28-04-10, Mont Blanc Massif - Alpine Climbing

Grandes Jorasses to Mont Blanc

I am back in Wales now, but the last week in the alps, we were able to climb some alpine routes. Good stable weather for the mountains in Chamonix meant we were able to get up high and see what condition the mountains were in. On Thursday we got the first lift up the Grandes Montet, to do an acclimatization route up the Petite Verte, we climbed Chevalier Couloir (300m), which didn't take very long but allowed us stretch our legs from all the sport climbing and breathe some thin air for a few hours! It is a fairy average route (snow slope) but nice to get up high. After hearing reports that Couturier Couloir was in good condition we returned to the Grandes Montet lift station and bivied the night on Friday. An early start 4am on Saturday we walked to base of the 1000m route, crossed the bergshrunde and started climbing before sunrise. The couloir is in good climbing condition with much of the black ice buried under neve and fresher snow. We descended the Whymer Couloir (started just before 11:30am) into the Talefre Glacier, which was a little exciting with numerous sluff avalanches funneling down as we abseiled the last 200m. We were too late to catch the Montevers Train back to Chamonix so bivied by the Couvercle Hut Friday evening. Routes in the Argentiere Basin seem to be getting climbed and skied a lot, Swiss Route on Courtes, Ginat and Lagarde on Droites. The Skiing resorts are closing, which is probably just as well, with the remaining snow at 2500m and below being slush!

Busy at the start of the difficulties on the continuously sustained Couturier Couloir - Aiguille Verte.

Kath on Chevalier Couloir - Petite Aiguille Verte.

Summit Aiguille Verte 4122m.

Descending Whymper Couloir with Grandes Jorasses in background.

Abseil descent off Whymper Couloir, with numerous sluff avalanches constantly occurring!

20-04-10, Finale, Italy - Rock Climbing

Finale Ligure seen high up from Rocca di Perti

The last week, I drove south from Chamonix to Italy to try and escape the poor weather which had been forecast. On the way to Finale we climbed a nice 250m sport route at Arnard Bard in the Val d'Aosta. The wether has been mixed in Finale, from hot sunshine to overcast skies and heavy rain! We have managed 4 days sports cragging which has been ace. Finale truely is an awesome place. Steep, solid pocketed limestone, with buttresses hidden all over the valley from 10m - 200m in height. It is well bolted and feels sharp and maybe hard for the grade! It is well worth a visit, for the beauty, climbing, training, if nothing else its chilled out vibe, and for coffee and pizza by the beach!

An amazing 30m 5+ sport route on Monte Sordo

Monte Sordo 6a

12-04-10, Switzerland - Ski Touring

The last week I managed to find some dry rock in North Wales and climbed on Clwyd limestone with Barni and Liam on Monday and then at Tremadog with James and Liam on Wednesday. I Flew out to Geneva on Thursday and will be in the Alps for the next 3 weeks.

(PK and Kath at the Plateau du Couloir after booting up the steep section from the first hut)

On Friday PK, Kath and myself embarked on a shorter four day version of the classic and original 'Haute Route' ski tour (Chamonix to Zermatt). Due to PK having a flight to catch 5 days later and numerous mountain huts being fully booked we started the tour from Bourg in Switzerland and travelled to the Valsorey hut on day 1. Over Plateau du Couloir down Glacier du Mont Durand to the Charion hut on day 2. Up the Glacier d'Otemma to the Vignettes hut on day 3. Down to Arolla today. Friday to Sunday we had glorious sunny weather, but it soon deteriorated Sunday afternoon and this morning to being cloudy and snowing. The journey and scenery was ace, despite the downhill skiing not being the best. Today with the poor weather forecast and epic consequences we missed out on the best part of the tour which should travel east from the Vignettes towards Zermatt, skiing downhill almost all of the 24km distance passing under the north face of the Matterhorn. The weather is set to be unsettled in the alps or the next few days, however I hope to do some more skiing and hopefully some rock climbing in the weeks to come.

