Aonach Mor

Today I was running a the first day of an AMI weekend workshop for MIC Trainees. We went to Aonach Mor and after a brief chat about what people wanted to get out of the weekend took the gondola up the mountain. We headed around to the west face and looked at issues involved in teaching climbing. We worked on both series and parallel ropework and the transition between the two as well as discussing progressions and 'winterising' student's climbing.

Nice calm weather without too much cloud and with the snow cover lasting more than a day or two now it's beginning to feel like winter has arrived properly at last.

CWA Training and BMC article

A couple of recovery days for the legs running a Climbing Wall Award Training in Lochaber. The snow looks great today... lovely Lochaber weather.... more like this please!

Glad this article seems to have gone down down well... it was probably at least in part due to the BMCs editing! Thanks for the feedback folks.

Wet rock

A bit of a thaw going on today and gales forecast. So Steve, Will and i headed to Polldubh to spend the bulk of the day looking at ropework, gear placements and belay building skills they will be able to use in their winter mountaineering. In between the rain we could see that whilst the ridges were progressively stripping the high east facing coires of the Mamores were still holding lots of snow.

Damp on Ledge route

Out for a mountaineering skills day on Ben Nevis today. Steve, Will and I headed for Ledge Route seeing both Mike and Kenny heading off with clients to look for ice.

We kept well to the right on the wall of No.5 Gully to access our line. This kept us out of the deep porridge like snow in the bed of the gully. Then we used the route to look at various different rope techniques that can be used on mountaineering ground in winter. Steady claggy rain and soft snow all day but beware the Red Burn was still very firm under the soft couple of inches of fresh snow.

A wild one tomorrow... Plan B I think.

A new twist on an old route

I was out with a group of 3 today on Ben Nevis. We plumped for 1934 Route as Kenny (who did Crest Route in Glencoe today) had reported it as quite good the other day and as the guys haven't done that much walking this year (its a bit lower down the mountain). We walked in spotting teams finding Fawlty Towers quite tough going and saw Max on the SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder. We headed up a long first pitch to the in situ anchor before taking the groove that leads right into the basin above Vanishing Gully (another long pitch, in situ anchor and some good thin climbing about III). Instead of taking this right it is easier to head straight up onto Tower Ridge but I fancied a bit more climbing. From the end of the groove the view across the easy basin beyond looked... interesting.... The usual exit looked very thin and uninviting. I ran out another long pitch to a belay at the base of a more promising looking groove. I got only 10 m up this when I hit an unhelpful hanging slab covered in powder. I made a sharp step left onto a pinnacle that formed my last runner and round the corner into the next gully to the left. Another couple of runners just where needed and a short steep wall was climbed by a good pull on frozen turf. The remainder of the 55m pitch had a couple of steps and continued to trend left onto Tower Ridge (at the very end of the long rightwards traverse after the arete above the chimney out of the Douglas Gap).... maybe III,4?

All 3 of the guys experienced pretty grim hot aches making the steep pull (a variety of colourful language but no vomiting). These took a few minutes to pass before we could descend the lower part of Tower Ridge and drop easily into Observatory Gully. Well done guys!

On the walk out we were passed by Tim and Keith of PYB who had climbed Cornucopia and spoke to another pair who reported good ice on Tower Scoop and a team on Smiths. We also saw a team around Slingsby's chimney and Hadrians Direct looked like it might be worth a look by the right team. There was a stream of people headed up to the CIC hut... looks like it will be busy on the Ben for a couple of days but not great weather on Wednesday.

Early ice protection, the thin, the fat and the weird...

A peck peg and an early nut

Salewa Ascender

Grivel's first crampons with frontpoints

Early Clog nut with just a tiny bit of taper

I was working indoors at Glasgow Climbing Centre today (cheeks still tingling after yesterdays exfoliation by wind).

Whilst there I had a chat with Willie Gorman a retired teacher who instructs climbing part time at the wall. Another instructor is making some works of art out of old climbing gear and Willie brought in some old pieces of kit he has.....

Little pieces of climbing history here....

To see Willie in action check out this video of him climbing with a few other well known faces on the Cobbler.

Wild weather in the Cairngorms with Moffat MRT

Windy at 1141

Wild in Sneachda

Using the rope to give someone confidence

Well it was a bit breezy in the Cairngorms today. I was working with Guy and Richard for Mountain Motion today with Moffat Mountain Rescue Team. Whilst Guy took the probationers for some intor. winter skills Rich and I each took a team for some mountaineering training. Cairngorm Mountain are keen to support the work of Mountain Rescue Teams and allowed us to use the funicular for uplift to the Ptarmigan Restaurant. From here Guy headed for Ciste Mhearad whilst Rich and I took our teams on a route to look at their navigation and footwork to .1141m at the top of the Fiacaill of Coire Cas. We then all dropped into Coire an t Sneachda by windy col and crossed to the area on the far side of the coire beneath Fiacaill Buttress.

We'd been experiencing strong winds and snow flurries all day and these got worse as we kitted up. The team responded well and we were able to look at a little confidence roping before 2 of them led a pitch up 'point five' the small gully to the left of the Goat Track. Now the weather was getting quite unpleasant and we had difficulty standing let alone talking and learning. So we dug a snow bollard and abseiled off to flee the coire and the screaming banshee of a wind howling around the crags.

The rock was black and the snow mushy but as we arrived at the car park it was putting down some much needed wet snow. Guy and his team soon arrived too after a baptism of fire (or perhaps that should be ice) for their introductory winter skills. Well done Moffat MRT for holding together in the face of some pretty appalling weather.