February 2nd - Cruach Ardrain

Managed to persuade my house-mate Ali out on to the hill for a ridge-walk up Cruach Ardrain from Crianlarich in stunning weather and a little fresh snow.

Loch Quoich

James and I paid a visit to Loch Quoich today for a spot of ridge-walking on Gleouraich in pretty wild weather. For once we agreed that the weather forecast was probably right in its prediction of 70mph gusts and at times both of us were nearly knocked from our feet. A good day on the hill nevertheless - snow nice and firm mostly and turf surprisingly solid from quite low down.

Ben day & Ordinary Route

No pics again as I forgot my camera - probably for the best though as I got a proper soaking on both days!

On Saturday I went out on Ben Nevis with Guy who was guiding Stephen for the day. The weather was pretty wild, but Stephen was keen to make the summit and we eventually did - stopping for a brief lunch in the shelter there. Quite a mild day with lots of slushy snow around, freezing level only a couple of hundred metres below the top.

Sunday saw myself and Jamie B heading up into Coire nan Lochan to have a look and see what was in. Jamie was keen on climbing Moonshadow (IV,5) but there were a couple of other teams in the area (including Al and his client for the day) and a lot of spindrift coming down Twisting Gully so he decided that Ordinary Route on Central Buttress (III/IV, 4) would be a better option.

This was my first time on a mixed route of this grade, so Jamie lead the whole route. I was quite glad of the rope above me at times, but really enjoyed the climbing. There's a lot more to think about than with ice routes in terms of variety of techniques you can call on and I'm already keen to go again and learn some more!

Heading out for a couple of walking days tomorrow and Thursday and then hopefully climbing again on Friday before work - and this time I will take my camera!

Skiing at White Corries

Daniel and I headed over to White Corries today for a spot of skiing. The snow wasn't bad, a little icy and scoured in places. Flat light conditions made it tricky to see what the run ahead held, which made for a few interesting moments... I remembered the best thing about skiing in Scotland though - mid-week there are no queues :-)

Number 6 Gully & The Posse

Today Pete and I went to play on some ice routes on the north side of Stob Coire Leith. We climbed a route called The Posse, which is a broad, slabby ice route for most of its 150m length, with a great crux pitch at the top to finish which Pete is pictured leading above. Pete lead the harder stuff - it being only my second outing on 'proper' ice routes - and I lead a pitch of ice at about II where the angle eased. Good to have some practice placing screws on easy terrain. For more photo's and Pete's account of the day see his blog.

On Friday I went up No. 6 Gully on Aonach Dubh with Alan and Gillian. Gillian is preparing for her MIC assessment and she and Al swung leads whilst I took photo's. There were two other teams on the route just ahead of us, and we spotted more people on their way up as we were coming down via the rake. A lovely route, great ice, fantastic weather and good company... There are worse ways to spend a day! Photo's and video on Al's Blog.

Belated Pics

Some belated photo's from Forcan Ridge on December 23rd. Amazingly, my lost camera was found a week later, encrusted in ice and still in perfect working order! Thanks to UKCer Jalapeno for returning it to me in person a couple of days ago, made my day. I must have used up my good karma quotient for a while though, so best be a little more careful with my belongings...

Beautiful - but tiring - powder days in the north west

I've just come back from 3 great days on the hill in all the snow that fell just before Christmas. The north-west of Scotland is looking like a winter wonderland at the moment - lots of trees heavily-laden with snow and bent to the ground, hills smooth with a winter blanket, roads... interesting! No photo's unfortunately as I dropped my camera somewhere on the first day :( If anyone is on the Saddle and comes across it, I'd quite like to try and retrieve the pictures!

Having arranged on UKC to meet Steve for a few days of walks/ easy climbs over Christmas, I drove north to Glen Shiel on the morning of the 23rd and myself, Steve and Lorenzo set out through soft powder to get to the start of the lovely mountaineering line that is Forcan Ridge. Fortunately for us, we had had a somewhat later start than planned as Steve's car had been stuck in the snow - this meant that someone ahead of us had forged a line of footsteps up the path as far as the start of the ridge proper, easing our workload somewhat! We were hoping that the wind may have taken some of the powder from the ridge, but this turned out not to be the case so much digging was needed to find holds. This was Steve's first winter route, so we roped up and moved together when the ridge narrowed, which I think we all appreciated. The downside to the late start was that we were running short on daylight by the time we got onto Sgurr nan Forcan, so descended via a gully on the left before the usual abseil to continue onto the Saddle itself. A bit of sliding later and we were traversing back round to re-join our trail from the morning. The moon, although only a crescent, was so bright we could see our shadows in the snow and didn't need headtorches to walk off at all. A perfect end to a great day on the hill!

Basing ourselves at Gerry's Hostel in Craig (near Achnashellach on the Kyle - Inverness road), Steve and I opted for a walk the following day. Setting off from Achnashellach station under eggshell blue skies, we headed up the track towards Beinn Liath Mhor - not that we could see the path, another day of powder-bashing was ahead of us! The sun shone all day, and there was very little wind which made it feel much warmer than the -5 the thermometer was reading. Following a tiring walk up to around 600m and some doubt about snow stability on the side of the hill, we opted not to go to the top. It was one of those days where the top doesn't matter so much as being out on the hill is so enjoyable by itself. Looking at the stunning views of snow-cloaked pristine landscapes in the fading afternoon light, we headed back to the hostel.

On Christmas Day, I was very keen to get to the top of something big-ish and after some debate we decided that Ben Wyvis might be a good option as there may be some tracks up it already. There were, up to around 400m, where people had been out skiing on the lower slopes. Once again, we were treated to blue skies and sunshine and we had a stunning panorama of Scotland in winter raiment from the top. Heading back to the hostel once more after my whitest Christmas to date, we finished the day with mince pies and a wee dram (or two) or Glenrothes. Mention should be made of Gerry's Hostel here - a 'proper' hostel, with lots of character (and a real character of an owner too!), a log fire, random furniture and a great atmosphere - highly recommended.

Now back to reality and some busy times for both the Ice Factor and the Clachaig over Hogmanay!