Coire an t-Sneachda In The Wind

Matt walking into Coire an t-Sneachda, with lots of people passing us the other way, on their way out.

Matt in Coire an t-Sneachda today (New Year's Eve) from Max Hunter on Vimeo.

Matt drove up from Oxford yesterday for 2 days of climbing, so the pressure was on to get out and get it! The forecast looked like a better day was to be had over east, although it would be windy, wet and wild everywhere. We took a gamble and headed east, driving past a very hidden and wet Ben Nevis. The windscreen wipers were on fast by 7am, and were were driving through flooded roads where other cars were turning back. The further east we got the less it rained. When we got into the coire, the rock was running with water, so we opted for The Haston Line (IV,4) which had good neve and good ice. Even the crux had good ice. As I started on pitch 2, there was a shift in the wind direction, and suddenly the wet ropes and gear froze solid. The turf on pitch 2 was frozen solid, and the neve the best I've seen it this winter. We got to where the route crosses Yukon Jack (IV,5) and finished up that. Matt led it well, and managed to find a good sheltered belay at the top. A great day, and only a little suffering - ace.

We saw 2 other teams on the Mess of Pottage, and I think they climbed Jacob's Edge.

Matt starts up Haston Line (IV,4)

Matt waving a wet, cold hand

Matt running up pitch 2

Matt enjoying the new DMM Apex axes

Matt disappearing up the top section of Yukon Jack

Nav Assessment

Stob Dearg - Buachaille Etive Mor

Today was the last navigation assessment day for the first year students at the University in Fort William - WHC, UHI. I was with Ellen and Freya. The weather was cold and clear, and the views away from the low lying fog in Fort William were brilliant. It took a long while to de-ice the van this morning, and everything I saw during the day looked frozen!! I've not seen as much roadside ice in Scotland as this since 2010.

Ellen and Freya busy with their navigation, with Stob Coire Raineach behind

All the views were breathtaking

Congratulations to Ellen and Freya for passing their assessment today.

Blackwater Reservoir

Ben Nevis in the centre - hopefully there were some people on it today to take advantage of the conditions

Berghaus Gear Testing At GL

On Wednesday I met up with the Berghaus team at GL who were here to test the new winter season gear. They were split into 4 teams, led by Nathan, Kevin, Sandy and myself. I was with Phil, Joss, Jo, Kirsty, Jordan, Ben and Danny. They had come from Berghaus Outlets all over the UK, as well as Head Office. We got ourselves kitted up from head to foot in Berghaus finery and went out to hit the snow.

Phil walking through the white

The cloud level was below 600m and so we instantly had poor visibility when we left the Cairngorm Mountain top car park. This was the first day walking in Scotland for some, and the first adventure walking in snow for others.

Nathans team

The going was hard. I found myself trail breaking all day. The snow had a thin crust on the surface, and when my foot broke through, I would often sink up to my knee. We headed for the twin burns at the back of Coire an Lochain. The steep slope up from here was exciting for the group, especially when Ben had a mini slip and his self belay held him.

Where's my hat?

Sarah, Angela and Phil

Joss leading the way to the 1083m spot height.

We got as far as the 1083m spot height, west of Cairn Lochan, and then the group practiced their nav back to the bus. There was a huge amount of rime on Wednesday, from the northerly winds. The rime was over 30-40cm long in places. I was thinking about Thursday - the last of their Winter Skills days, and where to take them. I had already decided to make life easier for them (and myself), by partly using tracks that had already been made by people on the Wednesday.

Jordan checking out the size of the rime ice

Not Frozen

Lost Valley Minor Buttress left of centre, and Lost Valley Buttress

Lena and I headed out early this morning keen to find out if there was anything wintry to climb at the moment. We knew there was a good dump of snow high up, and also that the turf wasn't frozen, but we thought we could find a non turfy mixed climb under the snow...

We walked through the low cloud into the Lost Valley. The Valley can now be accessed again by the bridge, now the staircase and bridge work is completed. We popped out of the cloud in the valley to see the very wintry appearing upper cliffs. The snowline was at about 550m.

Lost Valley lost in the low cloud

We walked easily up to the Lost Valley Minor Buttress Crag without any need for crampons. The snow is still unconsolidated, and hiding all the loose scree beneath. We haven't climbed on this crag before, and some of the routes looked good fun. The Chimney route looked good, but wouldn't have been a winter climb at all today - just bare black rock on the right side and in the chimney. Right Edge looked inviting - so I started up.

Right Edge (IV,4**), on Lost Valley Minor Buttress

It was easy enough getting to the chockstone, but after this was the steep groove, which felt like climbing a vertical scree slope, under snow. There were just enough solid hooks to get me up (there were 2).

The difficult section, pulling up the groove. Spot Lena, and her right leg out wide on the bare rock slab (I didn't find any hooks there)

Above Lena is climbing the steep groove (vertical loose rubbish). This section would however be excellent after a solid freeze.

On easier ground to the belay

At the belay, the next pitch was obviously not going to happen - there was nothing solid about it at all. From the ground I thought it would be a hook fest - but unfortunately it was more about the turf than the hooks. When frozen it looks like it will easily earn it's 2 stars. We abseiled off - and walked through the low cloud back to the van.

A new handrail, and fencing on the Lost Valley Bridge

A pretty substantial new staircase by the Lost Valley Bridge - much safer than the old one

Nav Assessment As The Snow Falls

Buachaille Etive Mor - what a difference a day makes - see the first photo from yesterdays blog, then there was no snow on the mountain.

