea and in one hailstone shower a lightening strike struck the North end of the ridge. No where near us fortunately as we were timing our ascents in between the squalls.
We're at the Glen Brittle end tomorrow and hopefully things will be a little calmer. We will see.
I wonder if he preferred the taste of the battery rather than the oatcake? Hmmm, i better ring home and check.

North Wales

2010-09-07T09:49:00.002Z

I'm currently hiding in Pete's Eats in Llanberiss watching the cars sail passed as the rain lashes down. The person oposite me is wearing a damp t-shirt which declares "Better a wet day on the hill than a sunny one in the office". However he does look thankfull to be drinking his tea in the warm fug of the busy cafe.

The weather in the pass has been very wet and showery for the last few days but as my mandate isn't extreme rock ticking on this trip so it hasn't been much of an issue (other than running out of dry footwear). We've been making use of the bad weather looking at scrambling, bad weather navigation and night navigation techniques big book climbing and crag rescues and rope tricks.

It looks like there is a break in the showers so back out we go....

Cullin ridge Traverse

2010-09-02T21:55:00.003Z

Finally it has stopped raining and we made a successful traverse this week. The hills were very very quiet; we only met one other traverse party and 2 or 3 other people on the ridge.

We made very quick time on the second day and i was very impressed with Gordon's unflinching ascent of Naismith's route on the Basteir Tooth. This is usually my plan A to get up to the summit; it is the quickest and purest line to take but it is fantastically intimidating to a tired ridge traverser. I haven't made an ascent of it this year on my traverses but Gordon was made of sterner stuff and cruised it with ease.

I'm off to North Wales for a few days before coming back next week.

Lead Coaching and Ardverikie Wall

2010-08-30T10:35:00.004Z

We were supposed to be doing the Skye Cullin ridge traverse this weekend, but as the weekend approached the forecast got progressively worse and finally promised gales and snow on the tops (is it really August?).

So we make an executive decision and decamped to the Mainland and gambled on the Roy Bridge area.

On Saturday with a poor forecast we stayed low and looked at multy pitch climbing organisation and multypitch absailing and covered lead coaching and belay construction and management. We finished the day (which was mostly in the rain top roping some dryish rock which was blooming hard (polished and damp) but apparently written up as vs 4b!

On Sunday with a slightly better forecast the four of us went into Binnein Shuas and climbed the 6 pitch route Ardverikie Wall. This was a guiding day and the team were quite relieved i think that i was the one leading. The new guidebook discourages the climb in the wet. I have climbed it several times and have once (before the new guide came out) previously climbed it in the rain. As it turned out we had a few showers but most of the pitches were dry, if a little cold, and only the top two 'easier' pitches were wet. We finished the day with a walk up to the windy top of Binnein Shuas where Paul amazed me with his iphone on which he has loaded multymap and using the in built gps showed us exactly where we were. I am feeling the need to get one, but at the rate i seem to break handsets i'm wondering how long it would last.

Skye Ridge Update and Improvised rescues

2010-08-25T08:42:00.002Z

Well it has been wet! I've uploaded a couple of pictures from my previous post and a sample of the other days out that i have been having; see if you can spot the difference! I have also been down south delivering improvised crag rescue practice. This looks as solving simple problems on the crag such as a second can't do a move to more complexed ones such as a climber on a traverse has fallen unconscious and is dangling in space. Hopefully we all will never have to use these skills for real and problem AVOIDANCE pays a major part in many days out but it is a good idea to know how to do it all.

I'm back over to the Skye ridge this weekend and into next week. I'll blog next week (hopefully reporting dry rock and a chance meeting with the the Swedish Bikini Abseiling Team which are rumored to be training on Skye next week ;)

No place like home...

2010-08-15T20:18:00.002Z

I'm back in the UK now. The remainder of my time in the alps was generally wet; there was no danger of sunstroke.
I've moved over to Skye for a spell of work now and the weather was fantastic today. We made an ascent of the Northern end munros on the Skye ridge. We only met one other party on the top of Am Bastier who were heading for the tooth none of whom, including the child, were wearing helmets and the best course of action for my team was to stop dead whilst they wandered about underneath us seeminly oblivious to the small stones that my party were inevitably dislodging. You do what you can but there is nowt as queer as folk sometimes.
It is suprisingly quiet over here at the moment and whilst the campsites seem busy, the hills are quiet.
Pictures tommorow when the internest conection is faster.

Austria

2010-07-27T10:45:00.003Z

It is quite cold out in the alps at the moment and the weather has been quite mixed with snow lying down to 2000m and staying on the ridges. It is clearing better from steep southern facing routes. I'm staying in Austria for the next few days but we may move if the temperatures don't go up. It could be an interesting time to do a big mixed face... but that's not on the agenda for this trip!

Skye Ridge, Munros, Rock and Sport Climbing and teaching leading

2010-07-14T13:34:00.003Z

I have had the computers packed up in dust proof covers this past couple of weeks as i have been sanding and varnishing the floors in between work. A bit of a chore but worth doing in the end (I'm told).

Thus blog catch up time...

I have been guiding rock and sport climbing and teaching leading. I have been in the Cullin a lot recently and have just got back from doing a Munros course in very mixed weather.

I'm off to the Alps for a few weeks at the weekend and then North Wales before going back to Skye. I'll try and keep up the blog up to date but it will be intermittent.

It's tipping it down again outside so it's quite nice to be varnishing inside!

Success on the Skye Ridge

2010-06-22T11:08:00.004Z

Saturday on the Cullin Ridge of Skye was very windy and cold. However the sun was out and it was often possible to stay out of the worst of the wind on the Glen Brittle side. David, Mark and I made good steady progress and only experienced a slight delay at the Inaccessible Pinnacle. The team opted to take in all the difficult variations and we enjoyed dry rock and great views.

We stopped to bivi early as many of the usual springs were dry (on the whole it has been unusually dry so far this season) and i descended off the ridge and trudged (slowly) back with 14l in my pack and we spent a fine evening in the sunshine eating and drinking like Kings.

Sunday morning greeted us with thick cloud and drizzle. The visibility was only 20m for most of the day and we didn't see (or hear) anyone until we got to Am Basteir where we tried to locate the owner of a mobile phone, camera and a pair of glasses that we had found on Bruach na Frithe. The weather cleared just in time for our ascent of Sgurr nan Gillean and our long walk out to the Sligachan Pub. We finally reunited the owner with their belongings but by the time they turned up last orders had been called at the bar and we weren't able to take them up on the offer of a round of drinks.

