05-02-12, Cairngorms - Winter Skills

This weekend I have been working in the Cairngorms on a weekend Winter Skills course for Glenmore Lodge. The weather was quite bad on Saturday, with 50-60mph winds, sleet and snow added for extra pain! Today was much better and gave a more friendly learning environment for the group. They used their earlier acquired skills of walking with crampons and ice axe and navigation to summit Cairngorm. The freezing level was quite low and there is still plenty of snow about, from what I could see the corries were still looking reasonably white.



Well rimed summit weather station.



03-02-12, An Teallach, Beinn Alligin, NW Highlands - Winter Mountaineering

An Teallach with Sgurr Fiona.

The last week I have been working in the North West of Scotland on a Winter Mountaineering Course for Martin Moran. Conditions and weather have been fantastic all week. Snow level around 750m, has been stable and crispy! Cold in the evenings with plenty of flat ice about on the paths and bogs. I was out with 3 clients all week, for some it was the first week on crampons for others it was a week to brush off the cobwebs and make the most of the fine NW mountaineering ridges. The first day Sunday we headed to Fuar Tholl, and climbed Access Gully (II), in slightly soggy condition, but by Monday morning everything had refrozen hard, A traverse of Beinn Alligin (I), looking at rope work over the horns, Traverse of the Black Carls (I) on Beinn Eighe, then a bothy trip with a traverse of An Teallach (II). Climbing conditions are excellent at the moment, hard bomber neve and ice in gullies and some ice and rime ice on the faces.

The Horns on Beinn Alligin, Beinn Dearg and Beinn Eighe in the distance.

The Black Carls, Sgurr nan Fhir Duibhe, Beinn Eighe.

The Black Carls, Sgurr nan Fhir Duibhe, Beinn Eighe.

Eag Dubh, Beinn Alligin.

Beinn Dearg Mor, Loch na Sealga, An Teallach.

Toll an Lochain, An Teallach.

Traversing on the side of the fourth pinnacle of Corrag Bhuidhe, An Teallach.

An Teallach ridge Corrag Bhuidhe.

An Teallach ridge from Sail Liath.

Richard, very happy after completing the An Teallach ridge.

26-01-12, Sgurr Mor Fannaich, NW Scotland - Winter Climbing



Sgurr Mor Fannaich, 'The Resurrection' takes the 300m centre line up the face finishing on the summit.



Yesterday, after the warm conditions on Wednesday the freezing level fell dramatically overnight, we hoped snow everywhere would have firmed up nicely, so headed to the Fannaichs to try and climb the classic face route 'The Resurrection' on Sgurr Mor. It was a long day with lots of walking but ultimately worth it. The route is serious with long pitches, poor runners and really poor belays in compact rock. The climbing overall was fairly straight forward grade III in guidebooks, but long 300m, we did it in 6 long pitches. The whole face was plastered in icy/neve snow with pockets of new soft. A steady angle, with much of it on an open face, felt very much like an alpine face route, good to climb but poor for ice screws. A great feeling when we realised the top was firm neve, with no cornice, and it tops out on the summit cairn (easily the best belay of the day)! At the moment, its in great condition, but if it has snowed a bit with a SW wind, the face could be a super massive avalanche.


Kath and Garry, heading up the easy alpine face like snow field in the middle of the climb.

 

An Teallach



24-01-12, Torridon - Winter Mountaineering

Enjoyable winter mountaineering along the 'Black Carls' east Bein Eighe. 

I am in Scotland now till the end of March. The Cairngorms are fairly lean, despite snow falling in Grantown over the weekend. I have been working on winter skills course at Glenmore Lodge. Very high wind speeds with snow accumulating on eastern aspects. Yesterday I was in Torridon helping with a winter mountaineering group from Martin Moran. We headed up a snowy Creag Dhubh on the eastern end of Bein Eighe, traversed the Black Carls, looking at using the rope to keep everybody safe on a ridge line in winter.

