Last week's winter mountaineers

Here is a video short of last week's Winter Mountaineering Course for The Ice Factor. Next week I'm back East working for Glenmore Lodge.

End of a damp winter week

For the last day of our mountaineering course Kenny and I took the guys to Curved Ridge in Glencoe. It was mild and misty but we caught the occaisional view of Rannoch Moor as we made a rapid scent of the snow free ridge. There was plenty of evidence of the recent rockfall on the wall under the polished corner but it is easy to avoid. Higher up the gully below Crowberry Tower was made easier by being filled with wet snow and good footprints. Over the summit of Buachaille Etive Mor and down to the head of Coire na Tullaich which had enough soft snow in the base of the gully for a quick bumslide down to the screes. We made it back to the car just as the rain set in. Today I was working for The Ice Factor.

Wet on the Ben

Cack forecast and rain on my Velux windows all night. We went high to the Ben. Busy carparks with the BMC International meet again but we had Ledge Route to ourselves. My team this week have now split in 2 (took an extra instructor for their last 2 days) and I went with my pair to look at a classic mountaineering route- Ledge Route. We walked in in the rain but there was evidence of yesterdays fresh snow from the base of No.5 upwards and still ice on the first slab. It was still raining when we topped out but half way down the Red Burn bumslide (more holes, but we sent Mike from Abacus ahead as a crash test dummy) it dried out a little for our walk back to the car. Today I was working for The Ice Factor. Jamie B climbed No.3 Gully Buttress meting various hosts and guests from the international meet topping out on harder routes from below. Kenny (and the Abacus team) climbed Thompsons. There is still snow and ice up there in the mist and rain- we'll see what survives tomorrow.

Glencoe 25 Feb

Off to Glencoe today. The snowpack has been saturated but had begun to freeze high up. NC, Forked, Broad, Boomerang and Dorsal all saw ascents today. There were some blustery snow showers during the day as we looked at bucket seats, holding sliding falls and buried axe belays. We mad a quick ascent of Gully and dropped back into the coire abseiling off of a snow bollard. Today I was working for The Ice Factor.

No 3 Gully on Ben Nevis

Day 2 of our Winter Course today and we decided to put yesterday's skills into practise with a bit of a journey. We walked into Coire na Ciste on Ben Nevis behind 2 minibus loads and several other vehicles full from the BMC International Meet based at Glenmore Lodge. Fortunately they had all gone into Observatory Gully (one instructor who went that way pushed straight on through up Gardyloo describing the queues and crowds as 'carnage'- hope they had fun). We meandered up No. 3 Gully taking our time and focusing on using our axes and crampons well. We passed a queue on Glovers Chimney but no-one on Green Gully. Kenny and at least 2 other parites did Central Right Hand, Chris came down No. 3 and did South Gully, Karl took his clients up North Gully. We took the steeper right hand branch of No. 3 Gully, pulling the rope out for the last 15m. We then managed to bum slide the length of the Red Burn but beware there are a number of large holes through to the burn appearing. Today I was working for The Ice Factor.

Aonach Mor winter skills

Day 1 of a 5 day mountaineering course saw us at Aonach Mor today around the Nid area. We weren't alone and there were Plas y Brenin, Outward Bound, Jagged Globe, 2 other Ice Factor parties and military teams there too. It was still possible to move around and look at a variety of skills there though. We started with walking skills; using the boot, and the axe for stepping and stopping slips. We spent some time looking at self arrest and then moved up to an icey step to introduce crampons. There was an igloo and a shovel up as well as some emergency snow shelters and we saw Blair from SAIS at work. We moved onto some steeper ground looking at both upwards and downwards movement before retreating to the cafe to dry out and for 'refreshments'. The snowpack was still wet and slowly retreating but there still seems to be ice around even at only 900-1000m today. Today I was working for The Ice Factor.

Cornice Capers

A very cosmopolitan day on Aonach Mor today. I detected French, Spanish, Italian, Swiss and Japanese (?) accents- there were shiny new climbing axes, battered Monsters and even a pair of knuckle bashing 'Terrors' in evidence. Today was day 2 of an Intro to Winter Climbing Course for Ben and Rich. We descended Easy Gully and turned right (because all the other footprints went left) and climbed Nausea which has its little ice pitch at the base complete. Although we were expecting a 900m freeing level it was dripping water at the base of the route. At the top of the second pitch I was faced with a sizable cornice but I borrowed Ben's Mountain Tech tools which make much better digging implements than my Quarks. After 10 minutes we had a good slot dug. Back down Easy Gully and the guys led the first steep icey groove we found- with an easier escape round the cornice this time. Karl and his team climbed Tunnel Vision and Jamie B climbed the Web and Tunnel Vision. There were lots of shouted conversations on routes off in the mist north of that. Today I was working for The Ice Factor.