Latest Scottish Winter Newsletter and Availability Update
| Below is our latest newsletter including our availability update for open courses. Signing up to our regular newsletter can be done on the homepage:https://westcoast-mountainguides.co.uk/ |
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Tag Archive for: Ice Climbing
It’s been a busy start to the season. We have been out running privately guided days for a number of folk, both familiar and new faces. Ken has been out with Tim, and they climbed Thompson’s Route, Ben Nevis, Morwind on Aonach Mor and Dorsal Arete on Stob Coire nan Lochan. He has also guided Tower Ridge, Castle Ridge and Thompson’s Route again. Meanwhile, Matt has been out and guided Raeburn’s Route and Sabbard Chimney, both on Stob Coire nan Lochan in Glencoe.
Deep snow on Ben Nevis: Thompson’s Route
I awoke this morning to find a dusting of snow at sea level, which as it turned out translated to about a foot of fresh snow in Coire na Ciste on Ben Nevis today, however, the overnight winds weren’t particularly strong, so I was sure that despite the fresh snow, it wouldn’t have packed down to create much windslab. However, it would have been foolish to not pay close attention on the approach, particularly from the CIC Hut up.
I was out with Nick, who over the year has climbed a fair bit up in Scotland, and would loved to have climbed one of the classic Vs today, unfortunately for both of us, none of the classic Vs have properly formed, and so we opted to head up to Thompson’s Route, knowing it would give an interesting climb, with a couple of awkward crux moves.
From the CIC Hut, we broke trail, which was tough going up to No 3 Gully Buttress, looking for signs of potential avalanche hazard, but all we found was sinking into deep powder, no propagation cracks, no slabs breaking away and no whoomphing. I had a quick look at the snowpack, and found a thin layer of soft windslab on the surface, but quite homogeneous snow beneath, which were were always breaking through to with ease.
We pushed on up, and eventually reached the foot of Thompson’s Route, which is still quite lean. There is very little ice forming with this prolonged cool period, but the snow on the route is starting to consolidate. After three pitches of good and varied climbing, winds and spindrift seemed to increase the higher we got, we topped out and headed to No. 3 Gully, for a look. No cornice, and a scoured exit, so we descended that way.
Very few teams out today, two heading round to the east side of the Douglas Boulder, and one other team in Coire na Ciste.
Nick just above the crux, Thompson’s Route, Ben Nevis
Deep snow in Coire na Ciste, Ben Nevis
So much snow: Dorsal Arete, Glencoe
Today was my final day with Tim, and despite his numerous trips to Scotland, he had yet to climb anything in winter in Glencoe, so that needed addressing today. We drove into Glencoe with an open mind, but on seeing the car park to Stob Coire nan Lochan nearly empty, thought that would be a good bet, particularly as one team were clearly ahead of us, putting a good track in. Unfortunately, the winds were enough that their footprints were buried, so we had the unenviable task of breaking trail up to the corrie.
The cliffs were unsurprisingly caked in rime ice and snow, and so rather than forge our way up a very snowy Raeburn’s Route, we decided to sample of the delights of Dorsal Arete. We took in all the difficulties lower down, via a few chimneys, and whilst it can be climbed missing out the crux fin, there was no way I was going to let Tim miss out on the best part of the route, on which he managed very well, with a bit of encouragement from myself and Adele, who was beneath with her team. We topped out into sunshine which seemed like fitting end to a great three days with Tim, with a variety of climbing styles and venues, all of which will fit well in his mountaineering tool box.
Very little action on SCNL today, with one team on Scabbard, a few on Dorsal Arete, and one in NC Gully. Fresh WNW winds transporting loose snow onto easterly aspects.
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- Early sun on SCNL
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- Summit Buttress, SCNL
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- North, Central and South Buttresses
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- Tim above the crux on Dorsal Arete
Meanwhile, Hannah was out with Steve, enjoying a day of personal climbing on the Douglas Boulder, Ben Nevis, where they climbed Jackknife. Although their route was quiet, plenty of people on the Douglas Boulder, all converging on the SW Ridge together by the sounds of it!
Other teams on Tower Ridge, Fawlty Towers, Tower Ridge and Green Gully.
