East Buttress of N Ridge of Stob Ban SNOW

Day 1 of 3 with Claire today and we wanted IIish, something she hadn't done before and not in the wind. I haven't done The east Buttress of the North Ridge of Stob Ban for a few years but its a good option for a snowy day with strong westerlies. It didn't disappoint. With Julie along to observe as part of the work towards her MIC Assessment we had hail on the walk in and then snow and a breeze as we geared up but almost no wind on the route. The lower part is rambling, heathery and a little loose but worth doing when under snow- and there was no shortage of that today! Last night provided us with a few inches of fresh (plenty of graupel in evidence beneath the surface layers) to dig through.
The upper part of the route get more defined presenting a tower with a nice corner on its left hand side (II/III) followed by a couple of knife edge aretes. With things a little windier on the N Ridge we turned right dropping straight back down to Glen Nevis.
Snowing hard in my garden now!

 The 2 steps of our ridge looking wintery

 Snowing as we geared up

 Lower part of the ridge

 The fun bit

 A cheval on the arete

 The gully yawning below

 Nearly there

Heading down

A day in the Glen but fresh snow on the hill

Stormy night and morning in Lochaber but a brighter afternoon has revealed a dusting of fresh snow on the hills today.
I was working with 1st year students from UHI looking at leadership styles and options in the context of taking novice hillwalkers out. We spent part of the day planning a walking journey they will undertake tomorrow and part of the day looking at practical situations on Scimitar ridge in Glen Nevis. It rained, it hailed, it was blustery but it cleared up later on to reveal a dusting of fresh snow on the tops.

 Path or stream?

 Flanks of Ben Nevis holding on to snow high above

 In the shelter

 Warming up

 Heading down, view to Mamores

Fresh dusting on Ben Nevis from Corpach

Less minging than expected on Curved Ridge

I won't say it was nice but we saw the sun and a little blue sky and the rain was light showers rather than torrential as I took Tom and Julian to Curved Ridge today. It was very sociable with 2 Joint Services groups and Mike's party just ahead of us. There is plenty of soft snow around the gullys but most of the Ridge is wet rock. Lots of snow still in the Coires though.

 Buachaille Etive Mor

 Curved Ridge

 Julian and the clove hitch

 Busy on the crest

 Tom at work

 Andy at the top of the polished corner

 Julian savouring the exposure

 Direct belay

 Rannoch Moor far below

 The head of Coire na Tulaich

 A quick chance to revisit yesterdays learning on steeper ground

 The only way to travel

The gloves of choice this week! (The Frenchmen who had come up N Buttress wanted a picture of 'the Scottish Winter Gloves')

Moist and minging on Ben Nevis

Today i was out with Julian on the first day of an introductory mountaineering course. We were joined by Tom who is working towards his MIC Assessment who wanted to observe me at work.
It was wet but nothing like as windy as forecast. On the walk up to the CIC Hut we met some Americans on the way down. Then whilst we reviewed some basic winter skills we spotted 2 teams retreating from the Minus/Orion areas.
We looked at some introductory rope work and then made a scrambley ascent of the crags beneath Coire na Ciste (I didn't fancy going into a Gully today or anywhere under a cornice either between the rockfall and the odd sound of large things falling off in the murk above us). I was quite surprised to arrive near where the Ciste Lochains should be and find that the debris from No.2 Gully is actually closer to the lip of the Coire than they are. Things like the SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder are now loose rock, earth and turf.
Having introduced a variety of snow anchors and abseiled off of a bollard we stopped in at the Hut where: Kev and Jon had taken their parties up Castle Ridge, Matt had accessed Ledge Route via a wet rock climb up the Curtain Rail (to wisely avoid No.5) and Tim was still out sponging up the moisture on either NEB or Tower Ridge.
2 pairs of gloves and only dampish pants- could've been worse.

 Blow back

 Run away!

 More debris below no. 5

 Bucket seat

 Below Observatory Gully

 Ptarmigan

 Abseil

A snow profile in a wind scoop

Skill acquisition at the wall

Working with first year Degree students from UHI today at the Ice Factor whilst outside it was warm and mild. After I looked at some ideas whilst teaching them to tie an Alpine Butterfly they worked in small teams to look at designing practise and introducing skills as varied as belaying, smearing, flagging and a retrievable abseil. Keen team and fun to work with them and fellow instructor Ally.

 Knot

 Practise

 Concept

Game

Curved Ridge with Plas Y Brenin

Today I was working with Tim on the last day of an MIC training for Plas Y Brenin (wish it was yesterday but it was Jane's turn to hit the hills in the sun on planks- I was on cooking and daddy daycare duty).
Today was mild but not too wet. The snow was very soft on Curved Ridge except where there were plenty of old tracks. We used the Ridge for looking at short roping and teaching mountaineering and lead climbing in a winter context.
On our way down we observed the enormous cornices still threatening Coire na Tulaich and the crown wall of a recent large cornice collapse triggered avalanche (more recent than the one that has sent all the debris to the base of the gorge where the Coire opens out).
We descended via Creag na Tulaich looking at protecting 2 students over the edge of a steep corniced core lip before heading back to the luxury of Alltshellach for cake and debriefs.
Good luck to the Trainees in their preparation for Assessment in the future!

More shots of Ben Nevis, cornices and Obs Buttress

A few more pictures from yesterday just because it was soooo good. Thanks for the images Jon.
Hard to overstate the danger from cornices at present after yesterdays accident in No.4 Gully and all the ice I saw flaking off Tower Ridge. Have a care in the sun folks (mind you, looks to be less of a problem again for a while after today).

 Ben Nevis at its best

 Observatory Buttress with climbers on Rubicon Wall

 Vade Mecum round to Point 5

 Pitch 2

 A belay in the snowfield, spindrift overhead

 A way through the cornices- a welcome sight!

 A seat in the snow

 Taking it in

Gardyloo Gully cornices