Inaccessible Pinnacle (In Pinn) and Munros

2010-06-15T12:15:00.004Z

Back from Skye now. I'm still wondering where the crowds are; it still seems strangely quiet if you stay away from the Inaccessible Pinnacle area. Am i just going to the right places at the right times?

Saturday was a great day; the cloud burnt off in mid morning and the Southern end caught the sun first. The picture above taken on Saturday evening shows the first signs of the new weather front which caused heavy rain throughout Skye.

Fingers crossed for the weather at the end of the week and the coming weekend as i'm doing a traverse.

The Skye good weather continues

2010-06-09T18:26:00.002Z

I'm just back from Skye and can report that the good weather has continued and is set to for several more days. The ground in the Cullins and in Glen brittle is very dry which is great for ascents of routes that usually have wet weeps on them but not good for finding water from springs for a ridge traverse.

I'm back over on Friday but currently have Sunday, Monday and Tuesday free for private guiding up Munros, rock climbing or an attempt at the ridge traverse if anyone would like a last minute break on Skye.

Skye Ridge and Munros

2010-06-02T19:50:00.002Z

The weather on Skye has been mostly very good, with the odd morning of rain such as yesterday. The In Pinn has been very busy (it is the English school half term) but each of my 3 ascents were queue free by dint of luck and getting up early. Some mornings the ridge was damp but the breeze and some warmth from the day soon dried it off. We had the whole of the North end of the ridge to ourselves yesterday and didn't see another soul all day, which was amazing as the camp sites and the huts are all teeming with folk. I'm having a couple of days at home before i go over again at the weekend for another stint; hopefully the weather will remain kind.

The Lakes

2010-05-27T11:23:00.002Z

I have been down in the Lakes during the mini heat wave and enjoyed some CPD time down there. I don't usually go to the lakes for work or play, but everytime i do i seem to have idle thoughts about how nice it would be to live there. Hoever then i see the house prices and the crowds and i scuttle back home to the Highlands where i can leave my car at a crag and not worry about break ins and have a few hundred routes to choose from on mountain crags. But then again the local ice cream was nice...
I'm starting a week on Skye but will try and get to a computer and report on the conditions whist i'm there.

Skye Ridge and Munros

2010-05-19T16:30:00.002Z

The weather on Skye has been much better than expected. However, the pessimist in me still packed a water proof rather than sun cream. The rock was dry and the May crowds have not yet arrived. It was quite a contrast to last week where there was a couple of inches of snow about. The new SMC Skye guidebook is progressing, any of you that want to get a cheeky new route in you have a mere couple of weeks!

The forecast looks reasonable for the next few days with a possible 'weather event' at the weekend.

Creag Ghlas bird alert.

2010-05-17T20:38:00.004Z

Folk might want to know that there IS a nesting Golden Eagle pair on Creag Ghlas (one of my local crags). I went there today and met a party from Glenmore lodge who had also read the MCofS's website and didn't gleam much from its ambiguous info (probably not their fault in any case). I believe that similar ambiguous info was published in CLIMBER mag also (possibly but not sure a i don't read it).

Well yes there is a mating pair there for sure who put in an appearance for a while when we were half way up the crag. They scarpered and so did we. I'm unclear as to whether it would be ok to climb on the side of the crag (which is big) that doesn't have the nest as i have no idea how spooked they get, it would be a great shame if they abandoned it. Indeed, i'm not even sure i should be posting this?! Do eggers trawl the blogosphere? If there is an etiquette then please email me and let me know. I'll email the MCof S and update them and i have already contacted the local ranger and filled him in. What would be ideal would be a sign at the start of the track as climbers wouldn't have wasted any time on approaching and could just turn around and drive to another crag, but would this draw unwanted attention? Answers on a postcard.

Skye, Ben Nevis and Rock climbing

2010-05-14T12:08:00.004Z

Nearly a month since the last blog. I am a bad man!

Iv'e been over Ben Nevis way, the NW and on Skye these last few weeks, oh and a final tour on the planks in the Cairngorms just so i can be in the May club! Indeed speaking of the May club, Point 5 has recieved at least 2 ascents in May this year, sadly not by me though. The other climbable ice ice route has been Good Friday climb which has seen several more ascents. The grade 1 gullies will still be there for a bit more if you are looking for some alpine lung busting preporation. Speaking of Alpine prep, Tower ridge has been very good lately also with dry rock till the little tower then crampons on for the rest.

However, this past week or so things have changed with precipitation at night falling as snow sometimes down to 300 - 400m and being a good inch or so up top. This has mostly burnt off each day but it has lingered in the shade. The MWIS forcast has showed its limitations in predicting this snow fall and plans for a Skye ridge traverse with two folk were curtailed when we realised that we were looking at pretty good winter conditions! We did in the end lighten the sacks and opt for a quasi winter ascent of the In Pinn.

Cragging at various NW locations has been a better option and venues such as Diabaig, Seana Mheallan, Ardheslaig etc have been good options if at times cold when the sun hasn't been on them.

The weather should improve next week and i'll blog again soon (ish)

Summer rock and ... a winter coda

2010-04-17T21:15:00.005Z

Ive been out on the rock this past week and it feels strange to not have tools in my hands but i did enjoy the 'newness' of it all.

However just as i was putting most of the winter kit in storage the freezing level come down and i head over to (a very quiet) Ben Nevis. The rain in the valley turned to sleet at the hut and eventually to snow fall up high. We looked at snow craft, snow belays and ice axe breaking. I always like putting skills into context so we headed up into the gloom and went up No 2 gully on great snow and took a slightly stepper icy exit on the left wall. We made the most off the pea souper on the mountain and navigated up to the summit and the guys controlled the nav down with me taking a back seat and just keeping an eye on things.

I think that i'm heading over to the Cairngorms on Sunday for a family ski tour with my 2 year old (he tells me he prefers the off piste) but we will have to see what the weather brings.

Cairngorm 4000ers ski tour

2010-04-11T18:37:00.004Z

Well, the pieces in the puzzle finally slotted into place yesterday and we enjoyed our tour of the Cairngorm 4000ers but decided that we needed to add the walk up and down the Devils Point onto it as well. We found quite good snow and only had to walk for a few hundred metres from the bottom of Tailer's burn (and wade the river) to reach a gully of snow to skin up on the other side.

We changed our plan to ski down Corie Ruadh and boot up to the top of Lurchers Gully as we didn't fancy the look of the snow in Corie Ruadh and indeed when we continued to traverse round we saw a very fresh wind slab avalanche in part of it. Instead we skied down Sron na Lairige, down Corie Gorm and round into the Lairig Ghru (see picture of the intrepid getting the last few turns into the Lairig Ghru!). From there we had to walk through the Charlemagne gap which wasn't too bad and onto the good footpath to the sugar bowl car park.