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- Looking up at Jackknife
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- Steve setting off on the crux pitch
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- Technical moves on the crux pitch
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- 3 helicopters in the distance marking the retirement of the Sea Kings from HMS Gannet at Prestwick
The Ben today
My turn on Thompson’s Route, Ben Nevis
Today, it was my turn to climb Thompson’s Route, but as a day of work. I was out with Tim, who I’ve climbed with a number of times over the years, the first being on a winter mountaineering course in 2012. Over the years, he has put a lot of time and effort into pushing himself in the mountains, and having not been out with him for a while, I was pleased to see quite a boost in his confidence and ability.
One of his big goals is to climb Point 5 Gully, so whilst it isn’t in condition at the moment, these few days will help Tim tune back into Scottish winter, so that when the opportunity presents itself, he’ll be more than ready. We decided to go for Thompson’s Route, knowing that it wouldn’t be straight forward at the grade today, due to the lack of fat ice, making it quite a fun, icy, mixed chimney, with a number of tricky steps. Tim also hasn’t done much in the way of mixed climbing, which requires a slightly different set of movement skills to the ice climbing he’s done, mainly in Norway.
The first pitch was really the crux, with a deep chimney at about 20m, and filled with soft non-weight bearing snow, which Tim did well on, having to rely on balancing his front points on small ledges of rock. From the junction with No. 3 Gully Buttress, we continued straight up, giving a further great pitch of mixed climbing. So, a great first day for him, hopefully a couple more to come.
Quite quiet today, with other teams on SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder, Fawlty Towers, a couple of teams heading up towards Comb/No.2 Gully, No.3 Gully Buttress and Central Gully of Creag Coire na Ciste.
Tim on P1, Thompson’s Route
On the summit plateau after Thompson’s Route
Shaping up nicely! No. 3 Gully, Ben Nevis
#backtowork today, fortunately, I quite enjoy my office, Ben Nevis. Today, I had the pleasure of introducing my office to Ben, who is preparing for a trip to Ecuador. Following the recent thaws, it was quite apparent on the walk-in that Ben Nevis, as reliable as ever, was making a speedy recovery, with freezing levels down to 750m or so, a dusting of fresh snow and plenty of rime on the higher crags.
Ben had just finished a winter mountaineering course in the NW Highlands, with Martin Moran (who I was working for today), and was keen to get some additional mileage in, ideally on consolidated, firm snow, which hasn’t been particularly forthcoming this season so far. Fortunately, the recent cold conditions on Ben Nevis had really firmed up the snow in Coire na Ciste, giving us the perfect snow to practice cramponning on. We went in with a reasonably open mind, as Ben was slightly overwhelmed by the scale of the north face cliffs, but he soon found himself enjoying the steepish snow slopes leading up to the mouth of No. 3 Gully. The snow within the gully was a bit more chopped up, and so easier to kick steps into, and Ben needed very little encouragement to press on to complete the gully, and in doing so, climbed his first route on the Ben. Good going! Happy with what he had achieved, we took a leisurely wander down the mountain track.
Plenty of the higher routes on Ben Nevis are shaping up well, with plenty of rime on the high cliffs, so the mixed routes are looking great and the ice in the higher drainage lines are forming nicely. Quite a few folk making the most of the cold, dry conditions, with ascents of Tower Scoop, Good Friday Climb, Tower Ridge, No. 2 Gully, Green Gully, No. 3 Gully Buttress, Archangel and North Gully.
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- Coire na Ciste
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- No. 3 Gully
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- Ben enjoying himself
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- Team on Archangel
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- Topping out No. 3 Gully
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- Success!
A short, yet inspiring film on Scottish winter climbing
Take 4 minutes out of your Friday afternoon, and watch Kenton Cool, Neil Gresham and Heather Geluk talk about their motivations for the unique world of Scottish winter climbing.
It’s cooling down – Scottish winter courses
It’s been a busy summer, both on the Isle of Skye and in the Alps and it’s been great to meet new and also catch up with familiar faces. The late Indian summer we’ve had has been very much appreciated and t-shirt climbing in October and November has been great! We are however also pleased to say it’s now cooling down, and with winter not far away, it’s a good time to start laying down plans for the upcoming winter season.
Our first Scottish winter courses this year start in mid December and we also have some running over the New Year period. This coming winter, we will be offering a greater range of courses than previously, with the inclusion of a Winter Skills & Summits course, aimed at hill walkers looking to take their first winter steps in the Scottish mountains and who wish to tackle snow covered Munros.
