Forgotten Twin, Aonach Mor

Looking up at the team ahead of us on pitch 2

Looking down on Josef and Angus at the peg belay at the end of pitch 2

Looking up at the cornice at the end of pitch 3. There is a notch left of centre to make it possible to exit - this was the crux of the climb

Check out the Fort William Mountain Festival. This weekend I'm working on the climbing workshops for the festival through Abacus Mountaineering.

I met Josef and Angus at the Nevis Range. This was to be Josefs' first day in crampons and he was up for a climbing adventure. We headed for the East Face of Aonach Mor and checked out the safe exits through the cornices. We abseiled down Easy Gully, and made our way to Forgotten Twin which has got the icefall start on the left - in condition at the moment. We were the second party in the climb. There was a constant stream of parties on most of the popular climbs. We had a fun exit through the cornice.

The was also a stream of teams in Right Twin - but there is currently no exit. The first team reached the cornice and fortunately received a rescue from a climbing team above - and so the rescues continued - this ream rescues the next, and then these the next.

Taxus Icefall Finish, Beinn An Dothaidh

Beinn An Dothaidh, North-East Corrie. Taxus is a line almost picture centre

Dave getting busy eating, Lena getting busy sleeping

Coming over one of the steeper sections

Team Outward Bound. Belayed before the last 60m pitch

5 pitches done. Topping out into stunning scenery and incredible weather

Lena manages to show the Outward Bound Logo

Today I was with Dave and Lena. We headed (we thought early) to Beinn An Dothaidh to find Taxus Icefall Finish. We got to the car park to find nearly 10 other cars there (maybe we weren't early enough). Our route was 3 starred, so attracted several teams today. After some of the fastest walking I've done we got there first - On belay.

5 pitches followed. 60m ropes were useful, otherwise it may have been 6 or 7 - but ask Dave and Lena, they carried them! We were treated to almost 0mph wind, stunning scenery, we even had a small snow flurry - how good can Scottish winter get - and the climbing was interesting, varied and great.

Quartzvein Scoop, Beinn Udlaidh

Me at the end of the steep bit

Lena belaying after the first short pitch

Lena pulling up over the top of the main icefall

Lena appearing at the end of the last pitch. The last 5m were the most hazardous - the snow was soft and the axes were pulling through

We went to Beinn Udlaidh to see how the ice was shaping up. Lots of other people had the same idea. There were about 12 cars at the car park. By the time we got to the climbs we were the second team on Quartzvein Scoop, with other teams lining up behind. Although the climb is short (90m) it's worth it's 3 stars. At the moment the main pitch is a short vertical fall. After this week I'm definitely a leashless convert..

Dorsal Arete

The view of Ben Nevis from Stob Coire Nan Lochan on Wed 10th February

Looking down towards Ballachulish from Stob Coire Nan Lochan

Lena belaying as I start up on the Arete of Dorsal Arete

Lena finishing the climbing up onto the arete - not a place to stand on a windy day

After completing SC Gully in the morning, we had time for something simple, so we made a quick ascent of Dorsal Arete, finding it in awesome condition - and all to ourselves (rare).

SC Gully

SC Gully is the steep, deep gully in the cliff slightly right of centre. You can see a climber climbing up towards it. They got there before us (they walked in with headtorches)

Looking up pitch 1 on SC Gully from the first belay. The pitch takes the ice fall left of centre


Lena arriving at the belay after the first ice fall. Another team climbs in below to start the gully


Lena belaying as I start the thrid pitch


Looking down pitch 3. Lena pulls over the pitch 3 ice fall.


Looking down from the final run to the top

Today was forecast to have stunning weather. I woke early to see the clear sky and a full set of stars. I hoped the sky would stay clear to give a cloudless day. The clouds that developed stayed high over Glencoe and the visibility was stunning.

We parked and saw a team with headtorches high above us on the path (but no car in the car park?). We walked quickly and by the time we arrived in the basin the team had set up below SC Gully. But they were 40 mins ahead of us - so we continued on our plan to climb the gully. The route was in awesome condition. The ice was a bit chopped out by so many previous ascents, but still deep enough for screws.

The cornice at the top had a gap well developed, so the exit was easy. A terrific climb and well worth it's 3 stars.

We had a couple of hours left before Lena had to get to work, not enough time to do Twisting Gully, but time for something quick...

White Shark, Aonach Mor, Shark Buttress

Lena on a steep bit before the peg belay. The belay was fully buried in ice. I dug out half of it.

Lena discovers her axes are blunt

I was keen to check out the East face of Aonach Mor. I was with Lena from Outward Bound, Loch Eil. We found PYB out and about on Aonach Mor as well - some were heading for Morwind. We abseiled down into Easy Gully - the Cornice was solid but undercut. We found White Shark and made a start. It's graded IV, 4 and earns every penny, steep and exciting. The first good stretch of climbing ends at a good peg belay on the left. This was followed by the steepest section, the steep ice fall up the corner, up onto easier ground. There is currently no gap in the enormous cornice, so I arranged a couple of abseils and got off. We knew we'd have trouble climbing out of Easy, so we traversed off and made the Gondola. The climb earns all it's 3 stars.

The crag currently has large cornices capping most climbs. In many places they're forming a roof of several metres. We found another team abseiling out of Jet Stream due to cornice trouble.

Curved Ridge, Buachaille Etive Mor

Working again today on an Improvers Climbing Course, my climbers wanted to learn how to become self sufficient so they could go on to climb by themselves for the next few days. I chose Curved Ridge as the perfect place to learn. We looked at various methods of making winter belays, and winter belaying, pitching, moving together and being efficient during the day. Faff less - climb more.

The route was in the best condition I've ever seen it. At the end of the approach (below and right of the tree), there is still the 30m grade 3 ice pitch - it wasn't there last year. This was such a bonus of climbing, even before the route had started. In addition at the start of the route there is still the 10m ice pitch. There is such a great deal of snow on the route at the moment, and after the recent thaw/freeze cycles the neve is of reasonable quality. The cracks are easily cleared, and not iced up - easy to find belays, and gear. The crux pitches are good sport at the moment, and the current conditions find them in terrific grade 3 form.

Despite the reasonable SAIS category 2 hazard forecast for Glencoe, the upper snow bowl below Crowberry tower felt suspect, so care was taken.

A great route, not always in these conditions. Get on it this week, before it changes.