I have spent today cycling with my son in shorts and t-shirt and it has been 16 deg in Conon Bridge, the snow on the lower slopes will go very quickly but the snow up on the plateau will still be there for many weeks yet and i'm sure i'll be going over to Macdui again before the month is out.

The pictures really speak for themselves; a lovely day

Piste, off piste and touring @ Cairngorm

2010-04-09T19:20:00.002Z

Iv'e been on the planks the last few days with Tanya looking at her ski technique on and off piste and basic ski touring skills which we put together today in a tour up on the plateau. Ben Macdui was very popular today and the visibility was refreshingly good for a change (until the drizzle came on at 2pm).

The snow on the low to mid mountain is very heavy and slow and not fun to ski but it is good up high. It hasn't frozen for a couple of days now and won't for the next couple i think.

All this warm weather has caused the great slab in Corrie an Lochain to begin to slip. This usually happens every year and there are several sweep-stakes on when it will happen. There was heavy rain a few days ago which has lubricated the bottom of the snow pack on the smooth rock and it has moved last night. It may hang on for a while or it may go in the next few days with the very warm weather forecast.

I'm out on the classic 4 4000ft peaks of the Cairngorms tomorrow and aim to end up in Lurchers gully rather than the Charlemagne gap because of the snow level so i'll try and get another picture.

Torridon

2010-04-03T18:21:00.004Z

There has been significant snow in the NW in the last snow event. This brought the mixed climbing back into condition quickly and has improved some of the easy gullies.

Today the weather has not been as good as yesterday (bright sun and cold in the shade on Friday) and there has been rain most of the way up the hill today.

The picture is taken looking at the back of Liathach on Friday (hence the sunshine)

Winter returns

2010-03-30T12:51:00.001Z

Up to a week ago i was enjoying a well earned rest as the freezing level was way way above the tops and the rain was beating the window... however the vagaries of the North Atlantic weather systems have given us a bit of an Indian Winter (if that isn't a tautology!).

Iv'e been ice climbing on Ben Nevis this past few days re visiting some of the classics. Interestingly the upper sections of many routes such as those on the Orion face as more featured than normal, giving more interesting climbing rather than the usual bank out to the top. This is probably because of the sustained period of cold earlier in the season has resulted in the snow sluffing off these features and not sticking and filling them in.

There have been many teams on Smiths, Point 5, Zero, Slav, Orion Direct, Tower ridge, Comb gully, etc. Basically all the classics. There are reports of ascents on the Indicator wall area but as i haven't seen this bit of the mountain i can't confirm anything. The climbing is very good for axe and crampons but not great for ice screws i.e. it is difficult to fall off and that is defiantly best avoided. Stating the bleeding obvious? Probably.

I left the CIC hut yesterday and as we got back to the car in the evening the weather was just beginning to deteriorate. Here in Conon Bridge (North of Inverness) it is snowing/sleeting heavily and has been all day on a very strong wind. No doubt this will give us an extension to the mixed climbing possibilities. Indeed, the Cairngorms whilst chocked with snow have had black buttresses for a while now.

I noted windslab on several different aspects on the Ben, including the crag aprons. This was often localised depositions due to regional winds but some of it slid and cracked very easily. This will most probably be something to be very aware of during and after the current weather event that is happening now.

Advanced Ski touring / off piste

2010-03-16T21:11:00.004Z

Today with the promise of to the good visibility we chose the Cairgorms for our advanced ski touring day. However, the clag often hugs the cairngorm plateau and indeed it did today.

We went over to Ben Macdui via Corrie an Lochain and had to point to point navigate on compass bearings as the clous was down. From the summit we skied initially very hard icy snow then hero snow down to the Larig Ghru and booted up Lurchers crag and skied Lurchers gully back to the car park. We looked at snow stability, kick turning, choosing safe lines and off piste ski technique (and the use of essential off piste catch phases such as 'dude', 'awesome' and not forgetting 'radical')

The snow stability was very good, there is evidence of old avalanche activity on all aspects but there was only a very small amount of very localised new slab built up from cross winds in the sides of SW facing gullies. There was still a layer about 6 inches down on a pit dug at about 800m on a south facing slopes which did fail on a strong pull which i was surprised had survived the recent thaw, but the pack was not too worrying on the whole.

Creag Meagaidh

2010-03-15T19:21:00.002Z

I was on Meagaidh (meggy) today after the ice has all been washed away in the NW in recent days but the freezing level was more like 2000m rather than 900m and the day started with heavy rain on the walk in soaking us to skin. It was warm enough even in the wind to strip down to the chest and put dry thermals on. Wand and Diadem were our intended lines but after a spontainious avalanche came down Diadem (possibly from a cornice colapse) we walked over to Pumpkin and were rewarded with a volley of falling ice from above and the sides which made us think the better of climbing so we went for a walk.

Lots of recent avalanche activity, slab release as well as sluffs all spontainious and some from the last 48hrs.

It is supposed to freeze this night but im not convinced. I'm out again tomorrow so we will see. I'll post pictures later (more camera problems)

Torridon

2010-03-14T21:22:00.002Z

Well, it had to end sometime; the fantastic weather has come to an end and the past few days have been typified by warm wet weather.

Poachers etc is looking much thinner (as it has a small river running down it) and the snow is totally water saturated all the way up the hill all over the NW. I've been on Liathach and Beinn Alligin in the past few days and the snow less has been quite substantial in this last few days and will probably continue in that vein. Temp on the tops is at least +4 and there is very little lapse rate due to the cloudy moist air.

NW conditions - Liathach and Edinburgh lecture

2010-03-09T16:45:00.003Z

The great weather and conditions continue in the NW. We are getting a hard frost each night and clear blue sunny skies each day. This is helping build the ice. Poachers received at least two ascents yesterday and White Tiger had a party ascend it. Both route suffered from brittle ice i'm told.
I did George and found it in fantastic condition (you have to breath in when threading the cave due to the ice build up though!)
This week i'm journeying down to Edinburgh on Thursday to present a lecture about Adventure climbing. I'll look at climbing in Scotland, the Alps, NZ anf the Himalaya. I'll talk a lot about new routes and the mentality that goes with them but the theme linking all the adventures will be that you don't have to be a superhero to do it.
It is being given as a part of the EUMC / Tiso series and is at Theatre 183 Old Collage, South Bridge at 8.30 on Thursday. Tickets £6 or £5 if you have a good excuse.

