Current climbing conditions Links to :- Mountain Weather Information Service Scottish Avalanche information Service
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Blog Archive:- |
31st March 2010
80 mph winds and snow to 100 meters made conditions a little difficult for us today. The Cairngorm ski centre was closed when we arrived at 8.30 so we quickly turned around and tried to get over to the West but the A85 to Fort William was also closed. Heading South we parked at the Lawers hotel only to be met by fallen trees and thorn bushes blocking entry onto the hill! It was getting late so a quick jaunt up Ben Vrackie was the order of the day. I would say that MWIS were bang on with the forecast as it was easily blowing 70 on top of Ben Vrackie by 4pm. Not a great start to the week but its promising to leave us with a quality end to the season.
26th March 2010
It was a short final day for Brian before heading back home to Ireland, so with the little time we had Brian learnt to build belays at Polney Crag. The weather was wet and warm all day but being crag side instead of at the bottom of a big winter route felt like the most productive way to learn.
25th March 2010
We had great conditions in the Cairngorms today as Brian and I climbed Red Gully. The first pitch of the route was still iced up, although ice screws were pretty useless it did make for easy axe placements. The route has loads of rock protection and an easy run out after the initial good ice pitch. For the first time this week we were able to put our feet up at the top of the climb and enjoy our lunch before heading back down past point 1141. A cold trend is set to take hold over the UK over the weekend.
24th March 2010
It was a total wash out in Glencoe today. After the trudge into Coir an Lochan we decided to whip down to the van and try some dry tooling under the Ballachulish bridge. Back to the Cairngorms tomorrow.
22nd March 2010
The East is definitely staying dryer than the hills over in the West so again we took the easy walk into corrie an sneachta to climb Fiacaill Couloir and cover some basic navigation. The route was full of old snow ice which was easy on the axe placements but not great for placements. We made do and completed the route in swift time before heading around the corrie rim to point 1141 and back to the van. The wind was certainly stronger than yesterday but no more so than the usual Scottish Winter outing.
22nd March 2010
Today Brian and I walked in to the Northern Corries to look at snow craft, avalanche hazard, basic winter skills and finished with an ascent of the Fiacaill Ridge. The morning was pretty blustery with South Westerly winds whipping over the plateau and down into the Corrie. The afternoon however cleared to give a bright day with lighter winds. A cooler trend in weather is set to move in toward the end of the week.
18th March 2010
Today Steve and I walked into Corrie an Sneachta with the hope of getting onto a route before a quick descent away from the wind. 70 mph gusts were forecast and I expect it wasn’t far off on the summits as it was enough to put us off balance just on the walk in. We spotted allot of avalanche debris spilling out of the main gully lines and cornices looked very heavy with all the rainfall over night. Winter skills became the order of the day so we covered bucket belays, snow evaluation, stomper and boot belays before heading back for a pint in Aviemore. The weather is forecast to get even worse tomorrow with 90 mph winds expected in the Cairngorms.
17th March 2010
After a good luck over the avalanche and weather forecast Steve and I decided to head back into Stob Coire nan Lochan. We dug around in the snow checking for instabilities in the snowpack and came to the conclusion that although the snow had changed since yesterday we could get a route done safely. The crux moves on Twisting Gully are pretty thin with only a little mushy ice to help with confident ice placements but we did manage to complete the route and get back down Broad Gully before the wind made any effect on a good day. Plenty of people still venturing into Coire nan Lochan, most teams for Dorsal Arête. Pretty much all the ice on the routes has now turned to mush, the only hope would be a re-freeze at the weekend but it is now looking unlikely.
16th March 2010
The clag was certainly down in Glencoe this morning, as I drove through I didn’t even see the base of the Buchaille. Today Steve and I covered winter skills, snow pack evaluation and then got caught up in the crowds on Dorsal Arête. We then took a look at conditions in the main gully’s before heading back to the van. By mid-morning we saw a change in weather with clouds lifting to give a fantastic day, it’s a pity tomorrow is going to be a drastic change with gale force winds coming in from the South.
