More boring beauty-Western Rib

Claire hit the weather right with her three days this year!
After Golden Oldy last winter she fancied the idea of revisiting the same face but on a slightly harder route so she, Jamie and I hit the first gondola and were soon making good progress round to the west side of Aonach  Mor. The walk in was pretty quick today and the now well worn trail only partially blown in. The route was a little powdery to start but the weather was once again awesome!
After a few good pitches of climbing we ditched an axe, switched to mountaineering mode and upped the pace with a promise of a drink in the Nevis Range bar. Those views and a beer made a great end to Claire's 3 days mountaineering. I reckon the legs will be glad of a break after 3 big routes too!

No-one else on the Summit Ribs today (although there was a soloist in one of the Gullies). A team headed onto the East Ridge of Carn Dearg Mheadhonach and climbers were on Stand and Deliver and routes on the W Face of Aonach Beag. On the Ben Point 5, Vanishing Gully, Hadrians Direct and the Curtain were all climbed and I have a report of superb conditions on Pinnacle Ridge on Sgurr Nan Gillean. Finally, I've just seen photos of Ben Udhlaidh and it is 'in'! Winter is shaping up nicely…

 The summit ribs

Pitch 2

 Great fun climbing

 Amazing views

 Stunning weather

 What's not to like?

 Think thin thoughts and squirm!

 A change of pace

 Warm work

 Getting higher

 Nearly there

 Weather approaching Ben Nevis

 The sunny summit plateau

A Devil of a Ridge

More boring beauty!

Grey but dry and clear on Sron-na-Lairig

A steady mountaineering day for Claire, Jamie and I today. Its a long time since I did Sron na Larig and I was worried about the amount of snow on the approach but it only became a deep slog beneath the route itself and was fine once we'd made the crest. Good visibility helped us pick a safe line down from the col to the east after I'd been belayed to the cornice to prepare it. A quick stomper got Claire and Mr. B down to easier ground and then it was a reasonably quick run back to the road.
The ridge is open and rambling lower down but wonderfully  exposed and defined higher up.
N.B. The car park has not been cleared and we parked on the only bare patch at one entrance feeling a little guilty for  blocking it until we saw the next car to arrive get stuck and even the NTS 4wd truck struggle with conditions in the actual car park.

 A rosey glow to the dawn sky

 The walk ahead

 A splash of sunshine across the glen

 Jamie 'Bulldozer' Bankhead out ahead

After the wade finally some climbing!

 Onto the crest

 Grey but good vis

 Higher up

 Narrower too

The thin bit just below the top

 To the top!

Bluebird day on the Aonach Eagach

Claire has had it on her ticklish for a while… I knew there would be unconsolidated snow around but was hoping that weekend travel would have left something of a broken trail. The weather said 'YES'!
A bit of trail breaking on a drifted in path (fortunately Jamie B was shadowing me and took his turn) but cold, clear and stunning!

 A rosey dawn

 Higher

 Higher still

 Someone looks happy

Leg rest for a moment

 Anyone would think she was enjoying herself?

 On a ledge

 Past the first difficulties… bring it!

 On the rope

 Warm work

 Going down

 Using the ground

 Stering the pinnacles

 First pinnacle

 Second pinnacle

 Into the west

 Looking back

 Avoiding a powdery downclimb

 Twinkletoes shows us the way

 Weary but happy

The soloist who overtook us heading to the end of the ridge.

That's better! Great on Golden Oldy

Nice to be be back out and not fighting the weather. Ruairidh, John and I were on Aonach Mor today. Lots of other folk had seen the avalanche forecast and also decided that the west face would be a good option so as we left the ski centre we were at the front of a long crocodile of folk.
I decided that life would be easier for us at the front of the queue so kept the foot down and broke trail all the way to Golden Oldy. This was pretty knackering but gave us a clear run up one of my favourite mountaineering routes in fair weather- well done John and Ruairidh for rising to the challenge of following me! Ken was close behind with his team and there were more following him as well as multiple pairs trying to figure out who was on Western Rib, who was on Daim Buttress and who was just having fun on a random piece of mixed mountainside!
Plenty of evidence of cross loading in the stream gullies that carve down this face gave us something to talk about and several times as we moved onto the side of the route I kicked of small slabs that sheared easily.
Nice to come down through a busy Nevis Range with lots of folks enjoying the great conditions.

 At the front of the crocodile of climbers

 Low on the route

 Getting higher

 The Allt Daim below

 Half way

 Ken and team below

 Narrower...

 Very narrow!

 Last bit

On the way down