Intro To Mountaineering

Jagged Globe

This will be a long weekend (3 day course) working for Jagged Globe. I'm the Course Director, so I get to drive the Van.

Last night I met Rick, Kevin and Rob at the hotel and found out what they wanted from the course.

Today to learn all the basics we headed up to Aonach Mor and the Nid Area. They especially loved the sliding and rolling about learning to Self arrest. Eventually after a little steep snow we moved onto learning some ropework for Mountaineering.

Our journey down had to include the normal 200m slide - a normal awesome day out.

We're all ready now for a big day out on Sunday...

Heavy Rain And Strong Wind

Adventure Peaks

The last day of the course. Today I was with Ian, Barry and Hanne. We wanted to make best use of the day, but the forecast said that there would be an inch of rain falling in a few hours, accompanied by gusting winds of 50-70mph. We decided to take in another summit and practice our navigation up to the top of Aonach Mor.

The weather definitely started to become a little wild ! We were all on our second pair of gloves by the time we got to the summit plateau, and started to combine pacing as well as timings. The photo shows Barry and Hanne getting the Bearing and pacing right with Ian. The next photo shows Barry following the bearing into the mist, carefully avoiding walking off any cornice onto the East or West Face.

We eventually made our way back down to the descent to our start - we even managed to find a snow slide to help us lose 200m of altitude in about 1 minute - an essential part of any day.

An excellent course, and well done to everybody. The Scottish weather was about the worst it's been for all of 2009 - time now to rest and dry those boots out...

Everything is melting fast. The temperature was very high today, even on the summit plateau where the ice was fast melting. There were rivers running through the ice. Let's hope that something survives for the MIC assessments in the next 2 weeks.

We Wanted To Go Up Bidean Nam Bian

Adventure Peaks

Today I was with Ian Oldham, Barry, Hanne and Peter. Day 4 of the Winter skills course. We wanted to go up Bidean really, but we had to consider the weather - which was forecasting strong (50mph) winds, heavy rain for most of the day and wet snow instabilities, with additional wet slab deposited overnight (cat 3). We decided to keep out of gullies and with tired legs we kept off Bidean and planned a Stob Coire nan Lochan circuit taking in the Zig Zags en route..

We all enjoyed the Zig Zags (a spot of wet rock climbing) and moved on to the ridge. The first photo shows Barry enjoying one of the first rocky climbing sections. In the later section of the ridge we moved into crampon action and kept to the hardest line on the rocky ridge. The secoond photo shows Peter enjoying exposure, with Hanne and Ian close behind (Barry had disappeared off ahead somewhere).

We looked at navigation at the top.

Ken you were missed today..

Well done guys today.

We saw lots of teams out. I saw Sam Leary leading Dorsal Arete topping out. Several teams led NC gully. Nobody went into SC gully. All the buttresses looked loose and about to fall apart.

70mph

Ken and Barry were joined by Peter, myself and Ian today. The forecast wasn't good - winds of 50mph possibly gusting to 70mph on high tops and ridges, snow, sleet or rain showers etc - a normal Scottish day.

So with this in mind we planned a lower level winter day up Buachaille Etive Beag, to the col and across the ridge to Stob Dubh. The first photo shows Barry, Peter and Ken with Stob Dubh in the background with the ridge leading up to it.

The wind was initially gusting 50mph, but when we got half way along the ridge it picked up to 70mph and so we had to learn about making mountaineering decisions. We learnt that sometimes you need to turn back to stay safe, rather than risking it all and getting into an epic. Excellent effort from the whole team - well done in difficult conditions.

Hopefully the wind will ease tomorrow...

Stay safe everybody in these difficult conditions, sometimes it's best to turn around, and it'll always be there another day...

There has been some slab building up on the hard icy crust on some aspects - so take care as it builds up.

Ben Action

There has been a lot of action on the Ben recently. Number 2 Gully avalanched twice yesterday. The first of these hit a team. They all eventually ended up in hospital as walking wounded but the last of the 3 should be discharged tomorrow. Thank you to the Mountain rescue teams involved and the helicopter teams - another excellent job. Thank you.

Ken Barry and I headed for the Ben ourselves for a mini adventure. We found that all the teams on the international climbing meet were already there. Many had left Glenmore at about 5am to get to the ice first, and so were off the ice before lunch !