13th March 2010
There was no doubt it was a Saturday in Glencoe. Car parks all along the Glen were bustling with climbers making use of what is left of the ice. I counted ten teams of two or three making their way into Coire nam Beith with five of them heading toward Aonach Dubh, myself included. The Screen and Number 6 gully were the main attractions; both were looking pretty mashed up but definitely climbable. Number 6 gully look especially tempting but with over nine climbers already on the route and three waiting for their turn I decided it could wait. I read a report on Mike Prescod’s blog about the avalanche that had swept over Aonach Dudh, until you actually see it it’s hard to believe the amount of snow that had powered down the face -the ground is scattered with huge rock debris and tree’s!
12th March 2010
Its still very busy up in Glencoe at the minute. Today I took a walk into Stob Coire nan Lochan and climbed Dorsal Arête and Forked Gully Right Hand. There were also teams on SC Gully, Forked Gully Left Hand, Innuendo, Twisting Gully and Ordinary Route all of which used a solid feeling Broad gully to get back down. The weather was superb with just a little cloud covering the summit on occasion. The snow underfoot felt good considering it was pretty warm and although many of the routes looked like they had cornices more often than not there was a clear path through which had been made by previous teams. Tomorrow I will be going to Aonach Dubh West Face.
10th March 2010
There was a wee thaw over the weekend across the majority of Scotland but most of the North facing slopes have managed to keep hold of the ice and allot of good consolidated snow. I walked into Beinn an Dothaidh to climb Haar but the route was littered with climbers, so instead I took the opportunity to study the snow layers and climb two short ice falls I spotted from the path. The Alpine conditions are due to leave us over the weekend with a stiff North wind to replace it.
6th March 2010
It was a fantastic day to be out in the hills today. With the ankle feeling stronger I walked into Ben Lui to see if Eas Annie is still formed as I want to climb it before the season is out. Hidden from the sun the upper ice fall looked pretty fat from the gold mine, I hope to give it a bash Tuesday if it survives the thaw. Ben Lui’s Central Gully looked totally loaded. I wouldn’t have wanted to be anywhere near it but I did see two parties making their way into the bowl before heading back to my van. High pressure is going to dominate for some days to come.
4th March 2010
Today I walked up to the dam beneath Meall nan Tarmachan. The road heading up to the visitor centre still has huge icy patches so I made good use of the parking spaces lower down to put some miles on the legs. Most, if not all of the climbs on the South and East faces have now gone including Arrow route which is hidden from view and slightly out of the sun. It gave the feeling that spring has definitely arrived.
3rd March 2010
To introduce my damaged ankle back into the hills I decided to walk up Schiehallion. After such heavy snow last weekend the road into the car park is treacherous and I had to turn back or face a long walk in! So not to waste a great day I took to my bike and got about 10 miles out of the ankle before it began to niggle. We are blessed with Alpine conditions at the minute so great news if you are heading to the classic ridges, although there is still allot of weakly bonded snow higher up especially on any face that isn’t facing North.
28th February 2010
Yesterday was the first day in three weeks I managed to get close to any hill! With my ankle still in poor condition I took to sitting in the command vehicle up at Glenshee while the rest of Tayside Mountain rescue team took part in avalanche workshops and a small exercise. The Cairnwell looked well scoured but there are clearly large deep patches of fresh snow on all aspects in that area. I hope to be back climbing at the end of this week.
18th February 2010
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10th February 2010
I have torn the ligaments in my right ankle and will be out of action until the end of the month. Hope to have conditions up and running by the start of March, when it will be full tilt to make up for lost time!
2nd February 2010
There were fantastic conditions across Scotland today. The view from the Carn Mairg Group in Glen Lyon was spectacular; with a never ending chain of white mountains spreading as far as the eye can see. I completed the Lyon horseshoe in just less than 6 hours with decent snow conditions underfoot and a stiff Northerly wind whipping over the ridges as I took in the four Munro’s. To my disappointment the camera battery went dead after the first picture was taken so unfortunately no decent photos! Looks like the conditions are due to stay cold for the rest of the week.
28th January 2010
Phil and I walked into a lean looking Beinn an Dothaidh today in the hope of getting some decent mixed climbing done. Reaching the corrie takes about an hour from the farm car park and on arrival Taxus looked in great condition. We finished the 4 pitch, 3 star route with the direct icefall finish giving it an overall grade IV 4. Although most of the snow has gone from this area, the north facing corrie has held onto some snow and a decent amount of ice making it a very enjoyable outing. We were aware of a recent avalanche that had come down West Gully so it may be advisable to take in the North ridge on decent.
