Ben Udlaidh

Very cold on the drive down to Bridge of Orchy, the car registering -15c! A few other teams were already there, some having slept in their vehicles (chilly)!
We did Quartzvein Scoop IV, 4 which near the top of the first pitch had water pouring off the cascade. Still, good for axes.
Next up was South Gully of the Black Wall IV,4. Similar to the other routes all was cold and brittle for most of the first pitch followed by wet from there on. Al got a real soaking, but I'm sure it was worth it as the second half gave some fantastic steep ice.
The walk in is well tracked, the slopes not too loaded at this stage and route exits firm enough.

Pictures courtesy of Al H.

Ski touring Beinn a Chruiliste

Kat and I went touring in Glencoe for a quick easy half day. The hills looked well covered but proved to be fairly unconsolidated up to around 750m were there is a base of old snow. A strong south easterly was shifting snow around onto northerly aspects and as we expected there were pockets of shallow slab in sheltered areas.

Quickie on Green Gully

Al and I went for a blast on to the Ben today, hard snow into Coire na Ciste, old avalanche debris in evidence around many of the major gully exits.
We went for a quiet Green Gully IV,3 which had good ice and firm snow so we decided on a 1 runner per pitch policy and really went for it. What fun. Car to car in just over 4.5 hours

Ballachulish Horseshoe

Brian, Dave, Nigel and I started nice and late, left a frosty valley below and went for a round of Beinn a Bheithir. Temperatures were well below freezing in Ballachulish but rose markedly at around 500m, the inversion line of frost clearly visible on the ground below us.
The hills are well scoured of snow at the moment and that which remains is rock hard.
A very pleasant four hours saw us at Gleann a Chaolais just in time for Nigel and myself to get a rescue callout for Stob Coire nan Lochan. Luckily there was no real nasty business and all went well.

North Gully, Ben Nevis

Brian and I went for a look on the Ben and decided to go for North Gully, a nice straight forward grade II in Coire na Ciste.
The freezing level was pretty high, ice and snow dripping all the way to the top, so it was a dig fest rather than climbing, but good nonetheless.

West Chimney

Al and I started off for Coire nam Beith at dark o' clock today, Al being psyched for West Chimney and adventure.
The route was under light unconsolidated snow and going at solid V,6. What an absolute cracker!
The short subterranean section wasn't too tight, although we did have to remove our sacs and pull them up. All the pitches yielded interesting climbing and combined with friendly weather gave for a memorable day out.
A stellar performance from Al who laboured under a chest infection and a sprained ankle!

Pictures courtesy of Al H.

Espana

Six days in Spain on warm dry rock. Bliss. This was good medicine indeed.
Teamed up with Al, Brian, Gill and Sally, rented a luxurious villa in Calpe for a very reasonable price and did a bunch of climbing. Bolts, trad, sea cliffs and the Bernia Ridge. Awesome.

Rope Access Canada

Hopefully finished the last Rope Access work of the year and can spend a bit more time at home.
These pictures were taken in the North Atlantic near the Grand Banks, around 150Km east from Nova Scotia.
Sometimes life offshore can be quite bleak and isolated but occasionally, when the light is good, very beautiful.

Early Pygmy Ridge

Al and I had been planning to go rock climbing over in Ardnamurchan today but on seeing snow and riming on the cairngorm webcam decided to go for a look at Pygmy Ridge IV,5.
Walking in there was plenty of snow. On the crag snow on ledges and even ice in cracks. Definitely winter condition and given there is no turf to destroy if unfrozen and moving carefully, we climbed it. The last time I did it, it was buried under snow, so this was a nice change.

Around 15 - 20m up the route steps left before going back right and at about this point there is a large detached flake that moves when pulled on. To avoid it is tricky. I now believe it's been like this for some time, probably keyed in , but one day it'll unlock. Go carefully.