We got onto Number 4 Gully and got to the Summit - first time for Ken and Barry - well done.

Teams were climbing 4, 3, 2, Glovers, Green, South, Central Right hand, Good Friday, Indicator wall, Smiths, Observatory - in fact to be honest, you name it and there were teams queueing up for it !

On the way down the Red Burn we found the now infamous tobogan run - a 300-400 metre tobogan snow slide honestly better than a theme park... The only trick is to get off at the right time before getting swallowed up by the stream down the hole !

More Winter Skills tomorrow !

Winter Skills - Find The Snow

Today I was working for Adventure Peaks starting a 5 day Winter Skills course.

On the course are Ken and Barry. This was Barry's first day with crampons.

We went to Aonach Mor around the Nid area. We did all the normal skills for day 1, use of the boot, uses for the axe, self arresting - sliding, rolling down the slopes. Use of crampons. The photo shows us on a rare commodity - an ice line at an altitude of only 750m - melting fast !

At one point it felt like we had the entire mountain to our selves, then we met groups from PYB, and lots from Jagged Globe, - Okay we'll share the mountain.

We had poor visibility for most of the day, so perfect for practising navigation.

The guys had a great day and are all prepped for using these new skills in the days to come.

Big Day Out

Day 2 of the course. The course was 9 people strong keen for a day out to test their skills, so we planned to do the Stob Coire nan Lochan horseshoe. We carried out a clockwise accent. We found the snow to be a little firmer than yesterday after the cooler NW winds. All day the wind only reached a maximum of a 55mph gust, so better than yesterday. After a bit of initial rain, it turned to snow later. The cloud even rose through the day so later from the summit we managed to see the hotel in Onich.

We enjoyed lots of rocky scrambling on the initial ridge. The second photo shows a section of the scrambling.

At the summit we even had time to chill with a second lunch break - awesome.

On the way down we were checking the climbing conditions and found SC gully to be firm snow at the top but blank rocky sections for the grade 3 sections. NC gully was looking healthy though, good firm snow, well stepped out for most of the way.

Well done guys on a great weekend - back to work for some tomorrow though :(

Welcome to Scottish Winter !

Time for some Winter Skills with Adventure Peaks.

Working for Adventure Peaks, the course this weekend is a two day Intro to Winter Skills course, for people new to the delights of Scottish winter rain and wind. There are 11 people on the course and I'm running it with Nick Jones from Keswick.

The weather today was a bit rough, persistent rain all day, being driven by a consistent 50pmh W wind.

My landlord happens to be the Manager of the Gondola office, and he said that the Aonach Mor Gondola was planning to open in the morning but may have to close by mid-afternoon, so we decided to go for it for quick access to snow, and HOPEFULLY a gondola down.

We got the full force of the 50mph wind and sought sanctuary around the Nid for the sessions on self arrest. The group loved the crampons, loved sliding about, loved the wind (yes - Cassandra actually loved the wind) - and I loved getting fully wet !

Scottish rain - gets everywhere...

On the up side they all loved it, and we got the Gondola down, on the down side the course is down to 9 people tomorrow. We'll find somewhere to fully test the new skills..

Tunnel Vision

Working for Adventure Peaks, this is the second and last day of the course. Alan and Jelly signed on for an Improvers Snow and Rock course - today with a poor forecast we'll look for some ice..

We head for Aonach Mor East Face. Jel really likes abseiling, so loved the snow bollard ab over the large cornice into Easy Gully. We head round and settle for Tunnel Vision (III*). Pitch 2 gets them onto the ice they've been waiting for. The first photo shows Jelly already at the second belay with Alan still enjoying the ice. The second photo shows them both leaving the second belay on the way to the top.

The snow is just firm enough, and the ice is very good, and the turf is frozen. The axes and crampons feel very secure in the almost plastic ice, and there is still enough depth of ice for 22cm screws in many places. There was no shattering in this 'warm' ice, just a secure plastic toffee.

Above Tunnel Vision there was no cornice trouble, but there were very large overhanging cornices over many routes, forcing people to abseil retreat.

The second photo shows a team finishing Forgotten Twin. Luckily they managed to find a pre-cut notch in the large overhanging cornice to enable their escape. Top advice for all climbers at Aonach Mor East Face is to check your exit before commiting to the climb and carry a shovel.