(taking skins off skis to ski down towards the Charion hut, day 2)

(smiles all round, day 4 - skiing back down to Arolla)

(skiing down from Vignettes hut this morning)

03-04-10, Snowdonia - ML Training and NNAS Course

Last weeks Summer Mountain Leader Training course was wet, this weeks ML Training course was cold and snowy! Most snow had disappeared from Snowdonia bar some large patches hanging in on high northerly cwms. Wednesday saw very wintry weather arrive, which has topped up the white stuff. Snow was falling down to 200m, it has been warmer over the last couple of days leaving the snow line above 600m. Today I was working on a NNAS (National Navigation Award Scheme) Bronze training and assessment course for Plas y Brenin. The park is busy, being Easter and sunny weather I am not surprised, the Snowdon horseshoe and Glyders looked white and beautiful, and I am sure people are getting out doing some wintry climbing and mountaineering. PJ Mountains is an open course provider for the NNAS Bronze and Silver awards so if you would like to learn how to navigate and get a nationally recognised certificate at the end, get in contact info@pjmountains.co.uk.

22-03-10, Snowdonia - Summer ML Training

This week I am working on a Summer Mountain Leader Training Course based in North Wales. Snowdonia is warmer and wetter than Scotland was. Yesterday we had a Micro Navigation day on Crimpiau, mist and rain came in later in the day. Today we have looked at Emergency Procedures, Rescue and River Crossing hazards. Very windy with rain and warm +2 degrees on summits. Rivers were up slightly but not raging. Most snow has disappeared and I very much doubt winter climbing will be on the agenda again until the end of the year.

18-03-10, Cairngorms - Winter Skills

Warmer temperatures and very windy today. Snow is getting very heavy/wet/slushy at present, full depth avalanches may occur. We headed in Coire an t-Sneachda today, anywhere high was out because of the wind, most slopes were out because of the slush factor. Second day of PJ Mountains Winter Skills course with Craig and Caroline, we did some navigation and emergency shelter digging. The buttresses are black, stripped and there were a lot of single point release wet avalanches evident all over the corrie. A few teams attempted to climb but either didn't manage to climb or decided to abseil off routes. The wind picked up through out the day and made standing still very hard!

17-03-10, Cairngorms - Winter Skills

Today I was working on a Winter Skills course with Craig and Caroline for PJ Mountains in the Cairngorms. The weather started fair but steadily got windier throughout the day. The Highlands is going through a massive thaw at the moment, freezing level has been high or above the summits the last 4 days, with that there has been some rain. All of this has completely saturated the snow pack and as long as it doesn't all melt away will firm up nicely, but at the moment it is soggie and mush! We headed into Coire Laogh Mor then to pt 1028, on the way we looked at crampon skills, ice axe arrest and avalanche awareness.

Coire an Lochan yesterday, more rock showing through the wet snow, some big cornices above The Vent and Milkyway, generally wet and mushy snow!

I did a cheeky bit of Ptarmigan Spotter Spotting of my own yesterday also!

12-03-10, Glen Coe - Winter Climbing

Scotland has returned starting yesterday, a slight thaw has started and there was wet slushy snow falling at about 800m, windy and claggy. This was the last day of a MIC training course and we headed into Stob Coire nan Lochan. We looked at teaching leading and climbed NC Gully II (Tim leading - photo above), descended Broad Gully I, then went up Dorsal Arete II (busy), descending an easy gully on the right hand side of the corrie then ascended another head wall of snow further right. A busy day and a lot of ground was covered, the snow is starting to become a little slushy and there was wind slab pockets developing with the strong westerly winds. Today we heading up to west face of Aoanch Dubh in an attempt to climb The Screen IV (photo - right), before it melts away, but unfortunately we were a little late. Freezing levels have been at about 900m for the last few days and this has affected the thickness and stability of the ice. It looked big in places but as you topped out it would be thin and there was a waterfall clearly visible between the rock and the ice. So we decided the risk was not worth it and headed down. There were a few teams climbing Number 6 Gully, but even that won't last very long if the freezing level doesn't drop soon.