NW and Cairngorms

2010-03-07T22:41:00.003Z

The thaw has been on for a few days now and the freezing level has gone up to the tops of the hills, or above, most days and down to the valley at night. This is helping destroy and consolidate some of the weaknesses in the snow pack, which was saturated in a pit dug on Ben Wyvis on a southern aspect at about 700m today.
The snow level has retreated up the hill so it is not possible to ski car to summit any more on Ben Wyvis, we carried for about 2km.
There has been heavy rain on the coastal NW hills (Applecross) and this has been very detrimental to many of the ice routes there. The ice is still hanging on further inland though such as on Liathach.
Conditions this w/e in the Cairngorms were great with hero neve forming in the gullies; the rise in freeing level has done great work there stabilising the snow pack and refreezing the snow to make climbing much more pleasant.
Sorry, no pictures; my rechargeable battery isn't behaving. Will try and fix this asap.
Coda...Also forgot to add lots of avalanche activity in the past 3 days all over the place, saw lots of old avalanches on West and Sw slopes on Wyvis and lots in the Corries, and there may be more if the cornices fail. Y gully area in Lochain i often pretty bad for this

2010-03-06T10:07:00.002Z

NW conditions update

2010-03-05T09:25:00.002Z

The weather has been quite fine and settled this last few days. Fresh snow fell several days ago putting between 2 and 10 inches of new snow on top of the surface hore crystals that were prevalent all over the NW on many aspects. A pit dug on a SW aspect on Ben Wyvis showed the fresh snow on top of this unstable layer but also some interesting things happening near the base of the snow pack with deph hore and faceted crystals and an older deep icy layer all adding to the unstable picture.

The temp rose yesterday by about 9 deg during the day and small, localised slips were noted on Northern aspects. We climbed a new line on Beinn Alligin near Torridon finding excellent conditions. Our line, The Christening, was to the right of the new Webb / Richardson line which takes the ridge to the right of Diamond fire (which looked in good condition). My new axes got a christening and fun was had by all.

This long period of sustained cold has resulted in some very interesting routes getting done in the NW including the second ascent of the summer E2 Marathon Corner up on Ben Loyal (sp?) and possibly a new hard line on Beinn Bhan, but i don't know for sure.

The rise in temp this weekend will give a period of instability in the snow pack but it will cause the ice to grow rapidly in places and the forecast next week talks of warm days and cold nights; perfect for spring ice climbing. This should help form up the high altitude routes on Ben Nevis.

I have included a picture of Deep South Gully on Alligin taken yesterday as someone wanted info on it.

NW is best

2010-02-27T20:35:00.002Z

Cairngorm Ski road shut? Avalanche hell in the west? Get yourself up to the NW! Conditions continue to be excellent. Have a look at the pictures taken from a traverse of Beinn Liath Mhor showing Sgorr Ruadh, Fur Tholl and Liathach.

The recent fresh snow is there in localised isolated windslab patches and gullies but there is stacks that is accessible. Climbers have also been active on Beinn Bhan today and in the last few days, the new snow not making it that far and the Belach Na bar road to Applecross was open today.

Intro Ski Mountaineering and snow conditions

2010-02-24T19:42:00.003Z

I was out yesterday in the last of the fantastic weather (for a while) giving a refresher in Ski mountaineering on my local hill, Ben Wyvis. This peak is ideal for ski mountaineering as it has several different approaches and descent options to suit all abilities.

The day was windless and sunny, but i did note the harbingers of the next weather front, which i now bucketing down snow a i type this.

This is going to be a major headache as i have seen very well developed surface hore on all aspects (even sunny south ones) and this will cause an extreme (Cat 5) on all aspects in some locations. The next few day are probably days best spent doing other things than being an avalanche poodle. I'm already hearing of the first avalanches on the west coast and i think that this will be a bad couple of days.

Liathach and Poachers fall

2010-02-23T19:55:00.005Z

Chris came up for his annual steep ice day and we went to have a look at Poachers Fall on Liathach as much of Ben Nevis seems to be buried at the moment. The route was in ok condition but the temperature (-12 in the morning) had made the ice very very brittle and i made the decision to bail off the 4th pitch when one axe dinner plated nearly taking the other off even though it was two feet away. If it warms up a bit it should be fine.

There was some slab on the way up to the base and an impressive build up of surface hore which will cause serious trouble if it doesn't get destroyed by wind or warm temperatures before the next dump of snow.

I've heard of not one but three (!) impressive hard routes being done on the Dubh Loch near Lochnagar in the last few days. Apparently the weather will change in the next few days. Watch chi this space.

Torridon and Beinn Eighe

2010-02-21T19:15:00.003Z

Another glorious day today. How long will this continue? There was no sign of the coastal snow showers predicted for today but at 1pm i noted high sirrus cloud forming to the south above Skye so maybe this is the beginning of a change.

We went into the Triple buttress corrie on Beinn Eighe where a party was on West Buttress and Malcolm Bass and Simon Yearsley were busy adding a new line up on Fuselage wall near the line of Ace. Incidentally, Simon runs the very successful camper van rental service, Big tree camper vans, which i have begun to see out and about on my travels to the climbing areas of Scotland. These give a great mobile base when you want to tour round the climbing areas of Scotland. I predict that they are going to very much in demand this Spring when the Skye ridge season starts.

We went up Fuselage Gully and then traversed the Masiff in the sunshine. Hard work but someone has to do it! Snow stability was mostly pretty good; i only noted some localised slab deposited on one side of the gully exit which were easily avoided on the other.

I'm probably on Liathach tomorrow. Apologies to Harpic for spelling this incorrectly two days ago and well done on the new VII, 7 in Corrie Na Cane on Liathach (yes i have spelt the name of the corrie wrong on purpose!)

Torridon and Beinn Alligin

2010-02-20T21:23:00.002Z

The snow predicted for coastal hills today didn't arrive; rather it was cloudy with a very light fall of anow flake for about 5 mins. Otherwise we were again treated to perfect blue sky, sunshine and only a breath of wind to remind us that it was winter.

We went to Beinn Alligin which is in fantastic condition. We ascended Deep South gully and then turned right at the top crossing the horns and doing the full traverse.

Snow stabitity was very good and deep south gully is probably the best route of its grade that i have done in 15 years of winter climbing in Scotland period. We have been running out of adjectives and superlatives to describe the conditions this week. We are on Beinn Eighe tomorrow.

Torridon conditions

2010-02-19T21:57:00.003Z

Ive been out and about in the NW, specifically in the Torridon valley. We have had 2 days of very cold weather which is growing the ice nicely. Today we did Hillwalk gully on Liatech which was excellent with no avalanche danger on the top bowl. We then traversed the Liatech massif. There is a great build up of snow on the traverse and our crampons were rarely on rock.