17-01-12, Morocco - Ski Touring and Mountaineering

Summit of Toubkal (4167m) in High Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

I have spent the last week in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco with 8 friends. Our itinerary was to spend a short time in Marrakech (do some haggling and avoid getting ill!), then head straight to Imlil the gateway to Toubkal and do some ski touring in the mountains. Unfortunately snow cover wasn't as good as we had hoped for, apparently it hasn't snowed for 6 weeks! We did ski some of the north facing cwms and ascended Toubkal itself, probably carried skis on back as much as on our feet! One day Kathryn and myself decided to climb Ras (4083m) and Timesguida (4088m) via the central couloir, with hard neve everywhere and a light (ski-less) bag these peaks were very nice!

I would recommend a trip to the Atlas Mountains or even just Morocco. It is very in expensive and feels very different and only 3 hours away by air. A great thing about the mountaineering is the advantage of mules, that can carry your kit up to the snow line (in our case 2 thirds of the way). There are two huts next to each other surrounded by five 4000m peaks. We stayed in the Mouflon Refuge which I would highly recommend. Plenty of logs on the fire in the afternoon/evening, lots of food and a great hut guardian.

I am off to Scotland for work and play for the season. I will be working on Winter Skills / Mountaineering / Climbing courses. Conditions are a bit lean at the moment, but you should never second guess a Scottish Winter!

 Narrow streets in Marrakech.

 Mosque.

 Mules with our bags and skis - easily worth £4.80 for 5 hours of uphill walking!

 Dodge the rocks!

 Plenty of walking with Skis!

 Central Couloir, Ras (4083m).

A morning of Ice Cascade climbing in the gorge near the Hut.

Fall 2011 - USA

Here are some photos of my trip to the states in October / November 2011. We flew out to Las Vegas, Nevada and climbed in Red Rocks and Zion, Utah. Unfortunately I managed to fall off a route, breaking and dislocating a couple of fingers which ended the climbing trip. A few weeks of sight seeing and touring Utah with all of its rocky national parks has made me want to return sometime.

 Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Utah

 Black Velvet Canyon, Red Rocks, Nevada

 Bryce Canyon, Utah

 Bryce Canyon, Utah

 Canyonlands, Utah

 Crimson Chrysalis, Red Rocks, Nevada

 Crimson Chrysalis, Red Rocks, Nevada

 Collared Lizard, Red Rocks, Nevada

 Aspen

 Great White Throne, Zion, Utah

 Lizard, Capitol Reef, Utah

 Mesa Arch, Canyonlands, Utah

 Native Indian Drawings, Capitol Reef, Utah

 Red Rocks, Nevada

Tarantula, Red Rocks, Nevada

06-10-11, UK Rock Climbing

 I have been climbing for myslef the last couple of weeks, enjoying all the variety that British cragging has to offer. During the hot spell last week, Steve and myslelf drove down south to climb on the exciting trad sea cliffs at Swanage and for some sporty portalnd action. Afew days climbing at Boulder Ruckle (photo above) with all its roofs and suspect rock, bolt clipping in Portland makes a great combination. On the way down and back up to wales we also climbed in Avon Gorge, and at Wintours Leap - quite a limestone heavy week! Back in Wales I have had a day at Helsby - a good quality sandstone crag above the M56 near Chester and back for some more bolt clipping on Clwyd limestone near Llangollen. A quick day trip to the Peak to get some finger, hand and arm jamming practice at Milstone Edge yesterday. Hopefully good preparation for a trip to USA at the weekend for a few months!

 Steve, enjoying a rare face pitch at swanage vertical but no roof, Yellow Wall!

 Swanage Falcon.

 Fly Wall, Wintours Leap.

Suttie cruising - Regents Street, Millstone.

24-09-11, Snowdonia Outdoor Adventure - Coasteering

Today Kathryn and myself have been coasteering with a group of ladies on a hen weekend. The sea was rough this morning so we decided to do some sea level traversing. Soon the sun came out the winds dropped, so some coasteering was back on the agenda. I was working for Snowdonia Outdoor Adventure.