25th January 2010
I was over in Glenshee area today looking over the site of the new lunch hut for S-Team challenge. The snow underfoot was hard work with a firm wind-slab covering soft snow underneath which we continued to break through on the walk in. Conditions are forecast to settle a little toward the middle of the week with snow returning by the weekend.
24th January 2010
Before Neil set off back to Birmingham we decided to head up into Meall nan Tarmachan to climb Arrow Route. The low altitude of the buttress overlooking the Lochan and freezing level being around 700 meters meant that the route was pretty thin and the majority of it incomplete. To make the most of the day we soloed up the iced chimney before leaving the route to have a play on a steep pitch of ice. There was allot of water running underneath the thick slab of blue ice but we were confident it would take a couple of accents before heading back to the car. Fortunately for us it was very solid as I continued to test it with a few spectacular falls due to terrible hot aches and lack steep ice climbing this season - note where my ice axe is in the picture!
19th - 23rd January 2010
The week concluded with a 2 day expedition in the Ben Lawers mountain range. We covered winter Nav techniques, snow evaluation, avalanche pits and snow holing. The weather certainly took a turn for the worse Thursday / Friday with 65mph gusts sweeping over the tops as we navigated around late into Thursday night. We set out from our snow cave slightly later Friday morning to avoid the last of the challenging conditions to top out on Ben Lawers in superb weather. Freezing levels are forecast to drop over the next few days but it will turn milder toward the middle of next week. Snow is expected to fall on the higher summits, particularly in the North East.
18th January 2010
This week I am on a Winter ML course run by Stuart Johnson. For our first day we looked at instructing winter skills to potential clients, our own personal skills and touched on avalanche awareness. The snow has now receded back to about 400 meters and the temperature risen to around 0 degree’s with a forecast for colder conditions toward the end of the week.
5th January 2010
Today I did a simple, though physically challenging walk up Ben Vracki near Pitlochry. The snow was very compact along the paths leading from the car park at Moulin to the gate which leads onto the hill. Once near the foot of the steep stuff the snow was deep with poorly bonded snow underneath patches of wind-slab. The higher I got the more inconsistent the snow pack became with big drifts making it difficult to walk. Be wary of the upper reaches if you are following the direction of the path, although steeper and broken I decided to traverse left a little to stay out of the deep snow and potential direction of a slide. More snow and freezing temperatures to follow this weekend!
4th January 2010
After being snowed in for most of the festive period I was glad to get back out into the mountains and felt lucky to pick such a good day to do it. I decided to head to Glencoe area and do part of the Ballachulish Horseshoe. From the Tourist Information car park I ascended the spiky North East Ridge of Sgorr Bhan before continuing up to Sgorr Dhearg and then descending the North Ridge back to the A82. The NE Ridge is a nice wee scramble which I expect can be quite challenging in a winter storm, some parties may consider taking a short rope if climbing it direct although all difficulties can easily be avoided. I cannot recommend the return route as the final 50 meters you have to struggle through dense woodland before getting to a forestry track and returning to the road, it does make for a shorter day though. Conditions in Glencoe are the best I have seen them for a couple of seasons. They don’t seem to have had the quantity of snow Perthshire has seen but they definitely have received a good cold spell, enough to freeze all the waterfalls!
28th December 2009
We have been snowed in over the last week with big drifts and blizzard conditions bringing havoc to the Central belt of Scotland. Routes are still getting ticked in the Northern Corries and Ben Nevis although parking seems to be a problem at the more remote venues. Cold conditions are set to stay for the coming week, however with all the snow we have had avalanches are becoming a considerable hazard. Check SAIS before you travel.
20th December 2009
The clock was reading -3 as we arrived at Tentsmuir this morning for the Scottish Siberian Husky Club rally. Snow had settled over Eastern parts of Scotland today and by the time we returned to central Scotland we nearly had to abandon the van in a snow drift! At least 8 inches had fallen over parts of Perthshire with more forecast to arrive tomorrow. The weather is looking good for the festive week ahead with temperatures due to drop as low as -13 by Thursday. If we are lucky enough to hold onto the cold snap we may have some good water ice to play on by the New Year.