Team strong have been on Beinn Eighe cliffs but i haven't heard what they did, the conditions would have been great, they must have been quick as their campervans had gone by 5pm when we got back to the car park.

Today was glorious with sunglasses pretty essential and no wind at all. The sun has affected the snow on the south side of the ridge traverse but with anti balling plates and diligence it was ok. The weather may continue like this for a couple of days fingers crossed. I have some stunning shot on my other camera but can't find the cable and my computer has been unexpectedly turning itself off after having a critical error. Knowing nothing about technology i'll probably just ignore it for as long as possible and hope the cable turns up.

Sneachda new snow

2010-02-16T21:10:00.004Z

We went back to Sneachda today as the new snow (several inches) last night and this morning would only have made things more problematic in Lochain. As it was actually getting up the ski road was problematic enough as the road was shut and we had fun and games getting up when it eventually did open at about 10.30am.

We went to the Mess o pottage as this had seen traffic in the last few days and i hoped to pick out the old foot steps of previous parties under the new snow. It would appear that the new snow has fallen on gentle winds as the crystals were not broken and packed into wind slab very much in the corrie. A pit dug on the crag apron revealed two weak layers in the top 12 inches above the icy layer and an interesting weak layer below this with what i think were weakly bonded faceted crystals below it (i didn't have my hand lense though)

We picked our way up and started up the slant and then finished on hidden chimney which gave a good short day. There was more snow beginning to fall as we left the car park at 4pm and it will most probably snow all night. One thing to watch for is when the wind pick up there is a lot of new snow waiting to get transported about.

Northern Corries - Lochain

2010-02-15T21:17:00.002Z

Today i went into Lochain and noted that it was much quieter than Sneachda today. A party was on Savage Slit another party followed us up Milky Way and that was it. A party made a probably wise choice of backing off the Vent but i think this was climbed yesterday. Last night several inches of new snow fell and in my opinion the avalanche risk has increased since yesterday as bad areas of slab are now far more extensive. We spent quite a while choosing a safe line to the start of the route (as did the Savage slit party i noted) and then found the climbing slow due to the massive accumilations of snow on the cliffs. Under the surface snow there i good climbable nee but all the usual belays were very very buried

Northern Corries report

2010-02-14T21:48:00.002Z

We have been in the Northern Corries this weekend. Most of the gully lines are seeing traffic as is the ski road up there; today both top car parks were full by half eight and the halfway car park was half full! The corries were not though as busy as i had feared and whilst many climbers were about (see picture) i didn't see too many queues. Today the freezing level was very high, mid crag perhaps and the gentle thaw cause the snow to ball up on the crampons; a major hazard. I witnessed a lucky climber have both her feet slip when leading. Luckily she managed to stay on and avoid a 50+m fall and was very thankful for my top rope thrown to her!

NW conditions

2010-02-12T14:50:00.002Z

I haven't been out for several days as i have had a nasty cold, diagnosed by my loving wife as strain M-A-N 1 flu! However we have had fresh falls of snow up high most nights this week topping up the already superb snow levels in many places. The winds haven't been strong but i suspect that it will have blown about. Alas i can't give any indication as to the avalanche conditions i'm afraid but there is certainly snow to play in.

I'm out this w/e and pretty much every day for the next 2 weeks with only the odd day off so i'll try and post the snow conditions that i find. I'll be in the Cairngorms this w/e and then the NW for most of the other time i think.

NW and Cairngorm conditions

2010-02-07T19:12:00.002Z

There was a thaw in the west on Thurs which made an appearance over Inverness side on Friday. This has helped stabilise the snow which was wet all the way up the hills in the thaw. The freeze started slowly on Saturday and came with more precip (probably snow up high but i was in the valley in the rain on Sat). The weather was calmer, dryer and quite a bit nicer today. I was in the Cairngorms ski touring this morning. We hoped that we might be lucky with the cloud level but our optimism for an attempt at the 4 big tops was miss placed and the cloud level was at around 950m all day. We turned back at the Summit of Macdui but the snow on the plateaux was really good even if it was total white out adventure skiing.

Sneachda was very busy with over a hundred folk. A lot less folk in Lochain mind!

The snow in the Cairngorms has obviously also thawed all the way up the hill and refrozen as it was pretty bomber and would be great in the gullies. There was a bit of fresh snow being blown around so exiting gullies could well not be on bomber safe neve.

Yet more snow and avalanches

2010-02-03T16:50:00.003Z

We have continued to have new snow each day Sat, Sun, Mon and Tues, more so over near the west coastal hills. Much of it has either fallen or been re-distributed on a Northern wind and slopes from East through to West slopes are places where you will find windslab. On Tuesday on Beinn Eighe my team triggered a massive cornice collapse (think transit van size) which fell down a southern aspect slope triggering this. We were all fine and just watched it fall as we walked passed on our ridge line.

Northern aspects MAY have wind scoured gullies, several i saw were but don't take this as gospel for every where as there are many local winds to take into account.

The brief sunny spells have triggered spontaneous point release avalanches on southern aspects. Northern facing crags are well rimed and the turf is frozen. However, expect walking times to be almost doubled as the snow is calf deep in the valley and waste deep in places up high.

But on the whole conditions are brilliant, and it is defiantly winter!

If wading through snow is not your thing, then going inland 20+ miles will find you on crags with less snow. The turf is well froen on the crags in the far north at the moment, if i say any more then i'm making it too easy, go explore!

New snow

2010-01-29T19:18:00.002Z

Lots of new snow has fallen in the NW which is great as the coastal hills such as Torridon were getting quite bare. Central Buttress was climbed yesterday with good mixed conditions but the sandstone teir was avoided as the turf wasn't frozen at this low level. The team (who have been staying in my guest apparment) reported that the quartzite teir was however great; snow stuck to the rock and the day sounded quite wild with heavy sleet and snow on and off as each new front smashed into the cliff.

I'm not out tomorrow but am from Sunday onwards so will report back when time allows. I think that the new snow will have fallen on already frozen ground up high so the mixed should be good but the easy gullies had a smooth hard surface so look and see how well it has bonded (the front arrived in Conon as very cold one and when this happens new snow doesn't bond as well as the more usual warm then cold). More is due tonight again and the temp is plummeting again.

