Morwind

Today Dave, Iain and I headed for a quick day up to the east face of Aonach Mor. Guy and Alan had the same plan along with another pair (and since he was working and Alan had a chest infection we all decided to be kind and leave Left Twin to Guy). So the 3 of us opted to abseil Morwind following the footprints of a team who did so yesterday. The other pair of climbers opted to descend Easy Gully (which they said seemed fine for avalanche hazard but they weren't so convinced by the snow on the apron).
Its a few years since I climbed on the east face, put it down to a few winter of snowy conditions, westerlies and monster cornices, and it was nice to be back. 3 abseil saw us digging out a belay in the very snowy initial gully at the base of the route. I'd put in a request for the first pitch knowing it to be the crux and was soon engaged in the narrow chimney which wasn't as ice as hoped. Gear was a mediocre wire and a stubby screw before entering and a sling poked through a hole in the ice part way up. Then it was just commit, lean against the left wall and let my razor sharp new crampons bit the thin ice on the right whilst fishing for axe placements always 1 inch out of reach. It felt thin and a bit run out (especially for III,4) but a couple of solid hooks and a turf that was frozen enough for some big pulls soon saw we swimming up through a couple more awkward bulges (better gear if you dig for it) to a belay. The team that came down Easy Gully backed off something to the right reporting huge amounts of snow and returned up Easy Gully as I brought the guys up.
Iain dispatched the second pitch leaving Dave to demonstrate his flexibility with a drop knee into wide bridge to escape the cave and reach easier group on pitch 3. A fourth easy flounder saw us back over the cornice where Kenny was packing up having done a hybrid of Typhoon and Turf Walk. Guy and Alan waded up a very full looking Right Twin too.
As I say the first pitch is quite thin and not well protected. After that its better but the snow had buried a lot of evidence of yesterday's climbers so expect to dig!
Definitely mild today. It was snowing and misty but a sweaty walk up and raining gently in the car park (not as nice as forecast at all). Watch out for a period of instability towards the weekend if the thaw gets as vicious as I fear it might!

Hoorah for Nevis Range- Iain and his friends ;-) on the Quad Chair

Second abseil

Third and final abseil- had to climb back up a bit to dig out a belay

 The short but tricky and poorly protected (at present) first chimney (Pic Dave Anderson)

 Iain following with a grimace...

 ...ah, a hot aches moment

 Dave styling it

 Iain's pitch

 High step

 Wide step

Iain hanging out on the east face of Aonach Mor

Gnarly graduation day for my climbers

The end of a tough week for the 2 Kierans on their Glenmore Lodge Learn to Lead in Winter Course. With acres of snow around and another serious avalanche forecast we waded in to the Twin Ribs. The heavy snow and limited daylight have made be a hard task master this week and today it was really satisfying to see the guys totally 'on it'. They picked a safe line around the slabby snow to the base and led themselves up the crest of the rib by a nice interesting 3 pitch route in cold, moderate winds and snow as karabiners froze and I got my first rime beard of the year. And I was largely superfluous I'm pleased to say. 3 abseils down and my colleague Mark and his pair let us use their already rigged ropes for a last ab down the apron. Then it was a long walk in the white room to get home. Well done the Kierans and thanks for putting up with my whip cracking this week. Today you were looking good.
Its been a struggle to balance teaching goals, safety, time and painting a good picture of how to react to the current conditions. The avalanche hazard has been serious and despite what folk say Cairngorms conditions on many low and mid grade routes are far from friendly owing to the sheer amount of snow (many seem to confuse having a "great day" with "great conditions"). Numerous people seem to be 'going for a look' despite the avalanche forecast... hoping that they will find conditions that their judgment makes them happy enough to climb. Therein lies the start of a perilous path. "I'll just go in for a look anyway"..."I'm here now I'll give it a try"..."The snow seems ok I'll go a little further"..."I'm half way up now I should be ok"..."Oh dear, I'm being avalanched".
Or not. But that's no better in a way. They will have no idea at all how close they came to getting hurt or killed. A metre to the left or right could have triggered a slide but all they know is that they made it. This will only make them more sure of their powers of judgement next time. The avalanche doesn't know how good you think your judgment is or care. Be careful folks.

 Spot the person

 Approach

 Pitch 1

 Snowy...

 Snowing...

 Interesting bit

 Almost at the belay

 Following on

 Kieran getting amongst it

 Cold

 Pitch 2

 A cheval?

 A windy thread

 Pitch 3

 Run away!

Abseiling into the 'white room'

 Mark and I looking a tad rimey

Fiacaill Fun

Day 4 of our big snowy winter lead climb course at Glenmore Lodge and the guys led themselves up the Fiacaill Ridge of Coire an t Sneachda taking all the difficulties direct. It was in great condition with enough firm snow on the ledges to help us out. Cold and windy walking up the ridge and the Coire is still very snowy. We walked around to .1141 to make our way down. Another Lovely day.

 Approaching the start of the fun

 Kieran ready to go

 Teams ahead and on Rampant

 Cold, windy first pitch

 Kieran on the sharp end

 Sunshine down below

 The other Kieran getting steeper

 Following on

 Lou's team on the easier side of the Ridge and Ian topped out on Rampant

 Good conditions to climb the Ridge in

 Snowy

 Topping out

 Blowy at .1141

Core an t Sneachda, still buried

West coast wade and wander

Sometimes the conditions don't make work any easier. I'm looking hard for opportunities for my team to get on the sharp end at II/III without falling into the trap of looking at the avalanche forecast and deciding to "just go for a look anyway" when the forecast clearly indicates a hazard.
Today a large Glenmore Lodge Team was heading west so we went too for the change. I went back to the rib next to Ruth's Gully (shall I call it Ruth's Rib?) which while escapable has definition and can offer climbing from I to III and isn't so far around the west face as Aonach Mor. That was important today as we were going to be going up on a 9:30 gondola and needed to be down on one before the last at 4:15 pm- not a lot of time! The other important fact was i new we'd be on the Rib below any defined avalanche hazard.
An early drive away from the Lodge and we were soon heading round to the west face in the tracks of others (early gondoliers heading for Golden Oldy?) their path descending into the Allt Daim was welcome but all too soon we had to turn sharply uphill to make the stiff 250m+ climb to the base of the Rib.
It was deep again. I'll leave it at that... but I hurt tonight.
The guys did great, we dug, waded and swam as quickly as possible and they got a good pitch each of leading on the way up and a bit of rapid rope work on my part and some soling saw us on the edge of the ski area with an hour to spare. This in turn allowed us to drop down for one last pitch which one the guys dispatched in style to give them their first taste of Grade III ground. Topped out again and down to top station for 3:55. Phew. We did have time to admire the views- but we had to wipe away the sweat to do it!
I've had a beer and an enormous portion of Lodge lasagna and feel a bit better now. My team did great today- really shifted when needed.
Ken abseiled in to Morwind- no i.e. but climbable. A team climbed Stirling Bridge and another reported sub optimal conditions on mid grade routes on the East side. Ledge Route sounds like it was busy and another Lodge team enjoyed the SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder.
Tomorrow's avalanche forecast looks like pac man in stripes. Not helpful.

Pacman in stripes?

 Ken and Tim heading for Morwind

 Snow, sun and ice

 Kitting up time

 Enough ice to talk about screws!

 Pitch the first

 Kieran working hard for placements

 Easier ground. Rope off. Solo

 Thanks for breaking trail Kieran!

 And... breathe

 Topping out the first time- top views

 Kieran's first bit of III mixed- sent

 The other Kieran enjoying the fun

Hmm, breast stroke, butterfly or front crawl??