December 08 Conditions

Wednesday 31st December 2008

Reports from the East, West and Southern Highlands

Danny was out again with the team from Warwick Uni. Today they went up Aonach Mor via the frozen burn under the Gondola. As expected the snow and turf were very well frozen.

They climbed through mist to sunshine on the tops.

Mike and Kev were over at Hell's Lum yesterday. Thanks to them for these photos above and left. Mike said Chancers looked tempting but a bit 'chancy'.

Di was down near Tyndrum on the munros Beinn Dubhchraig, Ben Oss, Ben Laoigh and Beinn a'Chleibh.“ We looked down Central Gully on Ben Lui which looked in stonking nick. There were very obvious layers of temperature/conditions in the mountains.”

Tuesday 30th December 2008

Temperature Inversion

While the temperature on Cairngorm last night climbed to a balmy 2�C. it dropped to -5�C. at sea level on the East coast leaving a beautiful thick frost.

Di was out yesterday on Glas Tulaichean, a munro just to the west of Spittal of Glenshee with her Xmas thermometer: “ It was -12�C. in Grantown in the morning and only -3�C. on the summit

There was a very obvious snow line around 550/600m it was just a dusting but certainly wasn't quite expecting so much. It was starting to drift on the plateau where it could.”

Danny was out with Students from Warwick Uni Mountaineering Club today on Ben Nevis.

On their first day of a two day winter skills course with Alpha Mountaineering they learnt to crampon on the well frozen Allt a' Mhuilinn and the very hard neve that is around at the moment in the gullies.

It was quite a busy day with parties out on most easy gullies.

Thanks to Mark for this report frrom the Cairngorms: “ Awesome day out doing Ben Macdui from Derry Lodge Side, great biking to and from Derry Lodge. Stunning weather up top. Lots of Bullet hard neve and ice around on the tops. ”

Monday 29th December 2008

Northern Corries report and Glen Affric photos

Another very cold day across much of Scotland. Thanks to Will for the following report: “Lots of people at the base of Fiacaill working on crampon skills, and plenty of people enjoying the routes. Nearly every gully in Coire an-t sneachda had a team on it, and a few of the buttress routes too. The old snow is still bomb proof neve, Aladdins mirror direct also had a big waiting list!

Davy and I did grooved rib to start which was in very good condition, neve in the grooves, and the rock nicely hoared for that full winter effect. Spindrift and frozen eyebrows type morning. In the afternoon we soloed Crotched Gully with a tiny mixed step before the continuation of more bomb proof neve.”

Thanks also to Mark and Jon for the photos below of a beautiful day out in the Glen Affric hills.

Mark mentioned that “The views we had from the tops where breathtaking. We could see Skye, the Torridons, Ben Nevis, Five Sisters, An Teallach and so many more. The snow was bullet hard with many easy gullies complete but the icing was poor with only thin smears. Defiantly need crampons and axe as a slide would be hard to stop.”

Sunday 28th December 2008

Winter Skills Course

Danny was out working for me today doing a winter skills course.

Simon, Caroline, Jo, Alison and Ruth had a fun day out near Corrour Lodge learning the basic winter skills.

Pete and his Dad were in Coire an t-Sneachda today doing Mirror Direct which he said was good. Some easy gullies still have good hard snow in them.

Sunday 21st December 2008

Warm and windy conditions

From about midnight last night the temperatures on top of Cairngorm rose well above freezing and the wind has been gusting above 100mph today.

James and Martin got out yesterday before it warmed up and did Bulgy in Coire an Lochain. James said that the climbing was on snow, ice and verglas and that the gullies have firm snow in them making a great base for the rest of the winter.

Wednesday 17th December 2008

SMC Scottish Winter Climbs guidebook and website updates

This month sees the publication of the new Scottish Winter Climbs guidebook. I managed to get a couple of photos in the new guidebook. You can see which ones on my Winter Gallery Page

I have also added a few photos to my Expedition Gallery Page from my recent trip to Yosemite.

If you're booked on a course for later in the winter you might be interested to know that I can hire out some equipment if you don't have everything you need. For more information go to the Hire Page.

Tuesday 16th December 2008

Glencoe report and SAIS avalanche reports

Andy and Ian were out yesterday in Glencoe making a successful ascent of The Duel, a hard modern test piece.