NW conditions update

2010-01-27T20:34:00.002Z

Last night snow fell on the tops, but as the day warmed up the precipitation turned to rain all the way up the mountain. It is about to get colder and more snow is due. This is good news for the mixed climbing as the coastal hills are pretty bare and there is very little ice on Liatach due to a lack of snow above the cliffs to melt and turn to ice.

Cover is reported as good on Beinn Dearg (on the Ullapool road) and Penguin Gully an the Cold Climbs Classic Emerald Gully recieved an aascent this week but Emerald Gully is not super fat and thus may be tricky for the grade.

Skyscrapper Buttress in the Fannachs got an ascent on Monday by the direct start and the empire state finish and was in excellent condition and probably received another ascent on Tues or Weds o my tip off. Gamma gully also had an ascent on Monday and was in good condition.

There continues to be good snow cover further inland away from the coast and travel by walking on top of the snow is fine.

Northern Corries open and NW conditions

2010-01-25T12:12:00.002Z

The Ski road finally opened all the way to the top at the w/e and on Sunday and the crags and the ski pistes were very busy. Obviously there is loads of snow but the walking was not to bad at all.

The mess 0 pottage is very buried and if there is more snow some climbing routes could well turn into (very) extreme ski descents.

We started on the Seam, abbed on the insitu gear, did Seamstress then went down Belhaven and picked up our gear as we climbed passed. The climbing is very very bold. Belhaven was probably VII, 5 with 3 runners in the crux last 50m pitch. The Gents of the old School would have been in their element! It was interesting to think that the closure of the road and the heavy snow meant that climbers weren't up brushing the snow off the routes and the result is that an almost climbable neve has built up making the climbing very pleasurable and fast but extremely bold. The crags would benefit from a quick thaw and snap re-freeze giving steep Nevis neve on the faces (but no gear). However not everyone thinks like this as you can see on the hoovered lines in the picture of Savage Slit and Fall Out Corner which must have taken an age to clear and would have been quite an undertaking.

There has been a sprinkling of new snow in the NW over the last few days but many climbing venues can still be approached on mostly clear paths with a very high snow line on the Coastal hills, lowering the more inland one goes. On Saturday a strong party made an ascent of Tango In the Night on Sgurr Rudha and found whilst the flake and turf frozen and the climbing good it was very scary; a good covering of snow and neve would have hidden the fact that you are actually just climbing a pack of stacked flakes in a vertical chimney.

Ski Touring on Ben Wyvis

2010-01-21T13:05:00.003Z

I have been out on the planks ski touring on Ben Wyvis on Tuesday. The forecast wind of 30mph was a bit of an underestimation and when carrying the skis i had the distinct feeling of 'tacking' as if i was on a sailing boat at the corner of each zigzag (the skis on the pack were blowing me over!)

We had planned to go over to the climbing corries and do some descents there, but it was far too windy to even stand up on the top so we skied down the bowl from the South Summit. The snow was very very hard making the skiing very dagerious and not to be recomended at the moment, if you fluff a turn on the very steep ground you will go a very long way and it won't be pretty.

However, the hard freeze is improving the climbing conditions no end in the NW, the turf has remained frozen and the snow is now a hard neve.

Sgurr Ruadh and Glen Sheil

2010-01-18T22:08:00.003Z

I was climbing on Sgurr Ruadh yesterday. We had periods of heavy rain on the walk in which later turned to snow. The snow on the crag was heavy and wet but the turf was still frozen. I was amazed to see how much snow has gone in the past week. Indeed i saw old snow shoe prints on the path. No need for these now!

Today i was in Glen Sheil and there is substantially more snow the more inland you go from the west coast. The turf was excellent but the snow was again heavy and wet and only just frozen.

Old avalanche debris noted from the recent warm period. There may be still a danger from full depth avalanches as the water lubricates the base. I saw evidence that there had been some avalanches on a smooth grass base.

However the silver linning is that some interesting mid and high mountain ice is forming up as the snow melt runs off.

The Cairngorm ski road was shut again today and has been shut for the last few days, but i would hazard a guess that we're not missing anything exciting just yet. If it thaws then re-freezes you could do White magic as an ice route perhaps!

Beinn Bhan and NW conditions again.

2010-01-16T22:36:00.003Z

I was in Corie na Poite on Beinn Bhan Today. The first bit of silver tear to the first terrace is there but thinnish. It is not at all there above.

We has a look at Mad Hatters gully but bailed half way up the crux pitch as it was streaming with water (think down my arm, down my torso, leg and filling up my boots).

Snow is soggy and without layers all the way up the mountain. It will re freeze to good neve where it survives the rain that fell today. Freeing level was way way above the tops today and there has been a massive snow loss, but the turf is still frozen.

Thawing and consolidation

2010-01-13T20:47:00.004Z

The snow is thawing quickly at lower levels and consolodating up high. From the snow pack i exmined at 600m yesterday their is evidence of melt-freeze snow grains where previously i would have expected faceted sugar snow. The snow pack will gain strengh as a result BUT there will be a period of instability whilst water perculates down the pack and possibly causes shearing of weak layers within it.

I was out on Sgurr An Fhidhler yesterday and was at times bodily lifted off the belay stance and dropped back down as the wind grew bored of paying with us. This grew progresivly worse as the day went on and by the end it sounded like a 747 was taking off right next to us. For once the MWIS weather forecast underestimated the wind. However, any day out with views such as these and not another soul for miles around has got to be worth it.

The weather will progressively deteriorate from now till the weekend but it is looking to get colder on Tuesday so it my be that conditions from Tuesday onwards get even better as water if freed up to then freeze into more ice.

Ski touring

2010-01-10T18:12:00.003Z

I was out today in the local Strathconon hills. These hills whilst at a low level are very quiet and can feel quiet wild in places. We took advantage of a 'piested' farm track for as much as possible, once out of this the snow is VERY deep!

There is substantial surface hore in all shady places even at low levels. This will be substantial at munro level. There is again substantial evidence of faceting in the snow pack (weak sugar snow) and as if this wasn't enough there is depth hore at the base of the pack!

When new snow or a thaw comes i would expect very serious avalanches in many locations in the NW.

Snow and Ice conditions in the NW

2010-01-07T20:20:00.003Z

We have had two days of bright sunshine now up here, however this has been intermittent in some western hills. This has helped the snow on the tops, ridges and anything with a south aspect to consolidate and had helped build up the ice as melt water had trickled down onto the shady north aspects.

There was a MASSIVE spontaneous avalanche on the southern flank of Ben Wyvis yesterday morning when the sun came out causing some melting to trickle down and lubricate a weak layer on a southern leeward convex slope at about 900m. The crown wall was a couple of hundred metres across and over a metre high in places. This same slope avalanched under very similar weather conditions that we has last year.

