Creag Meagaidh 26/01/10

With the weather forecasted to get worse from today onwards until the weekend, Lee and I decided to brave the walk in to Creag Meagaidh. Luck did not seem to be on our side and we made a rather late start at about 9:45am from the car park after a huge nail decided to come for a ride in the tyre! We made good progress into the climbs though, the path was in great condition and we were at the head of the loch after an hour and forty five minutes. With low level cloud and a strong wind scouring the Inner Coire, we decided to ditch our plans to climb The Pumpkin and headed up towards Easy Gully instead. Last Post looked in fantastic condition and I was keen to get on my first V,5 lead so we headed up towards that. Again the ice was in absolutely fantastic condition and the route isn’t intimidating at all so I jumped straight on. The climbing was never particularly difficult or steep but was sustained and by the time I stretched the ropes to the belay my calves were grateful for the rest! The climbing was very enjoyable and just kept on coming, there was some water dripping down the front of the ice which meant I got quite wet on the outside and by the time Lee came up to the belay I was grateful to get the belay jacket on. Having taken nearly two hours to get up this first pitch we were slightly worried about topping out in the dark and with low cloud potentially making finding the descent gully difficult. But we decided that it would be a shame to not top out as the climbing had been so excellent. It turned out our worries were unnecessary as the climbing above was much easier than the first pitch. We romped up the remaining three pitches stretching the ropes on each pitch to the top. The rest of the route gave good climbing and was a great way to finish after the first pitch of amazing climbing. With a quick descent down Easy Gully we were back at the rucksacks and soon back at the car. An absolutely fantastic route giving loads of interesting climbing throughout its long length, definitely worth the longer walk in!

Grey Mare's Tail 09/01/2010

After seeing some brilliant photos and hearing great reports of this route I did some last minute texting and met up with Andy for an evening of roadside ice climbing. We left Edinburgh at 2pm and it felt quite strange driving south with the car full of winter gear! After some tricky roads which we were grateful to have 4 wheel drive on, we arrived at the carpark to see two parties walking off, one party finishing the route and another who had just finished. By the time we made the short walk to the base of the route we had the place to ourselves and I set off up the first pitch. This gave some brilliant climbing, particularly through a short steep section which was amazing, on solid water ice taking good screws. At the top of the first pitch I built a solid screw belay and brought Andy up as the light failed, at this point we saw a party of three also walking in to climb the route.


Andy led the second pitch which began steeply but then eased off as we climbed into a pond bay under headtorch and the light of the stars.


This was exited by an easy line on the right, there may be a more direct and steeper finish but there was a lot of running water behind it and everyone else had gone right, into another pond bay. We escaped right after this onto the descent path as the top pitch is apparantly not worthwhile. The route was deservedly popular; absolutely fantastic and very atmospheric under the light of the stars.

Ice Ice Baby 03/12/2010

To avoid treacherous snow conditions in the North I headed over to Beinn Udlaidh after Greg was there yesterday and reported fat conditions. We left the house at 5am but there were still 9 people in front of us by the time we arrived at the farm gate around 7:45am! However we pelted it in to the coire and managed to overtake them all to be the first ones at the bottom of the classic Quartzvein Scoop! This provided a great climb with a great first pitch followed by an easier top pitch; I felt somewhat awakward climbing ice again but managed to get into the flow throughout the day. At the top we had a look around and saw a party on Junior's Jaunt which looked amazing and so headed over there. I led up the first pitch which felt very thin, it was pretty hacked up though making for generally easy, but scary, climbing. This was definitely the most mentally demanding winter pitch I have led, and I was pleased to manage to keep my head in the right place and get up it smoothly. Greg led the second pitch which was fatter but also steeper, brilliant fun to second! The route was fanstastic and I felt it deserved at least two stars, if not three with it's contrasting, sustained pitches and great situation. We were going to have a look at the Organ Pipes but with cramping calves and diminishing daylight we decided to leave it for another day. A great start to 2010!

Let It Snow! 31.12.2009

I had been planning on climbing these last few days but with so much snow around I decided to stay away from powdered buttresses and head to powdered bowls and ridges on the snowboard instead! This proved to be a wise decision as I had a chat with a number of climbers walking out via the ski runs who all said they hadn't got anything done. The snow conditions were awesome and we had a fantastic day. In between rallying around in 4 Wheel Drive through heavy snow, I have been out on the Nordic ski's again a few times; we even skied right round the rim of Loch Morlich! Today we headed up again, but with ridiculous amounts of snowfall it took us 4 hours to get from Aviemore to the Ski Centre...but it was so worth it! I managed to kick some of the best powder turns I have ever experienced, worldwide, right on my doorstep! With almost 8" of dry, fluffy snow on top of further powdery snow and a solid base it was bliss to carve out freshies and slash the snow into huge plumes, dissapearing into them and emerging seconds later covered in snow and with a cold face! Wow!

Doctor's Choice 27.12.2009

After driving through some pretty epic snow conditions in Fife and up the A9, to around Pitlochry, I finally arrived in Aviemore to collect Andy and head up the hill. With so much snow around we decided to ski into the coire; I was using a super old school set of Nordic ski's which in my ignorance were really quite good! Much better than wading through thigh deep snow and walking out anyway! It still took us an hour and forty five minutes to get to the Rescue Box in t'Sneachda due to a combination of: a slight diversion for ski touring, general incompetence on skis, and the deep snow. Due to the heavy powder drifting around everywhere we decided to head up the iced corner line of Doctor's Choice following another party. However it was 3pm by the time we had got to the snow bay in the middle of the second pitch and as the party infront abbed off, we decided to do the same. The route looked awesome and I can't wait to finish the rest of it. Skiing was also brilliant and I am now trying to locate some touring kit!

Heavy Snowfall 23.12.2009

There has been an incredible amount of snow all over the country leading to lots of road closures and huge delays. Rather than sitting in endless traffic jams trying to get out climbing, I decided yesterday to build a snowman instead! Next out just before New Year which I am looking forward to given the great conditions. Merry Christmas everyone!

Hidden Chimney Direct 21.12.2009

After a late start from the carpark around 12 noon; due to heavy snowfall on the A9, we headed towards the Mess of Pottage along with everyone else in the corie. Whilst heading off late meant we would finish in the dark, there were distinct advantages as there was a pleasant path winding through the often knee deep snow! There were a few ski touring tracks and plenty of people taking advantage of the good snow conditions on the ski runs, climbing conditions were excellent with lots of helpful ice and solid snow. Pete and I headed up Hidden Chimney Direct which gave some great climbing up the initial corner and provided plenty of bombproof gear. We then had a number of good looking options above including Yukon Jack and Frozen Assets but decided to finish up our original route which provided a fun little bulge just before the top of the route proper. As I pulled over the cornice I looked to my left to see Greg emerging onto the plateau from the top of Haston Line; which Sarah had done well to follow as it was only her second time out winter climbing. An excellent day with a semi cloud-inversion and very little wind; there might just be enough time to squeeze another route in before Christmas with the excellent conditions, but if not then it has been a fantastic start to the season and hard to believe that winter only really arrived at the beginning of December!