Given a cold and sunny day again today, Ali, Chris and I escaped from centre for a few hours to head to Onich Slabs for some staff training. This gave me a chance to get familiar with the set-up for this crag and Ali and Chris took the opportunity to rig top-ropes and releasable abseils which they have been practising indoors recently.
Less powder and colder, so a trip to Beinn Udlaidh. Jamie and I climbed South Gully of the Black Rocks (IV) and Green Eyes (IV,4). The ice was good, if a little brittle and there were lots of other teams out enjoying the conditions too.
Despite a good 6 inches of fresh snow in Kinlochleven, Jamie and I managed to make it out of the village and over Rannoch Moor, where there was less powder (although I did almost persuade him that skiing would be a good option!). We went to climb Salamander Gully (III) on Beinn an Dotaidh. There is only really one main pitch on this route with easier going either side. The ice was cruddy on the steep section which made it trickier than it might have been. A good day nonetheless and the cloud opened as we descended to give some stunning lighting and views.
Went up to Aonach Mor with Alex to find near white-out conditions on top and lots of fresh snow. Abseiled down Easy Gully to check out what things looked like on the climbs, but found the slope under the crag to be pretty unstable. We decided to cut our losses and climb back up, then spent the afternoon pottering and playing with map & compass.
Another cracking ridge-walking day - James and I followed the good forecast by going south a little to Ben Cruachan. We walked the horseshoe on nice névé with the weather sometimes making us wonder if it was really February still! Although we didn't rush the day, we got back in the same time as my guidebook suggests for summer, which we were rather chuffed with.
A fantastic day in Coire nan Lochan, Glencoe with sunshine and lovely névé. Gillian and I climbed Twisting Gully (III, 4) which is a classic line. We made an early start and had descended Broad Gully by lunchtime. We considered jumping on another route, but I had to be back in work for the evening and the coire was quite busy so we had to call it a day.