If you are out touring or walking take great care, the sun is helping to stabilise some previously loaded slopes but it is so desperately cold that many dodgy slopes will remain so.

Beinn Bhan and NW conditions

2010-01-05T11:03:00.002Z

The conditions in the North West and West are much better for climbing than in the Cairngorms. There is a lot less snow there than in the Gorrms, where skis are pretty essential for moving around unless you are lucky enough to be able to follow an 18 stone snow plough about.

There was fresh snow yesterday in the NW and W and the snow has only thawed at sea level briefly before re - freezing and making walking conditions very tricky (witnessed by two of the UK's finest winter climbers on a new VII in a 33 hr round trip to Knoydart but loosing man points for admitting to wearing crampons on the foot path. Only joking!). There is more snow today falling.

The snow has a hard surface crust caused by vapour transfer in the snow pack meeting the very cold air. The snow bellow this is very faceted (sugar snow) and has very little strength properties. This is a hazard worth keeping an eye on for the future. This top icy layer has a small amount of surface hore on it and if this is not destroyed by wind or a thaw before the new snow fell is a really dangerious layer to look out for and may well be patchy so not spotted by a pit dug in one location but it could exist a couple of metres away on the same aspect.

I have been on Beinn Bhan (Ben Van) and after changing the plan several times due to prevailing conditions ended up climbing Great Overhanging Gully on Giants Wall. This is easier with ice but we didn't find any at all. Indeed a very experienced party had a very 'challenging time' on Sillver Teaar which is in very very poor condition.

There is very little mountain ice on Liatach, Ben Eighe and Fur Tholl basically because we need it to thaw, freeing up the water during the day for it to trickle down and freeze at night in the lines. Please take great care if you go to Poachers Fall etc area as the slope at the top will be a prime avalanche trap.

Best think mixed, low level ice or get on the planks; its not often that you can ski tour right from the car or in my case right from the front door! Indeed i am trying to get a page up on the website about ski touring...

Enjoy.

NW conditions and bad news

2010-01-02T12:05:00.005Z

Iv'e had many enquirys this season asking if i am still working and climbing as the site and blog havent been updated. I am and have been. I have had a period of time away from the dizzy lights of the internet, but guess it is time to estivate it.

Ive been climbing and ski touring around the NW these past few weeks; i have been staying away from the Cairngorms for a couple of weeks as they are totally totally buried. Last time i was there in mid December i saw two avalanches, backed off and heard the next day about a third.

It is also with a heavy heart that i heard on new Year's eve whilst mid route on the first winter ascent of Safari on the Bonaid Dhonn that my freind and fellow trainee British Mountain Guide Rupert Rosedale was killed in an an avalanche on Ben Nevis. I had heard about it the day it happened but didn't find out it was Rupes till i got a message sent to my phone.

Whilst walking out a friend rang me and told me that the other casualty was another friend Will Wilkinson. Will and i climbed a new line, Chocks Away on Beinn Eighe only a few weeks ago and we were looking forward to a winter of climbing together.

It is a terrible terrible waste. At the moment there isn't an avalanche forecast for the NW; it is such a large and diverse area. I will try and report a couple of times per week on the snow conditions when i am out. We didn't go above 500m on the Bonaid Dhonn (pronounced Bonny Don) but even here there were significant deposits up to thigh level in places. There was a lot of evidence of faceted grains the snow pack - symptomatic of long term cold air temperatures and a steep temp gradient in the snow pack. These grains have very low strength properties and without significant melt freeze to turn them into rounds and increase their strength they will present a significant danger to watch for in the snow pack.

Skye Munros

2009-08-15T21:17:00.003Z

Well, i think that the summit photo on the top of Sgurr Alasdair says it all! The rain has been torrential these past couple of days on the Cullins and the high winds today made us realise the futility of a ridge traverse attempt so we've bailed and will have some fun on dry rock in the Inverness area.

The story of the panorama picture of the South end of the ridge from the glen brittle campsite is revealed in the detail: have a look at the bundled up tent by the side of the bin and various other broken and sodden camping equipment in the bins as many camping holidays were abandoned this week!

Gogarth Main Wall

2009-08-02T17:58:00.003Z

A late-ish start today was made to allow low tide at 2pm to give James Thacker and I access to the left hand side of main wall. However there was quite a swell on and as i needed to make my 7pm flight at Manchester we stayed on the right hand side. A party was on the E1 Gogarth and the E2 to its right. Thanks to James T for 1. Telling me how to put inks in blogs, 2. Getting me to the airport and most importantly, 3. Taking over when i couldn't find the line through the enchanted broccoli madness!

I'm off back to the Highlands now to train hard for a Gogarth re-match in September.

Navigation and climbing on the slate

2009-08-01T09:40:00.002Z

The weather has been a little less wet and wild in the second half of the week but the animals in Llannberis pass have still been lining up two by two searching for an ark. The rivers have been extremely high and i'm told that the local rescue team had 11 calls out last week.

I have been out working on navigation skills and have been on the slate a but for the odd cheeky after work route. The filming of the Hollywood film Clash of the Titans continues in the state quarries but access into Vivian and Bus-stop seems to be fine.

I've not been using the new Lx3 lumix camera too much as i'm still treating it with kid gloves and hiding it from the weather. However, the shot of the North side of the Llanberis pass was taken with it on Thursday when the weather was better.

Sunday is my last day down here and then i'm back home to the Highlands for a month before coming back down to North wales for September.

Scrambling in the Ogwen valley

2009-07-29T17:10:00.002Z

Last night the rain was monumentally heavy. Very high winds in the valley didn't bode well for today so we wonderd what the day would bring. As it tured out the secnd weather front seemed to have caught up with the first, hence the spectacular results last night. We went round to the Ogwen valley and went up and down various scrambles including the excellent Cneifon Arete.

Who knows what the weather will do in the next rew days but it was nice today.

Wet (again) Tremadog and Great at Gogarth

2009-07-28T18:17:00.003Z

The rain was very heavy at Tremadog today so we lowered our aspirations and kept the big boots on.

Yesterday at Gogarth was very windy. A big swell was on and high tide at 2pm encouraged us to go to Holyhead mountain where we enjoyed ourselves on a host of single pitch routes.

The weather looks to continue being wet and wild for the next few days.

Wet at Tremadog, Windy at Gogarth, Wild at Idwal

2009-07-25T15:29:00.002Z

I though i better update this as i am running out of adjectives beginning with W and am having a day off so i don't need to use weary!

