Breakin Trail

Richard and i headed into Sneachda this morning on the first of 4 days winter climbing. We managed to team up with Steve and Ibrahim to break trail and made it into the corrie in 1hr 45mins. There were a few other teams around and the trough is biggar! It was -3 in the corrie.

Very white and wintery as the photos show with lots of good ice around. Bit of a flounder on the aprons but once on the buttresses you can get into the old snow ice. A team climbed Alladins Mirror direct on fat blue/green ice and Steve and Ibrahim climbed the first pitches on Doctors Choice which again was holding lots of ice. Richard and I had a bit of a skills refresher and climbing workshop to the right of Mirror Direct. Hopefully it wont snow overnight.

Merry Christmas

A Merry White Christmas to everyone. More snow fell last night giving the local forest tracks a bit of a top up. Aileen, Bracken and I took advantage with some great cross country skiing this morning. Good to see a bit of blue sky!

Conditions up higher on the hill look hard work with snow shoes or skis the best way to travel. Looks like the cool weather is set to continue in Scotland well into next week and the New Year.

N Corries

Another day in Sneachtda. James and I climbed Grooved Rib which goes up just left of Crotched Gully. The corrie was reasonably busy for a Friday. Fiaciall buttress looked the busiest with a steam of teams on Invernookie.

Climbing conditions are great with icy neve/snow ice on most aspects covered with a fresh dusting of snow. Grooved Rib is given III/4 and felt quite easy today, however there is a down side, the buttresses are covered in icy rime/hoar and most (all) cracks are filled with ice making finding and placing gear a nightmare.

Good movement/crampons skills a must just now. The weekend looks a bit full on with heavy snow and strong winds forecast tomorrow and the avalanche risk going up.

Sneachtda

I was in corrie Sneachdta today on a winter induction with Glenmore Lodge. After a morning of looking at course programmes, operating/safety guidelines and risk assessments we wandered into the morraines and had a session on snow anchors, burrying different types of axes, straight shaft... bendy etc. Very cold and snowy under foot with a bit of a trench forming. A few folks climbing on the mess of pottage - haston line, hidden chimney and what looked like a new line in between hybred and the message? Over on the other side of the corrie there were folks on red gully, fingers ridge and invernookie. Looked like alot of swimming and cleaning going on, its a pity things are warming up.

Mess of Pottage

Campbell and i had a good winters day in the corries today climbing The Opening Break. Poor viz and lots of snow underfoot made moving around and finding your way entertaining. There is about 1 to 2ft of snow in the bottom of the corrie in places, snow shoes or skis would be a good shout. It took us 2hrs to get to the bottom of the route.

Climbing wise, cracks not that icy, turf.... well covered and frozen, lots of hoar/rime. Alot of consolidated snow in scoured areas, not far off neve which is a good sign for the rest of the season.

Winter Courses

I still have availability for Winter Courses over the New Year period and into January 2010.

All courses are based in the Cairngorms, Winter Skills, Winter Mountaineering and Winter Climbing. Also available, Norway Ice which is based in Rjukan.

For further details use the link above to access the main site.

Bookings received before 1 December will receive a 15% discount!

Killer Toads at Cummingston!

Thanks to Liz for this photo!