Saturday 5 January 2013

Mountaineering in the Lochain

A team in Boomerang
I was pulled out of bed last minute like a super sub to fill in after a family emergency this morning.  It was the first day of James, Sioban, Charlotte and Gavin's winter mountaineering course with Alpine Guides, so with the late start we headed for SCNL.  After chatting on the enjoyable walk in, we opted for a skills refresher, before taking in some grade I ground.

Exiting Pinnicle Gully

We worked in the West side of the corie and looked at snow belays, as well as refreshing our footwork.  There is still some reasonable snow in the gullies in this area, so we headed up Pinnacle Gully I which gave a pleasant way out of the corie.  Once on the ridge, the guys did a bit of nav to get us back down and out as the rain came in strong.
Happy at the top

It was a good constructive day, with things to build on tomorrow with Matt.

7 comments:

james picksley said...

Thanks for saving the day Adam! Thoroughly enjoyed it. It was really useful to go through snow belays etc again. Siobhan and James

Adam Hughes said...

You are more than welcome guys. Matt said you had another good day out yesterday. Hope you can make the most of your week up here.

james picksley said...

Cheers Adam! Yes we did have a good day yesterday with Matt. Siobhan and I are thinking of a trip east to Coire-an t-Sneachda on Wednesday to maybe look at Aladdin's couloir or Central gully. Could we pick your brains please..what do you think, having been there today?

Adam Hughes said...

Aladdin's still looks ok, Bu central was very broken. Jacob's Ladder is still in good condition too.

james picksley said...

Great. Thanks Adam. We'll let you know how we get on. Cheers, James.

Adam Hughes said...

No.2 Gully on Ben Nevis worth a look.

james picksley said...

Thanks Adam. We got over to Jacob's Ladder today. We went up it twice, first solo and then we pitched it for practise. It was tracked out but well consolidated. We even practised with double axes! Much fun was had. Thanks for the info on No. 2 Gully. Cheers Adam.