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

Raeburn's Route In SCNL

Lena approaching Raeburn's Route (IV,4***) - we can see that there are 2 teams already on it.

The forecast was a little poor today but Lena and I wanted to finish the weekend off with a climb, so we headed back to Stob Coire nan Lochan to take a look. At the carpark, we could see headtorches just disappearing from sight up the valley - good news for us - we could follow their track in through the deep snow. We got to the Coire and could see that there were 2 teams on Raeburn's Route (IV,4***) - which was our plan too. The snow up to the route was still hard work to wade through - up to our knees and waist. We eventually got to the route, and decided to go round the corner and up NC Gully, to skip ahead of the 2 teams on the initial pitch. This did get us ahead of the crowd, but I was rewarded by a big job of working my way through the deep snow on the crux pitch which made it incredibly awkward, both to find the gear and to find rock to pull on! The turf was frozen on the upper section of the climb, but apparently not completely so, on the lower section. The snow was more consolidated than the other day - people were happily climbing NC Gully today. I felt pretty lucky to get a route done today - the weather felt against us, and the snow was deep and hard work. The leader of the next team to the top after us had come from Edinburgh for the day, and his partner and the other team were from Leeds - driving back tonight!

Lena belayed at the 'Tower'

Lena climbing through the poor visibility

Lena leading to the top

Occasionally there were stunnig views

On my way to the top

The top of Raeburn's Route on 9th Dec 2012 from Max Hunter on Vimeo.

Scabbard Chimney in SCNL

Neil working hard to get to the base of Scabbard Chimney (V,6***)

After abseiling down Scabbard Chimney (V,6***) the other day, I was well keen to get up to it and have a go. Neil Pope was free and up for a climb, so we set off. We got to the SCNL car park to find 3 other teams already 40 mins up the path with headtorhes - little did we know at this point that they were about to be breaking trail for us - thanks guys! We got to the snow to discover just how deep it was - consistently up to knee level and often up to waist level. In the coire we found the teams fighting/swimming up to Central Grooves and Raeburn's Route. Our route up to Scabbard Chimney was a little less challenging.

Teams working incredibly hard to get to the base of Central Grooves (VII,7****) and Raeburn's Route (IV,4***)

The first pitch started with the short chimney and was a little awkward. The offwidth crack to follow was rejecting my initial attempts so I brought Neil up to give me time to think. My next effort was a little more determined and I found a brilliant hook, which led to finding the nuts on the left wall, which took me to the proper first belay - awesome - that was the pitch I was worried about, hearing that the thin slab, had caused some leaders to fall off!

Neil coming up towards the first belay - finishing the first awkward chimney

After the first short chimney on pitch 1 is this offwidth crack. I was a bit nervous of it, so I belayed at it's base, splitting the pitch into 2. It worked out well after finding a couple of bits of gear and great hooks on the left wall.

Neil arriving at the first belay

The team on the first belay of Central Grooves - 3 people on the hanging stance I think, in the centre of the photo

This is the view up the third pitch (our 4th pitch) from the sentry box belay.

The next pitch to the sentry box was brilliant too, with excellent climbing - a little less technical than the previous pitch.This led to the main event - the pitch in the photo above. The last pitch was initially a little thin, but the many pegs were helpful, and the hooks were deep. Still I found this less technical than the offwidth crack/slab pitch earlier - but all pitches were ***. A fantastic route. Cheers for a great day Neil.

Neil doing the awkward moves to get up this crack to the sentry box belay

Welcome to the sentry box

Neil exiting the difficulties of Scabbard Chimney

Colours are beginning to change on the Aonach Eagach Ridge

2 quick abseils off

Time to pack away, now that it's in the bag. The team on Central Grooves were on pitch 3 with about an hour of daylight left - behind Neil on the cliff in the photo.

Last Sunday - The Rack And Rope Go For A Walk

The moon, just to the right of Castle Ridge

Last Sunday the weather was forecast to be excellent so we made tracks for Ben Nevis, hoping to find a suitable frozen mixed climb for Lena and myself. The Ben was more breathtaking than normal as the moon passed behind Castle Ridge and the sun rose behind the Ben.

Sunrise behind NE Buttress

Right-Hand Chimney (IV,4**) on Moonlight Gully Buttress

Plan A was to check out Right-Hand Chimney on Moonlight Gully Buttress. It did look a little choked with snow, so that would mean a lot of clearing, but we were up for it. Lena racked up and set off. She soon discovered that the turf was pulling and was a long way from frozen. The loose rocks in the chimney, that  I guess would be helpful if frozen in place, were still loose. So our desire to get up the route was thwarted by the lack of freeze - again. We'd used a lot of time here so we needed a quick plan B, to still enjoy the day, so we decided to swim (climb) up Moonlight Gully.

Lena starting to wrestle with the unfrozen turf and the loose snow

Moonlight gully was filled with 'swimming snow', so at least it gave us a good full body workout. The normal little steps in the gully, that make it grade II, were pretty awkward - as close to empathising to a salmon swimming up a waterfall as I've ever got! One step up and 3 feet down. At the top of the Gully, as it breaks into Number 5, we decided to avoid doing battle with the No.5 gully loose snow fields - and we ab'ed out of Moonlight, to fight again another day. It did feel like we took the rack and ropes out for a walk, but that's the way it is sometimes.

Lena in Moonlight Gully

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.