10-03-10, Glen Coe - Winter Climbing

The last couple of days we have had more high

pressure weather. No winds, cold in the shade, ice in abundance, most snow is hard neve, sugary in places but mainly hard. Yesterday I was climbing on Beinn an Dothaidh near Bridge of Orchy. We climbed Taxus III, a nice ice route. Most of the routes are in good condition at the moment. Today we headed into Stob Coire nam Beith to climb on the massess of ice at the bottom of the crag. There is lots of snow in the corrie, and the gorge; which is non existent, filled in from an avalanche two weeks ago. Again there is lots of Ice and the routes look in great condition, the easier gullies maybe a little banked out. the west face of Aonach Dubh, looks in good condition holding lots of ice in Number 6,5 and 3 gullies and The Screen. The forecast is for warmer temperatures and some precipitation tomorrow, but hopefully normal service will resume on Friday! Photos, Right - Tamsin climbing Ice at the bottom of Stob Coire nam Beith, Below - myself climbing ice/snow on the second pitch of Taxus, Above - Stu climbing ice in Stob Coire nam Beith.

08-03-10, Glen Coe - Winter Mountaineering

Summit of Stob Dearg, Buchaille Etive Mor, Glen Coe.



The last couple of days I have been on an MIC training course, based in Glen Coe. Sunday we headed to slopes on Stob Coire nan Lochan. It was another warm and slightly damp day. The freezing level slowly dropped to about 700m. Today was a much brighter and colder day. The saturated snow pack of yesterday is now fully frozen at all levels. The skies were blue and the sun was warm. We climbed Curved Ridge II, on Buchaille Etive Mor. Despite looking to be quite rocky, it is in awesome winter condition at present. There is a cheeky ice pitch variation at the start (right - photo). We traversed onto Crowberry Tower before finishing to the summit and dropping down a grade I gully into Coire an Tulloch. All in all a great day out.

05-03-10, Aonach Mor - Winter Skills

Today I was working for Jagged Globe on the West. It was the last day of an Introduction to Mountaineering Course. We headed to Aonach Mor to do some navigation and have a journey to the summit. It was back to normal Scottish winter, with horizontal slushy snow and strong winds. We managed to navigate over to the Nid ridge and walked up to the top Station. Because we were in a whiteout and with strong westerly winds we decided not to go to the summit in order to safely avoid the cornices. Hopefully the temperature will get colder again and freeze up the slush!

04-03-10, Coire an t-Sneachda - Winter Climbing

Today I went climbing with Gary in Coire an t-Sneachda in the Northern Corries. We headed to Fiaciall Buttress with knowledge that the approach slope is OK (from an avalanche point of view) and that some of the routes had been climbed recently and hence cleaned from some of the neve and ice. We climbed The Seam IV,5, which has a great, well protected last pitch. Photo - right, Gary finishing the difficulties on the last pitch. The rest of the corrie is completely buried under snow, however Fingers Ridge, Fluted Buttress Direct had rock showing through the white!

02-03-10, Liathach - Winter Mountaineering

Beinn Alligan and Beinn Dearg, Torridon from Liathach

Today I went to Torridon, in the hope that the rumours of there being less snow in the North West were true. It is true, and the sun shone. I did the Liathach Main Ridge Traverse II. This is a marvelous high level ridge route that links 5 peaks with 2 Munros. It is mainly walking but has several technical grade II moves ascending and descending the Pinnacles section in the middle. There is less snow in Torridon and looks like Applecross and Sgurr Ruadh have escaped the last great dump also. This is good for climbing conditions, as it allows us to get to and from the routes with out being avalanched and all the ice and rock hasn't been buried. The snow is firm on the north face and there is a fair amount of ice present, however there is some windslab about in places. I wouldn't have thought any climbing is happening in the Cairngorms or on Creag Meagaidh but people have been climbing the low level ice routes on the west and Beinn Udlaidh right hand side, but to be honest the North West is where it is at. I will be heading back there sometime this week.

Easy ridge walking between 'The Pinnacles'


Pinnacles and Mullach an Rathain

28-02-10, Cairngorms - Winter Skills

Day 2 of Newcastle University Mountaineering Clubs weekend Winter Skills course. A brighter day, but still loads of snow and post holing when venturing off the beaten track! The ski road wasn't open this morning (cars allowed up at 10:30) so instead of getting dropped off at the Sugar Bowl car park we walked the 3 km up the road. We headed over towards Airgiod-meall, to do some navigation and digging. Walking is tough going in most places, we saw lots of wind slab and impressive Sastrugi and raised footprints, Human and Mountain Hare (picture - below). The river bank has lots of drifted snow and in places scoured neve. This allowed us to practice front pointing on steep but non intimidating terrain. I was working for Alpha Mountaineering.