Nobody climbed Right Twin, due to the cornice, but teams were climbing Left Twin - including Kenny working for Adventure Peaks.

Thank you Alan and Jel for a terrfic weekend - have a safe journey through the night back to Ireland...

Happy Valentine's Day - Boomerang Arete

Today working for Adventure Peaks I met Alan and Majella (Jelly). They'd booked onto an Improvers Snow and Ice climbing weekend, so we were on the search for some III+ climbing. The only problem was the weather and the state of the snow. The wind was SW gusting 50mph on ridges, 3 degrees at 900m, drizzle and poor vis, and the snow/ice having a mild thaw - not ace.

We settled on Boomerang Arete (210m III*) in Stob Coire Nan Lochan. The only thing to be careful of was loose rocks typical on this route in a thaw. I'd grade the hard bits at III+, but can be protected. I even managed an ice screw placement, on an arete ! I'll definitely be doing it again. The first photo shows Jelly approaching the semi hanging belay, and the second shows the final airy arete.

At the summit, for a second we even managed to see the car !

On the way out I walked around the entire coire, to check the routes.

Today nobody climbed NC gully, at least one party climbed SC gully - it looked thin but safe (third photo). Nobody on Twisting Gully (fourth photo). Lots of people on Dorsal Arete and a team in Boomerang Gully.

Coaching Technique

At the end of the week most of the group decide to head for the Ice Factor for some coaching on steep ice climbing, footwork, crevasse rescue and a little dry tooling.

The course draws to a close and all are happy with their progress through the week.

The weather continues to be warm, wet and windy. Freezing levels are shooting through the roof at the moment, how long will this mini thaw last - lets hope the ice survives...

Beinn Udlaidh - As It Melts

Working for Jagged Globe, the minibus with 5 climbing teams drove to Beinn Udlaidh - hoping to find plenty of ice climbing. The cliff is low lying and so doesn't come into condition every year. Apparently it has been just about in condition this week, so it was time to go and give it a go.

This first photo is the view from the car park. I've got some friends that would like to go canoeing here - breaking through the ice.. At the end of the day, the snow had melted off all the trees - no more ice on the water, changing fast.

I was with Alan and Andy again, and we were looking for a progression from yesterday when we did steep grade 1 snow, cornices, abseiling, ropework and belaying.


It was time to bring on the ice - but in moderation, so we went for Central Gully. We had warm air coming from the SW today, and everything was quickly melting. We did use ice thread belays, and screw belays, but everything was falling off around us. It was everything the guys wanted. Steep enough, and good preparation for the mixed grade III tomorrow.

Climbing Through A Tricky Cornice

Today working for Jagged Globe, I was with Alan and Andy. Today is the third day of their Mountaineering course. Today and for the rest of the week they will be in a 1:2 ratio with me.

Time to go climb.

We started today on Grade 1 ground by going down Easy Gully on Aonach Mor. We immediately got stuck in to rock belays, snow belays, rope work and techniques for climbing loose steep snow (a bit like swimming). Multi pitch climbing finished with a vertical face of steep loose snow to top out. They wondered why I was shovelling down tonnes of snow, but they immediately discovered the issues when it was their turn. We then abseiled into Morwind and did the top 2 pitches to experience grade2/3 ground.
They are definitely now ready for tomorrow.

(I accidentally deleted all photos from camera - oops - obviously they were awesome, and the best ever).

At the top of Aonach Mor I met Simon, who has done some freelance at Kilvrough Manor in South Wales.

Point Five Gully

Matthew Leggett drove up for the day, and today happened to have fantastic weather with very slight winds, low temperatures and fantastic visibilty. We had to do something good . . So we settled on 'Point Five Gully' V,5 ****.

An early start took us to the drive to the North Face car park - we never made it. The track was fully iced up so we left the car part way. We saw dawn on the way in, but still we weren't early enough - the first photo shows a team already on the first pitch - gutted, but on the up side they had left a track for us to follow - silver lining..

The second photo shows the first pitch, with the first party moving on to the second pitch. For some reason there was an abolokov 5m from the start.

The next photo shows a climber on Hadrian's Wall Direct. The ice looks good at the moment.