Iv'e been down in North Wales this last week but the weather has been similar to the Highlands, wet and windy. Ive been searching out dry rock at Tremadog and big boot climbing in the wet. We have been looking at advanced problem solving and crag rescue with scenarios such as an unconscious leader fall hanging in space on a traverse 5 pitches up and the more exciting leader triggers a landmine in a crack and must have his second come and de-activate it and then rescue them (we got a bit creative).

Gogarth has been damp but dried out well in the strong winds and gave good sport. Well done to the Scottish ream on Positron; good effort. As is the way, Gogarth has seen much better weather than Llanberris and where there has been an inch of standing water in the pass there has been sunshine on Anglesey.

Idwal has seen a few teams on the slabs, we have been using this as a venue for teaching scrambling and the efficient use of a short rope.

I've been shooting on a new camera this last week, a Panasonic LX3. The 24mm to 60mm lens is very nice and early results are promising. It is a compact that allows you full manual control of aperture and shutter in the way of an SLR and can work with filters which is a real bonus when you are shooting at altitude or in snowy conditions. it is obviously not as weather proof as the Pentax Optio range so i will have to take a bit of care with this one. I'm hoping for some good shots next week as we go on a few journeys around the Snowdonia classics and i actually read the instructions this weekend.

Long distance walking in the lake district

2009-07-12T12:16:00.003Z

I'm now back in Scotland watching the rain lash the window after returning yesterday from the lakes. We walked over several peaks and passes each day and looked at detailed navigation work as we went.

The high crags were all dry last week but the rain sweeping the country will have changed that drastically. The picture shows Pavey Ark above Langdale.

Scrambling in the lakes (and dodging the rain)

2009-07-07T13:33:00.003Z

The contrast to last weeks wall to wall sunshine is very apparent. The lakes have seen some heavy showers but thankfully none have been for more than 30min to an hour and we have had sunshine each day allowing the sunny aspect crags to dry from what i have seen.

We have been out in the hills around Buttermere and Grassmere and are moving on towards Langdale and Scarfell and then back to Buttermere at the end of the week.

Hopefully the weather will be kind.

The Cairngorms, Skye, The Cullins and West coast sea cliffs

2009-06-30T18:59:00.008Z

I'm 'between computers at the moment and so haven't been updating this blog. Ive been in a variety of places recently, the heat (and the midge) drove me to the high cairngorms where there are still decent size snow patches in the north facing corries. The biggest is on the west flank of Corrie an Lochain. The picture shows the corries of Brariach.

Other venues that i have been going to have been the sea cliffs of Reiff and Rhue just north of Ullapool. These short sandstone cliffs can provide pretty fierce challenges, quite similar in many ways to gritstone.

I've also been over to Skye where is has been in the high 20's C and climbing in the high corries has been pretty warm. I've been teaching multipitch lead climbing and have also been guiding classic routes on the magnificent 300m high face of Shron na Ciche, including as Arrow Route, Wall works route and the Cioch.

I'm going to be in the Lakes till the 10th July, but will try and post when I'm there if Internet access is available. Whether the weather will hold i can't say, it feels like we will be due a big thunder storm in the Highlands at the moment.

Dodging the raindrops

2009-06-14T21:39:00.003Z

It has been a mixed week weather wise; sunshine bright enough to hurt your eyes followed by torrential rain in some places. In other places we were chased off the cliffs by the midge!

However, one is generally onto a winner at places like Reiff and the Stone Pig cliffs. These perfect hard sandstone cliffs are 30mins north of Ullapool and have hundreds of fantastic lines from 8 to 40+m.

Pictures show me (yellow helmet) leading up a new route at the Stone Pig cliffs. Man and Buoy, 20m is just left of the E5 Clatterbridge on the concave face that gently overhangs at the top. The route was not climbed on sight unfortunatly as i had to abb down and push off a very large block to make it safe but was done ground up on the lead without any practice.

The other picture shows Martin Hind seconding with a buoy tied to his harness just to demonstrate that he is much stronger than i am!

Training for the Cullin Ridge

2009-06-09T16:20:00.004Z

Ive been working with James recently preparing him for a forth coming trip to Skye. We focused mainly on good practice in abseiling completing several single abseils then a more complicated 3 pitch abseil descent down the crag. Oh, and we also climbed several routes in the process!

'Summer' Navigation in the Cairngorms

2009-06-07T21:53:00.003Z

Plans for Summer navigation practice up on the tops were re drafted with the fresh snow we have had in the Cairngorms over the last few days. What a contrast to last week where the temperature has been in the high 20's.
Instead we switched to low and medium level altitudes and suffered hail and rain rather than sleet and snow. Thank heavens for little mercies. I'm teaching rock climbing and absailing and personal rock climbing this week hopefully we may see the sun again this week.

Skye ridge and the Cullin traverse

2009-06-01T19:53:00.004Z

More perfect weather and sunshine in the Cullins. Ive been doing the sections of ridge on different days rather than the whole thing in a push. This allows for a more relaxed approach and, perhaps more importantly the chance for a hot bath and a couple of pints each evening!

Ive heard a rumor that the weather will break mid week, I'm hoping that it is unfounded as the weather makes the Ridge one of the best places in Europe at the moment.

I'm over there again this week and will try and report back at the week end.

NW Scrambling

2009-05-22T19:37:00.002Z

The weather has been quite variable this week in the North West. We have had sunshine and snow on the the tops, sometimes within the same hour. There are very very few small snow patches up high now as heavy rain has mostly washed them away.

The forecast looks to improve for the next few days. I'm out again in the NW on Sunday onwards.

Pictures are from scrambling on Slioch, where we took a more interesting way to the top of this munro.

Skye ridge Munros

2009-05-18T10:07:00.002Z

The weather at the weekend was much better than forecast. It stayed reasonably dry on the whole and the wind, though strong, was not too bad.

We visited many of the Munros and tops on the southern end including the Inaccessible Pinnacle which we had to our selves on Saturday (amazingly!).

I'm out again midweek, i'll report back towards the end of the week hopefully. The forecast could go either way as it is very difficult to say exactly where the low pressure system will track as it moves across.

Cullin Ridge Traverse (Skye)

2009-05-14T13:55:00.005Z

The weather has been getting better and better since the weekend. I havejust done my second successful traverse of the season and the weather looks like it may hold till the weekend. I'm out again on Skye at the weekend so I'll report back next week.

The air has been incredibly clear giving fantastic views over to the Cairngorms and Ben Nevis (which looks like there might still be some easier winter/alpine style climbing to be had on it as it was a big white blob on the horizon).

Anyhow, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves; who needs the expense of the Alps when you can go to Skye?!