The temperatures have now gone up which should help to consolidate the snow. Keep an eye on the Avalanche Forecast. Today is the first day for the Lochaber and Northern Cairngorms Reports.

Monday 15th December 2008

Cairngorms report and Christmas Vouchers from Alpha Mountaineering

Steve and Gaz reported that yesterday was a difficult day on the hill with low visibility and loads of snow. They did the Message but found it hard work clearing all the snow to find gear.

If you are struggling to find a Christmas gift for someone special then why not get them a voucher for a day of guiding with Alpha Mountaineering. You can also buy gift vouchers of any value to put towards a course.

For more details Contact me via email or telephone.

Friday 12th December 2008

Another great day yesterday for both winter climbing and bouldering.

Gareth reports that he had “been up Tower Ridge today with two friends. Good hard neve on the lower half but a bit crusty higher up, still nice conditions, especially with the stable weather.”

Baggy's report from North Wales mentions that “Today has been another good day in Wales. You needed to be high, but just as in Scotland no wind and a nice day...Today there was an attempt on The Crack, Nick Bullock's grade IX 9 from March 06. However, too much rime meant that gear was a nightmare so that it was a no go. Another new route and second ascent also tried, again rime proved a problem. However a lot of easy routes are bomber and ice is forming quite nice on some routes.”

Closer to home Rich got the most out of the day with an after dark bouldering session at Farr and Ruthven

I am doing a slide show at Dows Diner in Inverness at 7.30pm tonight if anyone wants to see a few Scottish Winter Adventures.

Thursday 11th December 2008

Minus 2�C at sea level today and a clear blue sky herald another great Scottish winter day.

Its been another busy week both here in Scotland and South of the border. On Monday Andy and Steve almost grabbed an onsight ascent of The Great Escape (VII,9) on Fiachaill Buttress in difficult verglassed conditions but had to abseil off after running out of light.
They then had a great time yesterday on the more amenable route Salvation on Aladdins Buttress.

Further south on Lochnagar Mark and Andy had a cold and windy day on Shadow Buttress A.

Even further south my roving reporter Baggy was out again in North Wales where he and Owen put up a new route on Castell y Gwynt in the Glyders this grade III can be seen in the photo below.
Baggy had this to say about his day out yesterday: “Need to keep you northeners realising there is ace climbing south of the border ... Clogwyn Du is in ace nick ... it has one of the best mixed routes in the UK on it. This is called El Mancho and the crag shot has pictures of climbers on it today. It goes at VI,6 and the only 10 folk to climb it have all raved [about it]... The world needs to know.”

Tuesday 9th December 2008

Late reports just in from today in the Northern Corries and Loch A'an Basin.

Mark and Andy sent this report from Western Route in Coire an Lochain: “Conditions where varied from the bottom right to the top. The first pitch was verglassed and no neve, so the climbing felt awkward. The second pitch was awesome climbing up a steep and technical wall then a pushy chimney. The last couple of pitches where tough with some steep climbing and deep wind blown snow, great route. Felt really cold today, icy eyebrows!”

James sent me this report from the Loch A'an basin: “I went over with Phil Ashby to the Loch Avon basin thinking that the Chancer and Cascade might be good, but they weren't. It looked like cascade left and right might have been better a couple of days ago but had been eaten a bit by the sun and had water running down the back of them. Instead we climbing a possible new line near there, a 120m IV,6 and after a spot of lunch went over to Hells Lum and climbed the current best bit of ice on it based on Brimstone groove but it was probably V,5 rather than IV,4 at the moment.
No ice on sticil face and not as much ice as I would have thought in Sneachda which was reasonably quiet. It was a pretty wild day and the spindrift was torrential on Hells Lum. Another party climbed the grade III Hells Lum”

Monday 8th December 2008

Report from the Northern Corries and photos from some North Wales new routes.

Thanks to Mark for this report from the Northern Corries from yesterday:

“Ended up in the Corries yesterday (Sunday) doing Terms of Endearment.
I've done it a few times before, starting from the left, the right & the direct start too ... I suspect our ascent yesterday might be one of the first since the Rockfall in June ... The right hand start (and the direct) are still do-able since the rockfall at the same grades, but there's still a fair bit of loose material in the rock-scarred area and anyone heading up it from the right hand start would do well to watch out for loose blocks. Unless they want to kill their belayer that is.
Conditions were absolutely minging with ferocious downdraughts coming over the lip of the corrie rendering movement very difficult at times!”

