I had a short day climbing The Stirling Bomber (V, 7) with Will and Roger today. Plenty of teams out in the dry, colder weather with the summit temperatures about -5°c. The crags are covered in hard ice which is making gear hard to find and the mixed routes particularly bold. With the temperatures set to stay cold its maybe time to switch to ice and snow gullies.
Its also worth noting that the Scottish Avalanche Information Service has started their daily forecasts today.
A damp climbing day on the Fiacaill Couloir today with rain turning to sleet only at the base of the corries. The grade of this route varies with conditions and it was definitely in its easier grade II state today with positive placements from start to finish – just expect to work hard for any protection.
The freezing level is set to plummet over the next few days which should ensure the bigger ice routes come into a good state.
Will and I successfully avoided the weekend crowds in the Northern Corries by heading over to Carn Etchachan yesterday. Unfortunately the conditions on the crag were poor with the crusty snow offering no help and keeping climbing at a snail’s pace. We climbed 2 tricky pitches of Equinox (VI,6) before backing off. Much better in the corries by all accounts!
Keen mountaineers Will and Si joined me at the weekend for some intensive navigation training. They are both determine to have a productive winter and hoped that a pre-season refresher would stand them in good stead. Strong winds on Saturday and a very high avalanche risk meant we had to abort our plan of going high and drop down somewhere lower where we could work productively and safely. Both the guys were already pretty proficient navigators allowing me me to introduce some more advanced techniques which culminating in a couple of hours micro nav in the dark.
On Thursday last week I joined Roger and Will for a short day in the Northern Corries. The deep, soft snow was still pretty hard going and we were thankful of a good track straight to the base of the Mess of Pottage in Coirie an t’Sneachda. We climbed Hidden Chimney Direct followed by an unknown chimney that broke left from 10m up the top pitch of hidden chimney. There’s no record of this in the guide book but its so obvious I can’t believe its not been done before and proved to be a great 30m pitch with a tricky roof to overcome – about V 6.
I’ve had a busy week arranging winter courses and getting out mixed climbing in some excellent conditions. I’ve also had a few problems with the website so I haven’t been able to update the blog but all that is fixed now so I’m going to do a bit of updating this morning and then hopefully keep on top of it.
Early last week the Cairngorms were pretty buried in powder so I headed over to the North West with Will and James. We decided to have a look around Ben Eighe which hadn’t received anywhere near as much snow and made progress a lot smoother. We headed as high as possible to find the best conditions and ended up spotting a great corner line on the Far West Buttress. There was no note of the route in the guide book so we’ve claimed a first ascent of Chocks Away, V 6.
