Colder weather on the Way

Yesterday on Tower Ridge was pretty good, even if the visibility was zilch! A word of advice for belays on the Eastern Traverse. If you go right up to the start of the traverse, the anchors are not great, unless you want to dig very deep. Consider making an anchor 5 to 10 metres below the start of the traverse and then a 'bomber' anchor just before the point where the traverse takes a slight downward and left slant. Under this overhang are plenty of solid nuts and blocks. It's also a good spot for photos!

A few sensible teams retreated from Observatory Gully routes, as the ice was not great and the possibility of wet cornice collapse was always possible. Looking down Glover's Chimney and the route looked to be in good shape, as are plenty of other Nevis routes, but let the weather clear before heading north. Keep an eye on Metcheck as they forecast the following good words for all us climbing types!

...."The coming weekend will see a change, a marked change in the weather as the cold arctic air to the north of the country is allowed to flood south-wards over the UK. After a very spring-like week for many it will be a shock to the system, especially across northern parts of the country.

The change is expected to arrive during the course of Sunday. There still remains some uncertainty over the details, but a cold front is expected to push south-wards across all parts of the country on Saturday night and into Sunday. Behind this cold front the air will become increasingly cold. At the present time it will be cold enough for showers to turn wintry by the end of Sunday across many northern parts of the country, especially over the hills. Some significant snowfall is possible over the hills of the north. These cold and wintry conditions are expected to continue into the early part of next week"....



The shots below are courtesy of Patrick Deijkers from Holland. Patrick enjoyed a spell at the CIC Hut last week. Which leads on to the fact that the good weather forecast could be spent at the hut for those interested in a course or a few days climbing, or just using some of the places which I have booked. Please get in touch if you are interested in any of these options.