The snow level is down to about 700m, so we decided to go to some lower hills with the Uni First Years for their navigation assessment today. We drove past Buachaille Etive Mor, and I couldn't resist taking the photo above to compare to yesterdays shot, when there was no snow. Today the winds didn't turn out to be as strong as the forecast suggested, but there were plenty of wintry showers - hail, snow and plenty of rain. A good day to test your waterproofs.

The Buachaille from the King's House

Glencoe Mountain Resort on the Left Hand Side, Sron na Creise on the RHS

I was with Andrew, Andy, Sean, Lynsey and Micheal today. Sean has mostly recovered from his torn ACL in his knee (previously he climbed Stob Coire Nan Lochan, before he had it diagnosed as being torn!), and Lynsey has partly recovered from her cracked ribs. After a few easier legs, we got off the paths and headed for the hills and started to test their nav a little more.

Navigation in a little winter weather

Lynsey, Sean and Micheal. Snow at 650m on Meall Bhalach, with Blackwater Reservoir behind.

Sean

Sean still on his nav leg. The Buachaille in the background on the left

Lynsey. The Buachaille on the RHS

Unfortunately the visibility remained good for the entire assesssment, but the team has shown good navigation today and on previous days of the module - it was an easy pass for the whole team.

The ground is saturated, soft and never close to being frozen (we only got to 700m today). There was evidence on the hills of how bad the ground had flooded recently, but the water levels had returned to normal now. The snow line will move up tomorrow towards 900m with a higher freezing level, but then at the end of the weekend onto the new week, the freezing level drops again, helping to freeze the turf on the higher hills.

Wet And Windy Nav Assessment

It's definitely not winter on Buachaille Etive Mor

Assessment day at the Uni again, but this time it was Navigation for the First Year Degree Students. I was with Vlada, David, Alan and John. The weather was not inviting to say the least - it seemed to be constantly driving heavy rain, in gusting winds, and a good wind chill thrown in - good hill conditions to test their navigation and their personal organisation.  When we got to the Buachaille, there was clearly no snow on it, but when Glencoe Mountain ski resort became visible, there was a little white dusting at the top.

The team on the way up to the Devil's Staircase

With smiles and a good spirit, we got on with the day, and everybody did well showing their nav skills. It was a good day to test gloves, and my recent £4.50 yellow leather gloves lasted a good 3 hours (and made my hands yellow too!).

Alan and John discussing the nav leg

David and Vlada happy to be in the bothy shelter

Bothy shelters are always a winner, and it was the first time in a shelter for most of the team - a quick way to bring the smiles back.

A happy wet team heading back to a warm bus

Congratulations everybody for sticking with it in a less than friendly day.

Crag Problems Assessment

Jokob starts the day leading in the sun

The weather was much better on Thursday, set to be dry, light winds and an early frost in the glens. With a bus full of climbers we set off from Fort William to Kingussie Crag. Al, Gillian, Jamie, Ben and I had teams of third years from the ATM degree course at UHI-WHC, and it was to be their assessemnt day for crag problems. This is part of their Incident Management module. We got to the crag and found a team of 2 climbers from East Sussex (currently from VanDweller), using Kingussie as a second best option to winter climbing. Currently with nothing wintery to go at, Kingussie was a good dry venue for them #waitingforwinter!

Connor cruising up The Groove

I was with Jakob and Stewart for the day, and Jakob started by climbing The Slab. On a neighbouring climb Connor was on his way up. As Stewart Climbed, Jakob had some minor problems to deal with, then as Stewart neared the end of his second, he found a piece of difficult climbing, and so Jakob had to give an assisted hoist.

The sun warms the rock to start the day

Stewart and Jakob at Kingussie Crag

Later with Stewarts turn to solve problems, Jakob abseiled onto a knot in the rope, so Stewart had to deal with this, unfortunately for Stewart, that was just the beginning, and Jakob seemed to have lots more problems on his ab.

Stewart solving a problem with Jakob stuck on abseil

With Jakob taking over as the Instructor, Stewart now abseiled but quickly got cragfast and needed to be rescued with a Y hang.

Jakob rescuing Stewart from the abseil as he got cragfast

We finished the day with bottom roping, and here pretty much everything I could think of went wrong, Jokob climbed too far sideways, he got cragfast, stuck, even Stewart found a knot in his rope as he belayed.

At the end of the day with smooth performances from both Stewart and Jakob, we managed to walk away problem free, which is more than Connor could do with his boot stuck up a tree. Unfortunately, back at the college, he even had to rescue his brand new winter boots. A great day, and lots of fun for everybody.

Connor rescuing his boot from a tree - an unusual problem that Al set Connor

A Little Wet and Warm In Glen Nevis

Ben Nevis - from Nevis Range on Monday morning

On a dry Monday morning, under a great sky of high clouds, and good visibilty, I was at work at the College at the Nevis Range with the H.O.L. students on their Mountain Biking assessment. It was mostly a completely dry day, with a little drizzle later in the morning. The clouds stayed high, and we were treated to another colourful sunset at the end of the afternoon. Well done to all the students on their assessment, there were only a couple of nav deferrals.

Fort William on Monday afternoon

Today, the weather was very different, and there was no morning heavy frost, the temperatures were warmer, with the freezing level above the summits. It rained on and off all day. But even though the rock was wet, the groups from Outward Bound had great fun climbing and scrambling up Scimitar Ridge in Glen Nevis.

Lena climbing wet Glen Nevis rock on Tuesday