27-02-10, Cairngorms - Winter Skills

Today I was working on a weekend Winter Skills course for Alpha Mountaineering. With the current High Avalanche Hazard we stayed low and off open steep slopes and headed from Glenmore to Ryvoan Bothy. The snow is deep (50cm) but fine to walk along the track. We managed to find some small slopes which were scoured in order to practice ice axe arrests (picture - right)and crampon technique. We also talked about avalanche awareness and why the mountains are currently so serious . By digging a few pits we could easily identify the windslab which has formed on top of the depth hoar crystals that have been buried from last week. This has happened on all aspects above 500m giving very dangerous climbing/walking/off piste skiing conditions. Avalanches have occurred not just on steep (30 degree) slopes but also lower angle (20 degree) and probably will continue until there is a prolonged thaw and refreeze to stabilise this.

The team finding the weak layer in the snow pack.

23-02-10, Beinn Bhan - Winter Climbing

The left hand side of Coire na Poite with the clear line of March Hare's Gully seen on the right.

Tuesday, was another beautiful day in paradise - sunny, but cold! We headed into Coire na Poite again, this time to climb the classic March Hare's Gully IV,4. We met some folks yesterday who climbed it and said it was the best route they have ever done! So with that inspiration we had to climb it. It is indeed an ace route, 6 pitches of interest at grade 4 plenty of ice, although we thought maybe 8 teams have already climbed it so getting a little chopped. But it is Cold Climbs route and didn't disappoint. Picture below - Right, first ice pitch and left, second ice pitch. Another couple of teams went to climb Silver Tear which looked climbable, maybe a little steep and thin on the upper icicles. We didn't have chance to find out what it was like as they were still up there somewhere by the time we got down.

22-02-10, Beinn Bhan - Winter Climbing

The first major corrie of Beinn Bhan (Coire na Feola) with a Chioch Traverse on the right.

Another amazing weather day on Monday. Conditions on Applecross are mint! We headed to Beinn Bhan to check out the back of the Coire na Poite for ice. As we were walking in decided to go straight up North Gully of a Chioch (II) to do the Traverse of a Chioch (II) as it was such a nice day. North Gully (picture - right, looking down) was a little lean, but was OK for grade II, several small ice pitches and a mixed section near the top. Once we topped out of the Gully from the dark and into the sunshine, we were greeted with the view of picture - below. The whole day had a very alpine feel about it, sunshine, hard snow, dry rock, superb views with a panorama of the whole of the highlands looking white. The Traverse of a Chioch is an amazing route especially if combined with the North Gully start. There are two descents down to cols before a big push for the summit. We chose to solo it but you could easily lead it and place plenty of runner, especially where it steepens up at the end.

Descending down to the first col, some loose rock, but good hard snow.

Final summit push with the two cols and pinnacles in the back ground.

Checking out the best route ahead, looking slightly steeper than first/second impressions!

Descent off Beinn Bhan down the long broad southern ridge line, with beautiful white mountain tops of the highlands in the background.

21-02-10, Meall Gorm - Winter Climbing

A brief rest yesterday after 7 days of work, allowing us to pack the van for a few days climbing in Applecross. Sunday was an amazing blue sky sunny day. The relatively low level mountains of Applecross, Meall Gorm and Beinn Bhan are covered in snow and ice. It is very cold at night and in the shade, so the hoar crystals are large and everywhere on top of the snow pack. We headed to Meall Gorm, after an initial attempt of Lobster Gully IV,5 we found the 'well protected chimneys' at the top were far from well protected or grade 5 for that matter. We traversed onto the crux pitches of Blue Pillar V,6 instead, a harder climb but far more climbable! Some dry rock with snow ledges to negotiate - slight alpine feel to it. The sandstone lends itself very well to cam placements, so it is well worth packing a few extra to normal. Picture - right, shows the last chimney pitch of Blue Pillar. Meall Gorm at sunset. The Applecross single lane road (Britain's second highest road) with hairpins bends must be one of the most impressive roads in the UK?