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- On the summit of Stob Coire Raineach
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- Winter skills on Aonach Mor
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- Walking in Glencoe
Should you wish to tackle something steeper, such as a snow filled gully, iced up buttress or classic icefall, then our range of Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Courses may be just what you’re after! We’re lucky to be surrounded by some of the finest winter venues, from Ben Nevis to Aonach Mor on our doorstep, to the impressive peaks and crags of Glencoe just to the south.
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- Enjoying winter
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- Steep ice on Ben Nevis
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- Ken on Raeburn’s Buttress
We will, of course, be running our flagship CIC Hut Weeks too. The week is spent in the UK’s only alpine hut, at the foot of the North Face of Ben Nevis, which means minimal walk-ins, maximum climbing time!
Don’t forget, we also take Private Guiding bookings too so if you can’t quite find what you’re after when it comes to climbing, winter skills, or walking make sure you get in touch whether your an individual or a group so we can talk through what you’d like to achieve and we’ll come up with a tailor made itinerary for you.
The West Coast Mountain Guides blog will also be kept up-to-date throughout the winter season and please feel free to email us with your own conditions updates and pictures that we can then include on our blog
Oh, and if you haven’t yet, don’t forget to ‘like’ us on facebook and we look forward to seeing you soon!
Eugster Couloir Direct, Aiguille du Midi, Chamonix
There can’t be many better ways to prepare for the forthcoming winter climbing season in Scotland than climbing the Eugster Couloir Direct on the 1000m north face of the Aiguille du Midi, so that’s what Alex and I set out to do last week, but our first attempt was far from successful.
With a reasonable forecast, Alex and I spent the night at the Aigulle du Plan, ‘enjoying’ a cold bivi, but with plenty of fresh snow lying on the ground, thought it would be best to scope out our approach that evening, for the following morning, so having stumbled our way through powder covered boulders to a point where we could see the obvious, or so we thought, snow cone beneath the Eugster Couloir and it’s direct variant, we got our heads down for a few hours of sleep. At 2:30am, we ‘woke up’ and retraced our tracks to what we thought was the snow cone we were after. Wrong! A few hundred meters of wading up a snow slope and two tricky pitches later, we realised that in the darkness we had in fact headed uphill too soon, and that our intended route was round the next spur of rock, and without a guidebook to help identify a suitable way up, we bailed, although not without interest, as we had opted to take a single 60m rope, halving our abseil potential to 30m at a time. Fortunately, three short abseils found us on easier snow slopes which we could descend with ease. Unfortunately, our efforts had already taken a fair few hours, meaning the only option was to head back down to Chamonix.
Three days later, we found ourselves, with 2x60m half ropes this time, back at the Aiguille du Plan, and biviing once again, but happy with where we should have gone, we chose not to check our approach again. Also, by this point, we had been back and forth along the approach a number of times, and had put in a fairly obvious track, not to mention we were quite tired of it. Alex made the call to start even earlier, so at 1:30am, we got ourselves ready, and trudged off. This time, we found our ‘obvious’ snow cone, and made our way up steep snow slopes to the base of a tricky and not overly inspiring steep step, featuring thin, un attached ice and no gear. I took the lead, and was quite grateful to reach the gully above, which continued with ceaselessness, but on easy ground.
After what felt like hours, we finally reached the bottom of the steeper pitches of the direct variant, the first of which was a steady grade 4 ice pitch. Alex then jumped onto the sharp end, and manged to string one and a half pitches together before a shorter, bold pitch, brought me to beneath a huge jammed block. The final exit from the narrow gully was what seemed to be a rather thin and steep mixed corner, which surprisingly Alex managed to squeeze into a long pitch from the jammed boulder. It was thin and steep, but well protected, and had just enough ice for axe placements. This brought us out onto snow slopes directly beneath the Aiguille du Midi lift station, which looked tantalisingly close… 2 hours of calf burning, variable steep snow later, we finally, with much relief, dropped into the entrance tunnel of the Aiguille du Midi lift station, in time for the final bin down of the day. Eugster Couloir Direct is given an alpine grade of IV,5 and probably equivalent to solid Scottish grade V (although the crux was probably closer to grade VI/VII), with plenty of grade II ground before and after the main pitches. It covers a total of 1500m from the Aiguille du Plan to the Aigulle du Midi, which is/was calf explodingly long.
Rest day today!
