Friday 19 March 2010

Pottering around






Just finished four days walking around Glencoe and Glen Etive working for a film production company who required some stills shots for movie backdrops. Weather generally good, very spring like, the snow having diminished a lot recently (more forecast in the long term though). Lower level ice routes for example those on the west face of Aonach Dubh are falling apart, in fact The Screen which is visible in one of the pictures fell down completely the next day. Not quite time to dig out rock shoes as there's more winter coming!

Thursday 11 March 2010

Cairngorm ski touring





Recently I was asked by Dougie, a rescue team colleague, if I was interested in a ski trip from Cairngorm to Ben Nevis. Why not I thought?
We had a go over the last two days but changed our itinerary to a circular route instead. The snow is very icy and highly featured making downhill hard going especially with big packs.
As a result I'm feeling quite tired. I am aware that I need to get much ski-fitter, because although we travelled around 50km carrying 20kg bags the whole trip weighs in at around 160km. So, we'll try again, hopefully soon if some friendlier skiing conditions come down and the lower sections get a bit more cover. Can't complain though - we really enjoyed ourselves.

The corrie bowls of the northern Cairngorms are still holding vasts amounts of snow with evidence of monster avalanches from the west facing slopes above the Lairig Ghru. Generally snow conditions are pretty stable, although with warmer temperatures around things are loosening up. Cornices are looking pretty droopy and as we passed the Devils Point last night a rock fall came down on the path behind us.

Saturday 6 March 2010

Up the Ben with the Greenockians









Slim Jim and Big John are old mates from ages ago and along with new apprentice mountaineer Chris came up for a visit. Jim and Chris were raising money for the Prostate Cancer Charity their plan being to make a winter ascent of Ben nevis via Coire Leis. I tagged along, as did Kat who had to turn round at the CIC hut in order to go to work.
As usual there was a lot of giggling, falling over and fart jokes as well as the inauguration of the new sport of belly-sliding.

On the way we came across what looked like an old rivetted (pre-welding) boiler, possibly from the old observatory. It was buried in snow near the stream about 300m up from the hut. In all the years I've never noticed it before.

Snow conditions were pretty reasonable, Coire Leis being fairly scoured. A very busy day on the north face with teams out on many of the classics. North East Buttress had people turning round to go elsewhere it was so busy. A couple of guys had a look at the ice routes on the Little Brenva Face but decided they were falling apart, which certainly sounded like the case when we went past.
We heard of some traffic down Number Four Gully, but equally heard from one team who climbed Comb Gully that the approach slopes were suspect and had decided to descend via Coire Leis rather than Coire na Ciste.
After summiting we descended the way we had come, down the Allt a Mhuilinn to Fort William for light refreshments, which was nice.

Friday 5 March 2010

Zig Zag Directissima





After yesterday the guys are pretty tired (I'm not surprised) so opting for a shorter day we went to the nose of Gearr Aonach. Hanne had been before so we took a direct version of the Zig Zags, starting further round to the west to make things a little different.
The snow in Glencoe has been stripped back a great deal and is very wet and heavy, our crampons choking up despite anti-ball plates. There is still some ice left in the corner grooves but this is melting fast. Sounds of thawing ticked and skittered all around us and in places with bare heather and rock around it felt like a wet cold summer day. Despite this we had fun and got though our program of navigation and rope work including simple short pitches and retreat tactics (an essential mountaineering skill).

These conditions are in the long run really good news as with a subsequent freeze the snow pack will become much more stable. In the short term there is a risk of wet slab avalanches, cornice collapse and falling ice.

Thursday 4 March 2010

East Spur of Carn Dearg Meadhonach

I can't believe I forgot my camera today! Glorious weather and sensational views too. Oh well.

This route faces east and so was a candidate for a safe mountaineering day out at around Scottish grade I/II for Hanne, Rob and Steve. The only problem was going to be getting there as it's a long way up the Allt Daim between the Carn Deargs and Aonach Mor. Access is usually from the gondola station then dropping down into the valley from the west. Later I did see some tracks coming in from that direction but there was no way it was on our itinerary, as those west facing slopes are loaded with snow and there is evidence of avalanche activity.

We journeyed in from the north face car park at Torlundy, following the well broken trail which we left once past the forestry. Then cutting across to the west, taking turns at snowplough duty through knee deep snow, skirting the nose of Carn Beag Dearg and peering round the corner at the east facing slopes before us. We decided that we could hop between the abundant islands of safety to reach our route. Lots of rock and exposed ground are in evidence as well as hard scoured snow fields, however we still had to dog-leg around large patches of somewhat unstable slab cross loaded onto the slope.
The spur itself is straight forward, with moderate exposure and very enjoyable. We arrived on to the plateau just as some cloud came in and we lost visibility. Navigating off to the north we could feel the rise in temperature and where the snow on the way up had been dry and fluffy was now saturated with moisture in the same places.
Well done to the guys for today, which in these conditions was quite hard work.

Wednesday 3 March 2010

Allt a Mhuillinn Expressway





It's Wednesday and I joined day three of a five day Winter Mountaineering course with Adventure Peaks relieving their Instructor who was committed elsewhere.
Hanne, Rob, Steve and I travelled up the Allt a Mhuillinn to the north face of Ben Nevis on a brilliant entrenched path through what would otherwise be very soft, deep snow.
Finding venues for basic mountaineering days is tricky at the moment due to the avalanche risk and the huge volume of snow making travel to some areas almost impossible. Max tried to get into Curved Ridge in Glencoe yesterday and found metre deep snow making it unfeasible.
So, we found plenty of safe broken ground to operate on above the CIC hut.
Teams were on North East Buttress, Tower Ridge , Orion Direct and Green Gully amongst others. The approach to the Orion Face routes and Point Five are reported as scoured and so safe to reach. High in the Ciste however looked heavy with loose snow from a distance.

Monday 1 March 2010

The Steall ice festival





Blue skies and stable weather are back for a few days so I went up to Steall above Glen Nevis to look for bits of ice to play on, other than Steall Falls which contained 26 climbers when I visited.
Not surprising this, as the snow pack conditions are still very unstable and people are wisely choosing low level options. The weak layer formed of buried hoar frost crystals will mostly remain present as a bit of a ticking time bomb until the snow warms through or gets saturated and refrozen.
I decided to give the melee a miss and go for a nice walk instead. I did find some nice ice though, but I'm not saying where. Certainly people have been there already.

Evidence of avalanche activity is visible on the slopes above Coire Eoghainn of Ben Nevis, as well as lots of point release debris lower down in the valley. This being cause by snow and ice falling off warming rocks and initiating an accumulating slide down the slope.

In Glencoe the slopes above the west face of Aonach Dubh have avalanched and left a very long crown wall visible from the road.

Have a look at Alex Roddie's picture:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4344923&l=b799384d81&id=285400308
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4344924&l=7815fc22a3&id=285400308