The next photo is looking down pitch 2 of Point 5, the chimney pitch. There are 2 fixed belays at the end of this pitch - I advise you take the upper, next to 'Rogue'.

The last photo shows Matt leading off on 'The Rogue Pitch'. At the end of his good performance on this pitch, he ruined it all by getting his tongue completely stuck on his axe - a story he'll be telling his wife Sam later tonight..

A great day on the Ben - a terrific climb. The ice on the route was 'fat' and of generally very good quality, sometimes brittle, but often squeaky. On the upper section, after 'Rogue' there was a lot of loose snow but a track through it has now been made.

We also saw teams on Hadrian's Wall Direct, Tower Ridge, Glover's and Green.

Gearr Aonach Skills

Today was the last day of the Jagged Globe Montaineering course. Unfortunately Phils' knee was too sore to join us. Andy decided that he would like a day to learn skills, gear placements, belays, ropework, moving together, leading and abseiling - I thought let's see what we can do - phew. So we headed for Gearr Aonach and the Zig Zags. We found a lot of snow and perfect conditions for learning. Eventually after Clove this and Italian that, we made an ab retreat and back to the hotel to find Phil. On the way out we found our footprints covered by even more fresh snow. Maybe skiing for the next week is the way forward.

Aonach Mor - West Face, Ice And Rock

Phil was back in action again after resting his knee. Teaming up with his friend Andy we headed for the West Face of Aonach Mor. We were heading for 'Golden Oldie' but we got seduced early by some ice Phil spotted. I was suddenly glad that I'd brought my 2 quarks and 4 screws as I found myself leading up 100m ice. Phil and Andy enjoyed the 2 screw belays, but not the freezing water spout that I liberated from under the ice with a tool placement. After the 2 great ice pitches we found lots of technical rock. We practiced our torquing, and found rock slabs, corners, walls and cracks.

But... Phil has trouble with his knee again, and the walk to the Gondola proved really hard through deep snow. Well done guys on an awesome day. Will Phil be able to come out to play on the last day of the course...

Curved Ridge

Today the 3 mountaineering climbing teams from Jagged Globe decided to head for Buachaille Etive Mor and Curved Ridge. The snow started to fall in Fort William early this morning, and showed no sign of stopping - so we hoped the fresh powder wasn't too deep on the ridge and the upper 2 snow slopes. We'd take a look. We found deepening fresh powder, but no windslab. Optimistically we went for it. The photo shows Andy enjoying the ridge.

After enjoying the summit in light winds, but poor vis we found the Coire na Tulaich descent slopes safe - great, at last. Memories of what happened on these slopes 2 Saturdays ago are still fresh. An awesome day.

Learning Skills In Difficult Conditions

Today we were forecast cold Easterly 50-70mph winds, blizzard conditions and snow, so we changed our days' plans and headed for Coire nan Lochan. We found the wind too ferocious in Broad Gully for teaching, so we topped out and moved around the Coire rim, luckily we were roped up because in the white out blizzard, Anne almost became a human kite. We abseiled back into the Coire.

Hopefully the winds tomorrow will reduce to help us get climbing..

Learning Skills on Aonach Mor

This week I'm working for Jagged Globe on a mountaineering course. Today we took the group to Aonach Mor for Day 1, to develop the skills we'll need for the rest of the week. At the top the group were working in 40mph ice blasting winds, learning how to do ropework, wearing goggles and gloves etc. Well done for keeping focused in difficult conditions on day 1.

Tomorrow we're forecast Easterly winds 45 - 70mph, so that makes today's wind good practice ...

NC Gully - Adventure Peaks Meets Jagged Globe

Again with Radim and James, working for Adventure Peaks, we head into Stob Coire nan Lochan. The intention is to build on the teaching from yesterday when they were learinng to lead. NC gully is a great II** route but already lots of the classic lines have people on. James sets off leading the first pitch and belays shown in the first photo. Radim is super keen to lead the next. James gets the steep central section and pulls it out of the bag. The gully gets busy, Rob Wills (also Adventure Peaks) has his team there and Adele Pennington (Jagged Globe) has her team. Wow, it seems to be the most sociable place on the West coast.

At the top James describes the climb as 'epic'. Well done everybody, unfortunately most people have to drive home, just as the snow and weather improve.

Tomorrow I'll be off to Jagged Globe.