Dull Day out West

Hi Alan,

Adam and I had a good day on Honey pot IV,6 in Coire ant'Sneachta yesterday. Route choice is important in Sneachta at the moment because some buttresses are bare and some easier gullies have big cornices.

On Honeypot the rock was shining through a bit at the beginning but higher up it was all white. The snow was mostly sugary and unhelpful so you have to go through and find the essential torques and hooks for the more strenuous moves. The crux is a square cut chimney with some very well protected tech 6 moves.

Photos attached.

Best wishes, Henning




Garadh Gully was in good nick today on Ben Nevis. Some noises from stuff falling down in the misty corrie! Morwind and Left Twin were in good shape on Aonach Mor. The forecast for tomorrow has improved slightly. Another team just in from Stob Coire nan Lochan says that it is ..."more winter than summer up there"...So that is a good sign! They climbed Dorsal Arete as can be seen in the photo. Thanks to Nigel Hooker for the picture.

Another group went onto Stob Ban for some easy gully climbing and came back smiling.





More pictures from my slide show in the Mountain Festival. on 21st February at Lime Tree. The prize draw on this evening will be some free lifts up the Ben Nevis track. All proceeds going to the Mountain Festival. Check it out folks.



Hi Alan


Just returned to Bournemouth from my annual foray north of the Border. Rather a dull week after an exciting trip up. The blizzards across the land seem a long time ago now, and the snow cleared off the hills quickly. Still, we managed to get some things done and had a good week as usual.

Surprised to find Aonach Mor almost deserted last Friday apart from numerous mountain school parties. Attached is a photo of John Cooke and Roz Kendall just below Easy Gully, taken with a Konica Minolta Dimage A200. Snow was rather soft and sugary then but no doubt has improved since.
Regards
Philip Santo