19th December 2009
Perthshire has seen temperatures as low as -5 over the last two days but little snow except on the higher ranges. This afternoon however, brought a decent covering at low levels but particularly on the higher peaks in the Lawers range. I had no time to get out on the hill today so I stole a couple of hours this evening to rumble down the frozen Rob Roy Way from Pitlochry to Strathtay. Apart from the styles every few hundred meters this single track bridle way makes a fast and steady decent through open hill side and small wooded areas. I am yet to see anyone using the path in the winter although I believe it is popular in the summer so watch out on the fast bends for walkers. The freezing temperatures are to stay over the weekend.
16th December 2009
With yesterday proving to be a success I decided to take Andy to the Northern Corries for his first winter adventure. Andy is a competent rock climber so I was pretty sure he would be bitten by the bug of winter climbing if we could have a good solid day out. We concentrated on basic winter skills to start with such as moving on steep ground, ice axe arrests and snow / axe belays. We then managed to fight our way through the sleet and deep snow to climb Jacobs Ladder. The lower part of the route was pretty soft but the upper half was hard snow with small bulges of good ice. The route is renowned for having a protruding cornice at the top which has now started to form with solid ice making up the majority of it.
15th December 2009
Today I joined Phillip and Anne of Perth Mountaineering Club for a trip into the Northern Corries. We opted for the very popular Coire an t’Sneachda and had a great day climbing ‘Hidden Chimney’ which is a very respectable grade II / III mixed climb. The snowpack is deep and very wet in places. Low cloud hindered our view for most of the day, it was only for a brief 2 minutes that I managed to get a decent shot before heading back to the car in the driving rain. A good winter’s day out.
11th December 2009
A small temperature inversion settled over Dunkeld today as Stephen and I threw our bikes around Craigvinean Forest. We started out at the Hermitage car park and steadily climbed through the forests and descended a few good (some very fast) tracks. We took a nice downhill detour through the forest to come out near the cycle route at the A9 bridge leading back to Dunkeld. After which we made a last leg-breaking ascent toward Loch Ordie and returned via the long and again very fast track finishing at Polney Crag. We were treated to spectacular views high up but it was bitterly cold in the fog, good weather is now due to stay with us into next week.
9th December 2009
It has been around 6 months since I used a compass to navigate, so with the winter weather getting ever more impressive I headed just West of Pitlochry to a range of hills generally between 500 – 700 meters. In this particular area there are little if any paths which lends itself well to depending on compass skills to get about safely. I had thought the summits would be in the thick of the cloud but throughout the day we managed to stay dry with the worsening weather sticking to the higher summits. From Strathtay we traversed; Creag a Coire, Meall Choire, Buachaille Bolla and Tom an Fhuarain. The ground has now thawed over the lower lying areas but heading North to cairngorms should be on everyone’s list as the weather improves after Friday.
7th December 2009
Maverick will be running at Tentsmuir later this month so today we got out on the mountain bike and stretched the legs. The weather is forecast to be pretty miserable for the start of the week with severe gales on the higher ground. There is light at the end of the tunnel though, as it’s believed a good spell of high pressure will make its way up and settle over the UK around Friday. Fingers crossed for a good weekend.
4th December 2009
Cloud cleared last night to give us a glorious day across most of Scotland. From the top of Ben Lawers we could see the entire central belt covered in deep snow under crisp clear skies. Ben Nevis summit was also visible – something I haven’t seen in over 18 months, especially from the Perthshire hills. Above 900 meters the snow was compact and deep on the North east spur that encloses Lochan nan cat. The weather is due to turn again this weekend with gales and heavy rain forecast into next week, fingers crossed it will become cold again to ensure we don’t lose what frozen ice and turf we already have.
1st December 2009
It was forecast for severe weather across Scotland today, with that in mind we headed to the Cairngorms for a quick ascent of Meall a Bhuachaille and Creagan Gorm. Cairngorm mountain was just about visible until around 10am after which a strong Southerly wind threatened to blow us off our feet as we made a steady ascent from the well kept Ryvoan Bothy. As the day went on we battled with 50 mph gusts and in places, knee deep snow. The conditions are starting to look good for a quality winter season, the cold snap has started a good freeze thaw cycle that looks to go on into the weekend. Several winter ascents have already been completed and there were plenty other parties making the effort in the corries today - let’s hope it lasts!