I've also added some photos here from the recent new routing activity in North Wales. Thanks to Baggy, Rocio and Owen for the photos.

Sunday 7th December 2008

Report just in from Heike and Brian. Looks like they had an awesome time on Lochnagar yesterday.

“Here are some pics from a stunning day on Lochnagar on Saturday. Very good mixed conditions, the turf was bomber and the cliffs beautifully white. Quite a lot of snow on the walk-in though and we had to break trail too, forever. The corrie was very quiet, the only other teams on Black Spout and Polyphemus � strange choice as there was no ice and lots of powder, I don�t think they got very far. We did Bell�s Route V,6**, very good climb. Long, but not very sustained, so a good choice when there is not so much daylight.

The sunset was brilliant � we could see right down to the Ochils. ”

Thanks to Heike for the photos and report.

What a fantastic week of wintery weather we have had. Most of the UK has had a taste of winter. Baggy has sent me the following report:

“North Wales has just had one of its busiest periods for many years in view of new routes and first ascents of summer lines. Over a period of 5 days from Saturday 29th Nov to Wednesday 3 December the following was achieved:

Between Mark 'Baggy' Richards, Matt Stygall, Owen Samuel, Rocio Siemens and Rob Johnson, 2 new winter lines were done, 1 in Cryn Las at VI-6 and one on Glyder Fach at VII-6/7, 2, second ascents of summer lines on Crib Goch and 5 first ascents of summer routes on the Glyderau and Snowdon Massif.”

Baggy tells me the routes kept falling and many a good line was climbed. Unfortunately a rise in temps and an inversion put a stop to the enthusisam.
I hope to add some photos to this North Wales report soon.

It looks like after this slight rise in temperatures a 'blocking high' to the West of the UK will force low pressures North and bring a very cold Northerly air stream down across the UK.

Saturday 6th December 2008

Continuing high pressue brought cold clear weather to the highlands today.

At Glenmore Lodge they were holding a dry tooling contest. There was a good turn out for the comp and also for Andy's master class and his lecture on his route The Secret.

It looked like there were many folk heading up the hill too on this fantastic sunny day.

Thursday 4th December 2008

There has also been some good winter climbing conditions in both North Wales and the Lake District.

Ian sent me this report and photos from a day out yesterday in North Wales.“Yesterday went out with Big Tim to the black ladders and most likely did a new route. Tim got the hard climbing (thankfully) as it involved poorly protected climbing up blobs of turf on a steep wall.”

Thanks to Ian for the photos and report.

Thanks to Mike for this report and photos from yesterday in the Southern Fannichs.

“We went for Fionn Bheinn which is not a bad ski (although it could do with being a little steeper)...you can see it was a stunning day, although what you don't see is how completely freezing it was, particularly when we dropped for an extra pitch of skiing over the back the summit.

There's a good cover of snow but it's unconsolidated at almost all levels, although noticeably deeper above about 500m. We managed to combat ski back to the car.”

Wednesday 3rd December 2008

It struggled to get above freezing today in Inverness.

Conditions are looking excellent across much of Scotland. With folk out on many climbs even at lower altitudes

Heike and Brian enjoyed a weekend in the NW on Beinn Eighe and Meal Gorm near Applecross.

Heike and Jeremy then had a long day yesterday due to lots of snow on the rarely climbed North Face Route on Buchaille Etive Mor. Thanks to Heike for providing the photos.

Pete and John also had an excellent day yesterday on Spidean Coinich on Quinag in Assynt. They did a new grade VII,7 called The Great Gig in the Sky. Pete said it was an amazing route and they had the company of an eagle circling above their heads.

Thanks to Pete for the photos below of their new route on Quinag

Monday 1st December 2008

Another cold wintery day across Scotland.

While driving North from a weekend in England I saw snow on many hills from the Campsies near Glasgow to Ben Wyvis near Inverness.

It looks like there is more snow forecast for tonight and later in the week. Look out for ice forming in drainage lines as the freezing level stays very low for the rest of the week.