Cairngorm Success

We ventured out again today, with a plan to ascend Cairngorm in the wild winds.  A cunning plan to shelter through the ski area to the restaurant worked well.  The more consistent winds, rather than gusts made it easier to manage.  That said, the winds were strong as we went from our shelter behind the restaurant up to the summit.  Everyone managed really well, and made consistent progress to the top.  We had the full winter experience as we descended, and found a nice drift low down to dig some emergency shelters.  A good day despite the forecast.

Happy Summit Team

A nice but windy walk off

Emergency shelter practice

Windy Cairngorms

I have been out for the first day of a 3 day skills course for The Outdoor Hub on the East.  After a wet start it dried up, but the wind was pretty strong.  We had a good footwork and sliding session on the side of the Fiacaill Corie Cas, then had an attempt at walking up the ridge with the aim of Cairngorm.  Unfortunately, the wind was getting the better of the guys today, so we bailed into Sneachda and did a tour of the coire doing more footwork exercises through the boulders.

Hopefully we can have a summit of something tomorrow.

Smooth As Silk

Yesterday I met up with Elliot, Beth, Steve and Jacob.  All are just getting into winter climbing properly, so the aim was to give Elliot and Jacob and taste of something tricky, whilst Beth and Steve climbed together.  We went to Creagan Corie Cha-no so I could have a look for the first time and see if would be suitable as a work venue.  Also there are a couple of VII's to have a crack at.  We went to look at Smooth as Silk VII,7, which was absolutely buried.  The first pitch was straight forward, but there snow, ice and crud was hard to clear.  This led us boldly to the belay, and an even more buried second pitch.

Setting in to quest

I spent a good 40 mins to an hour clearing up to the crux roof section, but did find good gear for my efforts.  At the roof though, the crud in the offwidth was impossible to shift, and useless for an axe.  After a few forays upwards trying to clear, I decided there was enough thin ice under the snow/crud on the steep ground above the roof to commit.  A technical sequence on icy hooks and tiny crystal footholds led around the roof to the ice.  It was then a case of questing upwards for approx 20m before getting another runner.  Thankfully before the awkward cornice exit.  It was an engaging route, and felt more like VIII,7 in it's current condition..

Orient Express FWA

Today I was up the Ben with Dave who wanted to have a rematch with Orient Express E2 5c.  He had backed off this a week ago due to poor ice/snow and poor gear.  The gear was not much better this time, but a higher terrier and some ice to aim for made the difference today.  That said it was extremely committing moving around the steep bulge into the upper groove.  Thin hooks and very poor feet made it hard to reach the ice, then hard to step up.  Dave did well to stick with it and work out the best sequence to commit to the moves, as falling off was not a good option.  Even the belay was a creative one.  The pitch was pretty nice to climb with the rope above you, thin, balancy and technical.  Not your usual pumpy winter route.  I then led through up the continuing groove which went on thin ice.  A short steep section took me to easy ground, but even this pitch was a bold affair.

The line of Orient Express

Dave picking his way up

Contemplating what's ahead

Heading into steeper ground and thin, but good ice

Psyched, Orient Express IX,8.  Due to the bold nature of the climbing we feel this reflects the route quite well.

Pics to come.

There were many teams out today.  Tower Ridge saw many ascents, New beginnings Right Hand and NE Buttress sore a few ascents also.  Mike Pescod climbed Observatory Ridge, but found very little gear.  I'm sure there were many other routes being climbed today as well.

Ice Climbing Coaching and North Buttress

It has been a tricky week with the weather and meeting the variety of aims Ambrose had.  One of those aims was to look at ice climbing and improve his technique.  The only way to do that was in the Ice Factor, so we headed there yesterday.  Ambrose said he found this an invaluable part of the week, and he showed real progression through the session, climbing his hardest line as the last route of the session.  We then spent some time refreshing belays, before doing a little bit of rock climbing and throwing in some coaching there.

Coming up the first pitch

Living the dream with a face full of spindrift

Today we finally had a nice day to wrap up the week.  We climbed an extremely easy going North Buttress IV,4***, but not before I had to put all the steps back in to the route as they had disappeared from Chris Thorns efforts yesterday.  We opted to ab after the tricky pitches to cover retreating.  This worked really well as Ambrose was feeling the efforts of the week.  Despite the great weather, there was the odd batch of spindrift to remind us we were in Scotland after all.

Getting stuck into the crux crack, that is pretty much hero snow

More Spindrift

Sometime A Gamble Doesn't Pay Off

With a good forecast we opted to escape South to the cobbler hoping get on something steady and swing leads.  When we arrived we were a little surprised to see the cloud base so low.  This was fine as we walked up the lower path, but as we came out of the trees visibility was poor.  With reports from friends of a considerable amount of snow about, we cut off and headed to the SE Ridge III.  This proved hard going through knee deep snow to get over to the broad ridge before heading higher, whilst navigating in the white room.  The theme continued all the way to the buttress, with the snow getting deeper and no features to nav with other than the compass etc.  It took us over 3 hours to plough our way to the buttress which was buried in it's lower section, which made identifying any routes very difficult.  The temperature had risen to, so the slopes leading to the base of the SE Ridge felt a bit too interesting.  I attempted to climb across via the Grassy Traverse III, but this seemed to be leading to no man's land after the distance it suggested it would meet the SE Ridge.  Getting late in the day and with the weather forecast to come in, we opted to retreat.  Only 150m from the summit, even the grade I option around to the right of the face felt out with the way the snowpack was getting heavy.  Disappointed, we made our way back down, bt with good learning points to take away from the experience.

It was clear the temperature had had an affect through Glencoe as we drove back.  The snow had retreated up the hill side and thinned out considerably.  Matt and Tim had success today on the Ben, climbing Shadow VII,6*** on Carn Dearg.  Good effort boys!

Windy On Dinnertime Buttress

Ambrose and I ventured up onto Dinnertime Buttress II today to look at some mountaineering ground and anchor selection.  The wind and occasional heavy snow shower made it an engaging experience throughout.  This worked really well, and we descended the route as well to save the deep slog through SCNL.  Forgot to take any pics today, as I was too busy staying upright.

Thanks to Abrose for this image showing the wonderful weather today