Late Season Winter Climbing

The blog seems to have gone a bit quiet over the last couple of weeks!  As John appears to be missing in action I'll give you a quick update of what I've been up to over the last week or so.  

I got back from the wild and windy west coast of Scotland last night where I was running an introduction to snow and ice climbing course.  After the sunshine and warmth of the previous week in the Lakes it was a bit of a shock to be plunged back into full on winter conditions.  On Monday we climbed Dorsal Arete in Glen Coe after a winter skills refresher, a great short climb to start on.  The following day we headed up Ben Nevis to try Green Gully but were beaten back by the vast quantities of snow being swept down it, a quick retreat was made and we climbed Ledge Route instead.  A wild day out that ended with a thorough soaking on the way down!  A shorter day out was needed on Wednesday so we made a very alpine ascent of Curved Ridge with a mixture of snow and dry rock to climb along the way.  A navigation refresher took us back down to the car in good time.  Something a little harder and more serious was needed by now so Thursday saw us battling our way back into an apocalyptic Coire na Ciste on the Ben in pretty 'challenging' weather.  Visibility was virtually zero as we made our way carefully towards the base of Number 3 Gully Buttress although happily the avalanche danger was limited and we excavated a belay.  We had a brief meeting to discuss whether we were going up or down in what were now extremely character building conditions....... everyone was keen, or at least I assumed so given what little I could see of their faces behind goggles and balaclavas!  Reasonable ice took us up the first part of the route before some stella Nevis neve helped us make it to the top in good time.  A brilliant and very exposed climb for the grade that should be on everyone's tick list.  Incidentally the much steeper nearby route Two Step corner looked in great condition for interested parties... a great grade V with good rock belays.  We descended Number 4 Gully  after I had 'dismantled' the cornice on an abseil rope and had a careful look at the stability of the slope beneath.  All was well so we headed rapidly back toward the CIC hut.  Tired legs and horrible weather yesterday meant a day learning some technique on the Ice Factor's excellent indoor ice wall and doing some tricky dry tooling near Onich.  It can be easier to learn the finer points of steep ice climbing when you're not being blown sideways!

All in all a great week and I suspect there will be conditions on the Ben for a few weeks to come unless there is a very substantial thaw.  That concludes the winter for me so get in touch now for Spring adventures and lets hope for a dry summer.  Tea and rest for me today and then more climbing tomorrow but this time on the bike.... the Fred Whitton awaits!  

Rich