Having now; finished all my exams, turned 21 and got a cool helmet camera (check out this excellent video of some climbing in The Ghost region of Canada which I am hoping to be able to emulate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uK6oJTyOmo), and with conditions still good, I was pretty psyched to get on some more routes before heading out to France. Neil and I headed to Glencoe after reports of good ice conditions. It seemed plenty of other people had also seen the reports, car parking spots filled up quickly but we got a good spot next to the Clachaig Pub and headed up towards the West Face of Aonach Dubh. We trekked up towards No. 6 Gully but with four teams already on it and another two waiting, we decided to head over towards The Screen. Neil kindly let me get on the sharp end and I headed on up; the initial slopes were pretty mellow but towards the top the route got steeper. The ice was a joy to climb with the warm temperatures, screws spitting out nice cores of ice and before I knew it I was at the top. I brought Neil up swiftly and we abbed off an in-situ Abalakov. After this great ice we were psyched for some more and headed over towards No. 6 Gully where we hoped it would have quietened down. We soloed up to a small bulge and hit the queue. We roped up and waited our turn for the crux pitch of the route. Neil ran up the main pitch and then we decided to traverse off to avoid the endless gully slogging above. The route was melting fast and a lot of the ice had been hacked away but it was still an enjoyable climb up a classic route. We soloed over towards Stob Coire Nam Beith and had a play on some more blue ice near the bottom of Deep Cut Chimney, this was similar to The Screen with an easier angled slope heading up towards a steep bulge at about the same grade. After abbing off we headed back down to the car. A fantastic day out on some quality blue ice with great panoramic views of Glencoe; it certainly turned out better than the start of the day when I forgot to lock the car, and then thought I had left the keys in the ignition!
Having now; finished all my exams, turned 21 and got a cool helmet camera (check out this excellent video of some climbing in The Ghost region of Canada which I am hoping to be able to emulate http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uK6oJTyOmo), and with conditions still good, I was pretty psyched to get on some more routes before heading out to France. Neil and I headed to Glencoe after reports of good ice conditions. It seemed plenty of other people had also seen the reports, car parking spots filled up quickly but we got a good spot next to the Clachaig Pub and headed up towards the West Face of Aonach Dubh. We trekked up towards No. 6 Gully but with four teams already on it and another two waiting, we decided to head over towards The Screen. Neil kindly let me get on the sharp end and I headed on up; the initial slopes were pretty mellow but towards the top the route got steeper. The ice was a joy to climb with the warm temperatures, screws spitting out nice cores of ice and before I knew it I was at the top. I brought Neil up swiftly and we abbed off an in-situ Abalakov. After this great ice we were psyched for some more and headed over towards No. 6 Gully where we hoped it would have quietened down. We soloed up to a small bulge and hit the queue. We roped up and waited our turn for the crux pitch of the route. Neil ran up the main pitch and then we decided to traverse off to avoid the endless gully slogging above. The route was melting fast and a lot of the ice had been hacked away but it was still an enjoyable climb up a classic route. We soloed over towards Stob Coire Nam Beith and had a play on some more blue ice near the bottom of Deep Cut Chimney, this was similar to The Screen with an easier angled slope heading up towards a steep bulge at about the same grade. After abbing off we headed back down to the car. A fantastic day out on some quality blue ice with great panoramic views of Glencoe; it certainly turned out better than the start of the day when I forgot to lock the car, and then thought I had left the keys in the ignition! 
UPDATE; I have now had a chance to edit some of the footage together from today, there is a quick video below:
Great vids James....what is that software you are using as the writing in the middle is to small to read?
ReplyDeleteCheers, denny (V6 Adventure)